Tena Crews

Karen, I do prefer the blended environment in which student meet F2F and online throughout the semester. It alleviated a lot if questions and reduces email/frequent questions/etc. Even when I teach pure online courses that are totally asynchronous, I still offer F2F opportunities for supplemental help for anyone who can attend but don't make it mandatory as students could be anywhere around the world. Hope this helps.

Karen, You say it well. We have to know what the students know (where they are starting from) and how to build upon what they know by providing them resources and/or assistance to help them achieve the learning outcomes. It is kind of like assisting someone and not letting them quite figure out they are being assisted. . .like it was "their" idea. ;-) Thanks for your input in this forum.

Karen, You are so right. Creativity is a great ability to have. The more creative we are the more we "hit" different learning styles by creating various projects/assignments/etc. Nice job.

Jared, AND, it assists the instructor as well. Instructors can communicate expectations more clearly and assess more consistently. Thanks!

Gracie, Right on! Rubrics help both students and instructors. We have to make sure the criteria is complete and set up to measure what we want it to measure too. Nice job.

Jared, Understanding generations is a part of understanding your audience - your students. And, you are right about stating just because they can post personal information on blogs or Facebook or whatever, does not mean they know how to communicate effectively or in a professional manner. Thanks for that point.

Jared, You have added many postings to this forum and we appreciate that. You have provided "spot on" comments about communication and developing that necessary pattern. Nice job.

Jared, We definitely do not want to distract students while they are trying to learn and/or communicate. Making sure the information students need is easily accessible and the navigation is working properly is great. Thanks!

Jared, Portfolios can show students' growth along with end of the course/term project. However, make sure you are doing some assessment along the way as well - formative assessment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Jared, Meaningful feedback should help students improve. Students and instructors should realize that assessment is not something we do to students, but with students. Your three will be helpful in the feedback process. Thanks!