Sunday, February 22, 2009

ONLINE ADJUNCT FACULTY TIP #19 - Making Sure You Can Contact a Student

If you've taught online, you've probably had this happen to you. (A) A student submits an assignment the last day of class - and you are unable to open it with your software, (B) the student assumed they posted their assignment electronically, but due to some technical glitch - it didn't post, or (C) you need the student to revise part of the assignment as the student misread the syllabus. Hey, how about the university email crashing - that's happen to me - more than once!

Some will argue that none of these things should add to the burden of the instructor. Hey, if a student messed up posting the assignment - too bad, so sad. That's not my approach - and I would encourage you to also have a higher level of tolerance for the online learner. Let me clearly state that it's rare that either A, B or C happens -

So, what's your point, David?? My point is to always make it an option for students to provide you with an alternate way to contact them (beyond their student email account) - be it a different email address or cell phone number. I've never had a student balk at this request. I also remind students to check their university email daily during the course - and daily for a week following the course.

Friday, February 13, 2009

ONLINE ADJUNCT FACULTY TIP #18 - Making the weekly syllabus page


If you're a student, there are few things more frustrating, and confidence-draining, than a confusing syllabus. As an instructor, be fully aware that students will get creative (and angry) when they don't understand the classwork expectations. Of course, that's if they don't email you relentlessly seeking clarification on your syllabus. I believe that the syllabus is the crux to successful teaching. In the online environment, a poorly constructed syllabus will doom a course and reveal the instructor as incompetent. NEVER MIND THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN! For this reason, I devote much time to crafting, and refining, my syllabus. In this post, I have included the typical "Weekly Page" from my standard syllabus. The "Weekly Page" provides a synopsis and road map for that week of the course. The student doesn't need to hunt through the syllabus for information - all he needs to do is have that single page in front of his eyes. By the way, note that I've included a "paper not to exceed 6 pages" statement at the bottom of the page. I've found it necessary to define acceptable length parameters for assignments. First, I believe it is important to teach students to be concise - that's the real world, right? The second part is that you always will have a few students who believe a paper's grade is determined by its length - and just because they have time to write 25 pages doesn't mean I have the time to grade 25 pages - especially when the student with the 6-page paper did an awesome job.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

ONLINE ADJUNCT FACULTY TIP #17 - Determining the appropriate number of discussion questions


What's the appropriate number of weekly discussion questions to post in an online course? My experiences suggest a minimal of 2 questions and a maximum of 4 questions. I also require the student to post a response to each discussion question that is posted by the instructor. The student is also required to respond to at least 6 other student discussion question responses per week. I have posted a screen shot of a typical discussion question.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

ONLINE ADJUNCT FACULTY TIP #16 - Using a quiz


Not all online instructional mediums allow for the instructor to create a quiz. However, if you are instructing in Blackboard, you will be able to develop a quiz for your students - and their performance will automatically be recorded in the course gradebook. Included in this post is a screenshot from a quiz I incorporated into a fall course I instructed on Blackboard. What are my thoughts on using a quiz? -- First, I think a quiz can be a tool that encourages students to navigate the various aspects of Blackboard - so for that, it's a good "initiation" device. It also builds success and confidence in the new online learner. Yet, I think one's course shouldn't contain a weekly quiz as to me, there's just not a natural "feel" for using a quiz at the post-secondary level. So, while I endorse the use of a quiz, I also caution the instructor on building what might appear to be an automated classroom. One word of advice - when you create a quiz, be sure to view it from a "student" view screen. When I created my first quiz, it appeared fine in Instructor mode, but it wasn't viewable to my students!