I agree. Being that I am technically-challenged to a point, developers be subject wizards. Like designing a website; you create the information you to want to present on the website but, you might want a professional web designer to develop the look of the site that will make it appealing and easy to use.
Jerrod,
Some people think all platforms are alike until they start working on them.
Shelly Crider
Erin,
Our students can tell how familiar we are with technology.
Shelly Crider
John,
Striving and learning what is out there for us to work with. Keeps instructors life long learners!
Shelly Crider
Mike,
True enough!! Love the analogy of the cake!!
Shelly Crider
Mike,
I have experience this as well and then the very next time I open the class, I get a class full of techies!
Shelly Crider
Hi,
I believe that while developers may not have to be wizards, they definitely need to be somewhat technically proficient. They are developing a course, so they should at a minimum have an understanding of technology. If the developer is not technically proficient, the course may be missing some key components that may benefit the students.
I agree to some extent. The developers have to have some level of technical knowledge to be able to evaluated the course design from a student's perspective. But there may also be a team all working on this project. In this case each member can bring different skill sets to the development process to make it more efficient.
I agree that course developers do not have to be technological wizards. The design and planning of a course are far more important skills. The foundation of a building is more important than the interior walls. A poorly designed course cannot be helped with technology. There are tools and technologies to help as needed.
Jeff
Craig,
Students will appreciate the technical help from the instructor!
Shelly Crider
Kyle,
I like a team creating the online course as there are sometimes when something looks great to us, but students are confused.
Shelly Crider
Jeff,
I love the fact that there are so many tools out there.
Shelly Crider
I would agree that we, as instructors, do not need to be technology wizards. There are many multimedia options to add into the classroom that are easy to navigate and place into the classroom. When I began teaching online I did not even know how to attach a document to an E-mail, but I quickly learned many ways to incorporate multimedia components into the classroom and also learned to attach a document into an E-mail along the way. Many of the options to add into the classroom comes with some type of instruction or you can find it on the internet.
Trial and error also works.
Dawn Huber
Dawn ,
I love trail and error!!! This makes us human for the students.
Shelly Crider
I am not sure, I use a portal on the online classes, but I have never tried teaching online. What is the differences?
I tend to disagree that they don't have to be technological wizards. I think that no they don't have to know the ins and outs of how to fix a computer but since recently taking technology for the classroom I am now aware of how much information you may need to be aware of. Instructors need to know how to operate their own forum and pages. I have had some that had no clue and they blame the system. Nothing will make a student more frustrated than if you can't answer simple questions regarding how to do an assignment you gave and you can't help. IT can only fix internal problems most of the time so class page editing or knowing the how things work is a must.
In my opinion many of us are not computer experts however, we have a basic understanding of the internet and our computers.
As long as we understand and abide by copyright laws and the like we can begin to incorporate different types of technology into our classrooms. The easiest would be to begin providing "live" links for students to click on and access different websites we want them to.
Further, incorporating things that do not require leaving the course such as videos can be made available to students.
Erin,
As a student, you certainly do not want to hear, "I am sorry I will have to contact the IT department and get back with you on that".
Shelly Crider
Tara,
I hope that one day you get the opportunity to teach online.....seeing is believing!
Shelly Crider
Joshua,
I would have to agree. The more a student has to leave a class, the less they will want to come back to class.
Shelly Crider
