Tag Archives: Teaching Online

Recordings from the Faculty Learning Community

Consider joining us on Fridays or even presenting sometime. Email me for more details.

3/2/2012: Google Apps
Brian Yuhnke and Tina Oestreich presented on Google Apps integration and their experiences with it at Case Western Reserve University.
RECORDING: https://connect.cuonline.edu/p9fkzf7tlx2/

2/24/2012: eBooks
Michael Edwards presented on ebook publishing and ebook tools. Find out how easy it could be for you to convert your course materials into epub formatted files which can be read on most ebook readers!
RECORDING: https://connect.cuonline.edu/p8i9gf02eqv/

2/17/2012: Web Presence and SEO for Academics
Patrick Lowenthal presented on Web Presence and Search Engine Optimization for Academics
RECORDING: https://connect.cuonline.edu/p5ygdghtgsf/

The Online Learning Idea Book, Vol. 2

Book Cover of Online Learning Idea BookPatti Shank’s “The Online Learning Idea Book: Vol. 2” is hitting the shelves in the next few days.

Be sure to check out.  As mentioned in the following release note:

“In this second volume of The Online Learning Idea Book you will find brand new and valuable ideas that you can adopt or adapt in your own instructional materials, to make them more dynamic and more worthwhile for learners and learning. These ideas will let you peek over the shoulders of some of the world’s most creative instructors, instructional designers and developers, trainers, media developers, and others in order to help spark creative ideas of your own.

This hands-on resource will help you build online instructional materials or improve existing materials including online courses, modules, activities, or supplementary materials for classroom-based courses.

This book provides great tips, techniques, and tricks in the following areas: The Design and Development Process, Supporting Learning, Synchronous and Interpersonal Activities, Asynchronous and Self- Paced Activities, and NS Better Media.

Within these pages you will discover creative ways to give your online and blended instruction a boost by adopting and adapting great ideas from others.”

For more on the book, see:  Online Learning Idea Book  or visit Amazon.

Death to the Digital Dropbox

“As online learning continues to grow each year, so do the number of new media and Web 2.0 technologies faculty have at their disposal, yet the majority of online courses remain heavily text-based. Online learning often mirrors the traditional classroom, with a focus on read and write (and at times discuss) — sometimes with good reason. First, we all find ourselves relying on our previous experience when trying something new. Second, many methods used in traditional classroom environments can be effective in an online learning environment. And third, over the past few years teaching online has become an increasingly complicated process, requiring both a specialized pedagogy and a technological aptitude possessed by few faculty. Given this, when confronted with the task of designing an online course (especially one taught previously in a face-to-face classroom environment), it is completely natural for faculty to replicate many, if not all, of the classroom activities in the online environment. We believe this is why so many online courses consist of little more than readings, online lectures in the form of PowerPoint presentations, and some online asynchronous discussions sprinkled throughout the semester.

Perhaps one of the most often used, but seldom talked about, vestiges of the past carried over from traditional face-to-face courses into the online environment is the digital dropbox — or more specifically, the practice of having students submit their work privately. The digital dropbox is essentially a tool incorporated into most learning management systems that enables faculty to designate a virtual inbox where students can privately submit their assignments and later retrieve them (presumably with a grade and some type of feedback). While there might be a specific time when it pedagogically makes sense to have students turn in their work to a digital dropbox viewable only by the instructor and the student, we have found that mostof the time it makes little sense to do so. In this article we argue for use of a public performance model and explain why.”

Read the rest of the article here.

The CU Online Handbook

Check out The CU Online Handbook!

The CU Online Handbook

Edited by
Patrick R. Lowenthal
David Thomas
Anna Thai
Brian Yuhnke

 

Download the eBook
Download the entire eBook (pdf)

Download Individual Chapters

Introduction
Patrick R. Lowenthal

Trends and Issues with Online Learning
1. From Reluctant and Reticent to Engaged and Enthusiastic: The Passage to Online Teaching
Susan Giullian

2. Preparing Special Education Teachers Through Online Instruction
Donna Sobel

3. Using eCollege to Facilitate Learning, Provide for Program Coherence, Manage Accountability Innovations, and Ensure the Evolution of a Principal Licensure Program
Connie Fulmer

4. Make, Share, Find: Web 2.0 and Informal Learning
Phil Antonelli

Technology in Action
5. The Advantages of a Ning Social Network Within a Higher Education Program
Laura Summers

6. Fresh and Forward-thinking: Using Blogs for Educational Purposes
Joanna C. Dunlap & Ellen Stevens

7. Hanging on by a Thread
Dorothy F. Garrison-Wade

8. Instructional Uses of Twitter
Joanna C. Dunlap & Patrick R. Lowenthal

9. Using Audio for Giving Feedback to Project Teams: A Useful Complement to Track Changes
Brent G. Wilson

10. Wordle… Just for Phluff?
Joanna C. Dunlap

11. A Teaching Video Project Brought to Closure
Farah A. Ibrahim

12. Improving the Design of PowerPoint Presentations
Patrick R. Lowenthal

Emerging Tools and Applications

Audacity Ning
Blogger PBworks
Bubbl.us Picnik
Delicious ScreenSteps Desktop
Facebook Songza
Flickr SkyDrive
Google Docs Skype
Google Reader Twitter
iSpring Ustream
Jing VoiceThread
Media Converter Youtube
MyPodcast Zotero


Resources

Down-and-dirty Guidelines for Effective Discussions in Online Courses
Joanna C. Dunlap

Protocols for Online Discussions
Joanna C. Dunlap

Improving the Odds of Effective Collaborative Work in Online Courses
Joanna C. Dunlap