Laurie Bryant

I will set-up a FATQ section.  Sometimes we assume that students are more computer savvy than they really are.  The use of smart phones and tablets does not make you proficient on the computer.

I liked the session about the different teaching styles.  Although I like my style, and it works effectively in F2F, I need to incorporate other methods to be more effective.  I also learned that videos and voice over PowerPoint should be limited to 10-15 minutes.  I'm not a video watcher, and my limit is 2-4 minutes, but I can make it further.  These types of learning tools need to be engaging, interesting, and able to keep the students' attention in order to be effective.

There are so many ways to evaluate students and the course!  I use some of them, but perhaps not enough of them.  I like the one-minute question and the "three clear points, three muddy points" paper.  I will implement them into future online courses.  I have done peer observation in face-to-face classes, but hadn't conisdered it for an online class.  This will be interesting.  I might try it.

Rubrics are so important in making sure that the students understands the objectives of the assignment and provides a final product that is in line with teacher expectations.  I have worked with instructors who tell their students that they didn't meet the instructor's expectations on the submitted assignment, but they had only provided directions on what to do and how to do rather than on what is expected and what will be graded.  I tlike the comment that assignments are more about learning rather than the grade.  Let's not just put a checkmark that we did or completed something.  Let's… >>>

I learned that a dynamic syllabus is recommended for online instruction, but I don't know how to create one.  I would love to see an example.  I will search through a few posts and see if I find one.  If you read this post and have one to send as an example, please do so.

I like the idea of chunking!  I like doing a lot of things throught the day, but I didn't think about that as a learning/teaching strategy for students.  It makes sense.  The guidance of videos being 10-15 minutes long is a good guide, although my limit is about 2 minutes.  There is a tool that allows the instructor to insert questions that have to be answered throughout the video.  I would recommend doing something like that for videos to keep the students' interest and to help them be more attentive.

This was a very insightful module.  I had not thought about keeping records of chat sessions, but I see why that's beneficial.  I knew that communcation was important, and because we went from face-to-face to online, I was thinking of how to continue close contact like that, but I now realize that I need to better embrace email communication with students.  Counseling, dealing with undesirable behavior, and resolving conflits exist even in online courses. (WOW!). I expect attrition to be an issue, so this wasn't really surprising.

• Keeping course records.
• Communicating with students.
• Counseling students.
• Dealing with undesirable behavior.
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I was thinking about having an online session to go over a lesson on modeling a part and programming the G-code.  This module taught me that that is a bad idea!  Teaching should not be done in synchronous settings.  That should be done individually so that the student gets what he/she needs and doesn't have to feel like he is competing with other students or be embarrassed if they don't know something.

We went from face-to-face to online rather quickly because of the pandemic.  Because we had already met, I didn't think about the need to introduce each other and encourage students to read other students' bios and to meet if they are in the same locale.  If we continue online instruction going forward, this is useful information to not take for granted that the students need to know each other and me and feel comfortable interacting with each other.