Christine Dasaro

Establishing a Code of Communication for my online students is one of the first steps I should complete with them.  They should be provided clear examples of what is acceptable on a discussion post and what is not acceptable.

Choosing the right communication tool for your class is important. It should enhance your teaching and professionalism. Students will have to be taught how to use familiar tools in a new and professional way.  Also boundaries will have to be given so 24-7 access is not expected.

The important take away from this module is that online classes are not just posting your regular curriculum.  Curriculum must be analyzed and put together in a format that focuses on important content and allows students to interact with it in a user friendly way.

The important take aways for me are that an online instructor needs to teach the content as well as teach the students how to showcase their learning appropriately. Students need to be taught how to use the technology and how to respond to others online in respecful and positive ways.

Both on your own learning and with the teacher learning have value online.  I enjoy online courses that I can take on my own at my own pace as long as a lot of feedback is put into the program.  Like this course instantly gives feedback which keeps the pace of the course moving smoothly. I also can enjoy video conferencing to see another human.

I learned about different technology tools that an instructor can use to match his teacing style.  Tools can and should be reviewed to make sure that students can effectively use them.  Tools shoulld be modified to meet the needs of the course.

Having other teachers and using other programs to look at a course to see if it flows and works would be something you would want to do before you had students working through it. Student evaluations would only be one part of closing the loop on making a course better.

I thought the section on rubrics was very helpful.  It gives the student a clear goal for their learning.  The idea of students self-evaluating their work and peer evaluating using a rubric was a great way to have students get involved in feedback.  Getting timely feedback from online instructors is my biggest pet-peeve of taking an online course.

Scaffolding with online learners is necessary just like in a face to face classroom.  Also giving students different assignments that connect Student to Student and Group to Group are just as important as connecting to the instructor.

I learned that course modules should have the same format and length.  This will help students find their lessons quickly and know how to access quizzes and discussions boards.