Richard:
Please help me to provide appropriate feedvack to your contibutions by advising me whether your response is in regards to online learning or face-to-face instruction. Thank you kindly.
If you are referring to an online environment, please share with us the strategies a "true facilitator adopts to inspire learning without a word and motivate with subtle inspiration.
Also please clarify what you mean by assessment. Are you refering to the assessments to measure intended learning outcomes? If yes, explain how those can be used to determine course quality.
Satrohan
Satrohan
I think we could turn the present on-line experience into a more productive one if we each critiqued what we have been doing and how it might be improved.
Bob
Bob:
My response assumes that you are referring to online learning in general and not to this course. Please advise whether this assumption is correct or whether you were referring to this course when you mentioned "the present on-line experience"; in which case I will provide an alternative response.
I concur with your recommendation. One of the best ways to improve quality is to review what others have done; select the best strategies, modify some, and avoid others.
Satrohan
I was referring to the present course.
Bob
Robert:
Please include this recommendation in your evaluation of this course.
Satrohan
I agree, the involvement of our learners is connected to the fun they have while taking our online course. The "x-box" generation gets board easily by the uninteresting. We need to teach and be "edutainers" in the process....just my thoughts
Roy:
Some educators share the same views. We have to recognize that not all content may lend themselves to the "fun and games" notion. For those that lend themselves to that kind of treatment, we have to have a solid budget as it will be costly.
Satrohan
I agree that an online course needs to be attractive and engaging, but the content is much more important than the presentation. If teachers and developers spend too much time and money making a high tech program they may have little left for updating content, interacting with students, and/or making important curriculum changes. I'm learning that it is often better to be simple and fresh, than to be complicated and tedious.
Sheri
Sheri:
Thank you for sharing your opinionson this aspect of a quality online course.
Yes; online courses should be engaging. I may temper "attractive" with "appealing" but that is just a difference in choice of words.
The presentation is also very important. The manner in which we organize content, display sequences, visual appearance of individual screens, ease with which to locate and retrieve information, ensuring that audio is properly synchronized with displays, even down to text foreground and background---- all play an important role in knowledge acquisition as they all influence the senses through which we learn. Too many glitches easily result with disgust,disenchantment, disinterest. Inappropriate use of technology can lead to similar results, as glamorous as they may be.
While learning design principles recommend that the technology must not dictate the learning solution, we cannot create an electronic page-turner and classify it as a qulaity online course.
Satrohan
I strongly agree to the statement. Students with either little or know computer knowledge will be exposed to an unfamiliar environment. Comfortability, as it applies in the classroom, is a must. We have all noted in our classrooms that we have day-dreamers, go-getters and the rest fall inbetween. Attention spans seem to be the key to understanding. Students should feel comfortable using and navigating around the virtual classroom to promote discussion and eventually learning.
Himesh:
Computer literacy should not be, in my opinion, an issue to the majority of younger students; unless we are considering an underprivileged student population; or certain sectors of an adult learning population.
The statement you have made in the last sentence is a valid one.
Assuming that you are teaching computer literate students, what measures would you take to ensure that they are comfortable in the online class?
Satrohan
If the students are computer literate than I believe the comfortability lies in the students access to instructors. Another forum discusses office hours. I also would like to add the idea of synchronous chats. Since the students are literate, despite their difference in typing speed, I feel that allowing each person to ask a question or add to the discussion in an organized manner is of major importance. In a "real" classroom setting we can have everyone raise their hands to answer the questions but the problems arise if we allow more than one student to answer. Either we won't know what anyone has said or one student(this student will be comparable to the fast typer) will speak louder or longer to drown out the other student(s). Media and other ISD's are also an imporant aspect in student course retention. The more the mind is stimulated the more the brain releases the feel good neurotransmitters and the more the students enjoy the class.
Himesh:
Synchronous chats are acceptabel means of communication between Instructors and the student population and among students. They have to be scheduled and properly managed. Allowing each student to ask a question is fine; however, you cannot do that for each session unless you have an extremely low number of students; say three Chat session.
Satrohan
I assume synchronous chats are in real time but how do they work?
Bob Cohn
I agree,if you do not have the look and the feel for an online course then you might not be able to concentrate on the knowledge and skills part.The look and feel part is just as important because you will be sitting in front of the computer and you need to stay focused.
Bob:
Please google Synchronous Chats and review some of the online sources on this Subject. You may want to begin with these two:
http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/MOPD/Chat_Protocol.pdf
https://twt.wikispaces.com/Tips+for+Synchronous+Chat?f=print
Satrohan
Norma:
As a minimum, the "look and feel" adds to the appeal of the content. It's thee Chef's equivalent of meal presentation.
Satrohan
I agree because students learn in many ways and it is best to offer as amany options for learning, especially online, as possible.
Yes, Definitely. Just like a book, learniers are apt to judge a course "by its cover". These days we experience so much extraneous stimlus around us, it can be confusing and distracting. I would think that a look that is easy on the eyes, welcoming, and easily navigated would be a prioriy. Another challenge would be this- How would you make the course look interesting? Maybe visual content right up front, or other mulit media to draw the learner further into the actual content.
I agree. The course must be organized in a manner that all types of learners feel comfortable in participating. Generally, the more user friendly it appears, the better.
