Catherine Gorman

More than anything, this section reiterated that what I'm already employing as my feedback methodologies in my online courses are best practices, and it reiterated much of what we review in departmental meetings.

While our homepages are dynamic within courses, I learned the importance and use of a dynamic syllabus that not only employs technology to make the information more appealing and accessible for online students but also can change as both students and teachers identify areas for improvement within the course.

While consistency is key in a course's look, feel, and navigation, I think it's also important to note that appealing to a variety of learners is also important. So, we have to ascertain where using videos and interactive activities is most beneficial for the content without overwhelming the students.

In an accelerated schedule such as ours (5 week terms) and teaching courses (ENG) where no student actually majors in that concentration, creates many obstacles and challenges when it comes to student engagement online. However, over the years I have learned that stressing writing is a skillset anyone can improve upon with time and practice, writing is a process meant to evolve over several drafts and not be perfect the first time, and that's my job to help them improve.... lifts a great deal of that weight off their shoulders. That's important especially in online -- constantly stressing in lectures,… >>>