Jayson Angell

Professors need to hold students to high expectations.  The students should hold themsleves to high expectations.  I see too often examples of students, teachers, and schools lowering the expectations of the students.  Also the importance of giving the students a good idea of how much time should typically be spent completing each major assignment, so that we can help the students to better manage their time on task.

This module placed emphasis on being able to use technology to try to make up for the disadvantages of an online classroom versus the in person classroom.  One such instance is in being able to use discussion boards, instant messaging, and hold virtual meetings as a way to allow the students to be able to connect more fully with the professor. The on line class room makes making connections much more difficult.

I liked the emphasis on providing clear and concise instructions to the students.  It is easy to get carried away in wanting to througholy explain every detail, but it is more important to be concise, since attention spans for reading announcements is very short.

So far from this course I have been reminded of the importance of helping the students to manage their time wisely.  Also it has once again been re-emphasized to me as the professor the amount of time that the students should be spending on the course, and it is a good idea to also remind the students that they should set apart a good amount of time each week to be successfull in the course.  I also like the emphasis on deadlines.  The current deadline for my courses is Sunday at Midnight, but I always need to remind students to… >>>

One of my favorite aspects of teahing is being able to get the student feedback at the end of the course.  The most dificult is being able to apply many of the suggestions that are presented by the students.  I have not taken much thought about getting the course evaluated by more than just the students, but it is important that the course be evaluated by several different audiences.  This gives more perspectives into the set up and design of the course.

One of the key takeaways from this section is the importance of feedback.  Being certain to connect the feedback to the learning objectives.  Many times I have considered that the rubric is the feedback, but the rubric is just the justification of the grade.  Feedback should be in addition to the grade from the rubric.  Also feedback needs to be individualized and specific, and tied to the learning objective so that the learner has a clear idea on how to improve.

Key takeaways from this section are the importance of clear and consice directions when it comes to comunication and discussions.  Also the importance of the instructor involvement in discussion posts for an online course.  From personal experiences, I know how important it is for the instructor to be actively involved in the learning of the students.  One of my favorite instructors of an online course went out of his way to check in iwth his students.  Because of the instructors presence in the course, it felt less like a typical online course, and more like an inperson course.

Things that I have learned from this module so far, and want to take away:

1) Making certain that the design of each module is consistent

2) Creating a Database where all of the learning objects and templates are stored for subsequent use.

3) The importance of Cyclical testing to ensure that the course is ready before publishing it.

I have worked with several co-workers that were very limited in their understanding of technology, and their fears kept them from utilyzing many programs that would have been beneficial to them.  As teachers it is helpful to the students to allow them to practice using technology since it is very useful in everything we do, and it will allow them to be more productive.

I struggle with making the time to reinforce these necessary skills in my classrooms.  I get so focused on trying to cover the course content, that I do not make time to help the students to think critically about good problems.  Another struggle is being able to find those good problems that are at an appropriate level of difficulty that the students can achieve without getting frustrated, or that take so long that we spend the entire class period focusing on just the one problem.  There is no question that this is a crucial topic that needs to be addressed.