David Overbye

That course revision is a multifaceted process and is ongoing.

I found the material on rubrics to be very useful.  Based on this I am going to review some of the rubrics I use in my courses with an eye toward making them more useful.

I found the comments about the dynamic syllabus to be especially usefull.  The sylabus and the associated online activities are at the heart of the course and guide the student through the material.

The main takeaway for me was the importance of a database of reusable learning objects.  This can be especially useful when teaching sequences of courses that use many of the same techniques.  

I am finding that the newer versions of the learning managment systems are starting to include new and better facilities for managing student records.  Integrated email and messaging, more capability to communicate on assignments through the gradebook and so on.  These new tools are helping a lot.

We have incorporated some new tools like Zoom and WebEx into the courses and this has helped.

Another tool that can be very useful is something like the Inspire For Faculty tool from Civitas.  This allows you to see at a glance which students are participating and to schedule communications ("nudges" is the term of art apparently) that gently remind the student to engage with the course.

The main thing that I cam trying to do is add more video to my courses.  The technology in this area has improved a lot in recent years and this is now much easier to do.

The module reinforced the importance of the LMS technology and the support structures.  These support structures remove barriers to student and faculty access.  In the absence of these supports, students are bound to struggle.  For my part, I intend to develop a more in-depth understanding of the different student supports provided by my institution.