Laura Stenger

Prior to viewing this module, I was completely unaware of the number and scope of online resources available to assist me in teaching online.  I would have loved to have the virtual frog dissection option when I was in high school.  I will definitely be exploring the site provided to see what a good fit for my course would be.

My big takeaway is communication is absolutely essential for student success in the asynchronous environment.  Communicate early and often.  Use gamification to assist students in modeling the desired behaviors/course expectations.  Provide timely and constructive feedback - areas for improvement as well as excellence in execution.

After reviewing this module, it is clear the instructor needs to be very intentional with a communication plan.  In order to support the student, the instructor should provide rubrics/standards needed to successfully accomplish the course.   In addition, the instructor needs to reflect on the expectations to ensure they are achievable and realistic given the technology available to the students. "Communicate early and often" will be my mantra.

I was happy to see that my online course - one that contains both asynchronous and synchronous activities - meets the "core elements" guidelines.  Up to this point, I had not heard of FolioSpaces and plan to incorporate an activity for students to set up their own account- and one for myself!  Most importantly, my biggest takeaway is that asynchronous learning is a legitimate and effective way to educate students.  The environment really does level the playing field between introverts and extraverts with the student in charge of the where and when to engage with the material.

I LOVE the use of blogs in education.  I facilitated a leadership course for senior executives for a number of years and used this tool to have folks reflect on their learning.  The "daily reflection" blog allowed the participants to learn from one another and enabled the course mentors to provide richer engagement during the face-to-face sessions.  This tool also gave a voice to those who were more reluctant to share in the classroom allowing more diverse views and opinions to be presented.  I did not use a rubric at the time but see the value in providing one to… >>>

This course has broadened my perspective on effectively communicating with students.  Creating new connections with the material is enhanced by microblogging.  I like the fact that the characters are limited forcing students to be concise in their responses.  Engaging this tool in the academic space provides "good brain memory" behavior in personal use.  I am excited to explore this space with my students.

I am fascinated and excited to use media hosting platforms in my instruction. I am a huge fan of "knowledge creation" among students and utilizing social media will assist in that objective.  I really appreciate the guidance on creating a general rubric with assessment considerations that can be modified as needed.  I also see using social media in course work as an opportunity to shape student behavior in their personal use.  Having clear "rules" or "expectations" in the academic setting will enable students to develop the "muscle memory" to execute constructive, civil, positive actions and behaviors in their personal use.

One major takeaway from this module is the idea of using a rubric for assessing the content posted to social media.  Not only is this a good idea in the education setting, but in a personal setting as well.  I think we all could use a "cheat sheet" in assisting us with our social media posts.  Good habits established in class can transfer to good habits in personal use.  Thank you for the link to academia.edu and the Social Media Rubrics article.

This section highlighted a variety of options for assessment.  I really appreciated the resource listing. I am always looking for new ways to provide students with rubrics to aid in their learning journey.

I am a HUGE fan of alternative assessments.  The course I am involved with does not lend itself to formal testing.  I leverage discussion posts, video collaboration and project/artifact production to assess student engagement and understanding.  We have had a lot of success using open-ended questions to "extract" the connections made by the students with the material.  I purposely do not have a "word minimum or maximum" on the discussion posts.  The  students are free to post as little or as much as they want.  I believe this "freedom" has led to richer reflections as the students know there is… >>>