Raisah Thomas

•  I llearned that a quality online course should be well-organized and easy to navigate. The course syllabus should identify and clearly outline what the online environment will play in the total course. You should begin with student engagement right away to get the interest of the students. I also took away that you should use online tools wisely not just because its accessible, too many tools can be overwhelming to the student.

 When you design your course plan or how youre going to facilitate your course it is important to consider what is effective for student learning. That will drive the facilitation methods. It is important to center the course around the learner. This includes truly evaluating the learner's experience to better assess and enhance the features of the course for the next time.

 This module empasized that with consistency in course design, activities, and teaching style, students learn what is expected of them. It is important that this organization is laid out before the course begins, and that there is constant communication throughout to ensure student success in the course.

This module introduced me to different types of technology tools and how to use them in an online learning environment. I learned that depending on your teaching style and objectives for the course, some platforms can be more effective than others.

The takeaway from this section is that it is important to use multiple data to revise a course, and create mutliple evaluation methods to help do so.

In this module I reviwed the differences between formative and summative assements and how to monitor student progress. I also learned the different levels of assement which can help in the creation of assesments.

This module was about establishing an online learning community, and the neccessary tools needed to make it accessible. I learned that community collaboration is essential.  You need to make the students feel secure in sharing their ideas and opinions with one another. You can do by providing several different types of communication streams. This is vital to properly building activities and reaching expected outcomes.

This module has taught me that course development takes thoughtful planning, testing and revising. You have to first analyze your audience, then create your objectives based on what the students' know and what you want your students to know. I learned that you also have someone other than yourself test your module before you revise.

I learned issues and concerns that may arise in the elearning environment and how to prepare for them.

In this Module, I learned what is effective and non-effective when it comes to class participation. Classroom discussions that are not done in real time are more effective, however if you do conduct real time discussions they should be managed as to not overwhelm your different types of learners.