Nancy Tosh

Knowing copyright laws is important. Often the library is a good place to start for guidance and the libraries of many major universities are also good resources.

I learned that I need to check with and see what policies each institution has regarding copyright policies. Does the institution have staff available to guide instructors through the legality of using other material? I think that, if possible, it might be a good idea to steer clear of any organization that doesn't have these things.

This content scares me -- I've attended copyright training in the past, but I certainly could use a refresher in what I can and cannot do. I also think that leaving for-profit institutions out in the cold makes it unnecessarily difficult for instructors -- many of whom work for both profit and non-profit schools.

Intellectual property is property. As someone who has had their work stolen and plagiarized, I understand the purpose of copyrights and why using someone else's work is wrong on a very emotional level. I think learning about the law in particular is important.

Connecting course material to real life and encouraging students to use smartphones to research and bring examples to the classroom will engage students and make learning more active and fun. I also think it will make it more memorable.

Both students and facilitators should have technology available and know how to use the technology to best advantage. Students also need clear understanding of what is required of them and why. Rubrics help to explain where a student succeeded and where they fell short. Rubrics make grading easier and allow for less misunderstanding.

Many students have no prior experience in active learning or critical thinking. They want a list of things they need to know for the test and are not interested in learning about the subject. Another issue is that students may take a transactional approach to education in that they paid for the course not to learn but rather to get a grade.

Active learning views students as actual participants in the learning process -- not static recipients of force fed information. It is up to the student to take an active role in the classroom and the teacher becomes a facilitator (guide on the side) rather than the sage on the stage.

Course repositories are extremely useful. One think to keep in mind; however, is that links must be checked regularly to make certain they still work and material should be kept current. The longer an instructor teaches a course, the more they will have to pull on when making course revisions.

Nancy Tosh

I found the idea of being a guide on the side intriguing. I did that in group projects when I taught courses who had them -- seldom stepping into post. I do respond to all students in a discussion, but I spread those replies out, so I'm not totally dominating the conversation. I discussed this advice (not to respond to everyone) with my supervisor and she was more approving of responding to everyone.