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In joining the Open SUNY Online Teaching Community, online practitioners reaffirm their commitment to online-enabled education as “Open SUNY Fellows.” With this membership, Open SUNY commits to support online practitioners on their online education journey, while those committing to these roles pledge to give back to the Community through a variety of engagement opportunities available.
Additionally, Instructional Designers and Online Learning Administrators meet monthly for our Community Call, where we provide relevant and timely updates, showcase work being done by our campuses, and host informative sessions on important topics. If you are not already a member of the Community Call group, please sign up so you can stay connected with that community.
If you are not already an Open SUNY Fellow, join today to stay connected and learn about the many ways you can engage in this dynamic community, as well as the various avenues to help your faculty get plugged in.
Resources
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manual
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To “Caroline M Manssino”
cc “Joy D. Ewing”
bcc
Subject ID support for your Summer faculty
Alexandra Pickett/SUNY
02/20/2008 03:11 PM
Hi Caroline and Chris!
Thanks so much for all your assistance and support this week at our workshop. Bill and I are both thrilled that UAlbany has you, and we have complete confidence that the summer faculty are in excellent and very capable hands.
Appended below are a series of weekly emails that i sent out via email to the group and posted as a newsflash in the BLS course. I recommend that you continue this practice. This weekly communication will help keep them on task and on track with the various activities that they should be completing according to their course development guidelines. I sent these notes out via email and i posted them in the BLS announcements area in our course to keep an archive of the emails and i also took the opportunity each week to update the newsflash to keep that current and show presence. I suggest that you guys do this too.
You will have to read, edit and adapt portions of the emails to be sure they are accurate/relevant etc. Also review the sequence that you send them out. I tried to set them in the right sequence below, but you may want to move courses for observation up sooner. In addition to the emails i am sure that you know that you should contact each instructor, make sure they know your contact information, and set up appointments to work with them on their course development.
Also, don’t forget to send them a reminder that you will be conducting formal written course reviews of their courses and you need them by April 30th. I will be sending you in a separate email examples of these course reviews that you can use as examples and to start from.
Also, I highly recommend that between April 30th and the start of the term you organize a lunch meeting for the faculty to transition them to course management and delivery mode. I suggest that you invite Bill Husson and other faculty that have gone through the program in the past to talk to the new faculty about the experience of teaching and managing a course the first time/tips and recommendations they might have, and to give the new faculty the opportunity to ask questions of those that have experience. This roundtable is something i very highly recommend you do if you can.
Please feel free to contact me or Bill, if you have any questions or need any assistance.
Thanks again!
Alex and Bill
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 1
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 Online Program: Hi and next steps!
Hi Everybody:
Whew!! What a week we had! I hope you enjoyed your training and are feeling well prepared to begin/continue your course development activities.
We really enjoyed meeting you all and beginning our work together in your Summer 2007 online courses. And we are very excited to see how you design your course and to begin helping you with anything you may need.
As you know, we are here and available to you to work with you during this pilot online course development cycle. We will be your instructional design guides and will be able assist you in designing an effective online space that meets instructional objectives specific to your course. Please be sure to check-in to our CE6 online workshop space to ask us any questions you may have at this time, to discuss any issues that you like, or to review some of the resources we will be posting there for you in the coming weeks.
Don’t forget that you can also contact UAlbany ITS Help (http://www.albany.edu/its/help/) for any tech-related issues.
We are also very interested in your feedback, as well. Your feedback and suggestions would be most welcome.
Good luck! See you in our online workshop space!
: ) Alex and Bill
PS. for anyone that was not at the last session, attached below are your course development guidelines to help milestone you through this course design process and keep us all on track. If you have any questions, join me in our CE6 online workshop space, “from the classroom to the web.”
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 2
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 Online Program: Create and Draft your Course Information Documents
Hi again Everybody!
One of the activities we did as part of our training during our training week was to create a set of “Course Information” documents in your online course. If you did not yet create these documents, please take a moment this week to create them in your course, and to begin to draft content into each of these documents to begin to build this “course information” area of your course.
The Purpose of Creating an Orientation and Course Information area for your Course
The aim of your course and an orientation to its structure should be carefully spelled out right from the beginning. Students should know what is going to be happening in their course, how they are going to be assessed, and what they should be striving to achieve. In addition to a course overview, the students also should be given an orientation to the mechanics of the course. Creating an Orientation to your course will create an immediate connection between you and your students, between your students, and between your students and the course content and environment – essential in a successful and effective online learning environment.
Using the features available to you in CE6, create a set of “standard” orientation and course information documents to give students information about your course. You might think of these documents as containing all the information needed by your students to fully and clearly understand how your course works and what to expect.
For an example of this, view our CE6 online workshop space, “from the classroom to the web.” Look for the link “Course Information” in the course content section of the workshop.
The recommended standard Course Information and Orientation documents are:
1. WELCOME!
2. Contact Information
3. Course Overview & Objectives
4. Readings and Materials
5. Course Learning Activities
6. How you will be Evaluated
7. My Expectations
8. Course Schedule
9. YOUR NEXT STEPS
Specifically, the purposes of your Course Information and Orientation documents are to:
Introduce yourself and your course.
Present your course overview, syllabus, schedule, and readings/materials.
Explain the types of learning activities students will be doing in your course.
Present your expectations of students and how you plan to evaluate their work in your course.
Give students several “ice-breaking” tasks to get them off on the right track and introduce them to each other, and let you know that they are up and running in the online learning environment.
Instruct students on precisely what they are to do first and next in your course.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, see you in our online workshop space!
Alex and Bill
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 3
UAlbany Summer ’08 Online Program : Chunk your course into modules
Hi again Everybody!
You may already have a good sense of how your course will lay out into chunks of content. If you already have that is great! If not this can help you make some design decisions about the structure of your course. Don’t forget to consider the length of your course in this process … you may make different design decisions if your course is a 4 week course than if it is a 12 week course… or maybe not. Just think about it.
How do I go about chunking my course into modules?
Before beginning this task you may want to first review Review Step 3. Organize in the manual for additional information to help you with this assignment. Also, review the example module structures attached below.
Draft a list of your modules:
1. List your modules.
2. Give a DRAFT name or title for each module.
3. Sequence your modules. Do you foresee students working through these modules in a specific order? If so, DRAFT a list of the modules in that order. If not, list the modules in a logical order.
Naming your modules
1. Create a DRAFT name for each module that is descriptive and unambiguous. Keep the titles short and to the point.
2. Remember that nothing is set in stone, anything can be changed, revised, re-sequenced, and rewritten at this stage.
Module 1. (hint: make this an ice breaker)
Module 2.
Module 3.
Module 4.
Module 5.
Module 6.
Module 7.
Module 8.
Module 9.(hint: make this a culminating activity)
hint: keep the number of modules to 7 plus or minus 2. See the manual for more information.
Once you are sure about the number and sequence of modules for y our course, you can begin to create them in your WebCT course.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, let us know and see you in our online workshop space!
: ) Alex and Bill
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 4
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 online program: Draft your Learning Activities
Hi again Everybody!
You may have begun drafting the learning activities under each module you have defined in your course structure. If you already have that is great! If not this can help you make some design decisions about the structure of learning activities in your course.
Draft your Course Learning Activities
Before beginning this activity you may want to first review Step 4. Build in the manual for additional information to help you with this assignment.
Just as your pedagogical objectives, the nature of your content, your personal style, and the features and constraints of the web shaped the module structure of your course, so too will they shape the section structure and specific learning activities for your course.
For this activity you will create a DRAFT list of the learning activities for each of the modules in your course, then group the activities in a logical and consistent manner across each module.
How do I go about identifying the learning activities of my modules?
1. List the learning activities that you envision for each of your modules. Give a DRAFT name or title for each activity.
2. Do you foresee students working through your learning activities in a specific order? If so, DRAFT the list of the learning activities in that order. If not, list them in a logical order for each module.
3. Does a pattern of activities emerge? For example, your activities may logically group by task or date. Grouping the activities in a logical and consistent scheme across modules will help enhance and organize your materials and activities. Consistency in the structure and order of activities across modules also helps students in their understanding and navigation of the course, materials, and activities.
Naming your Learning Activities
Create a DRAFT name for each learning activity in a selected module that is descriptive and unambiguous. Keep the titles short and to the point. Consider putting due dates, type of task, and a descriptive name in the title. Use consistent naming conventions across modules and for similar types of activities.
Anatomy of a Module – (one example) (remember: present content, interact,
Module 1. (title)
Module at a Glance – an overview of the activities and specifics of a module.
Content Presentation (outline)
Discussion/Interaction
Assignments- on and offline
Evaluation
Feedback
Remember that nothing is set in stone, anything can be changed, revised, re-sequenced, and rewritten at this stage.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, see you in our online workshop space!
Alex and Bill
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 5
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 online program: Refining your learning activities
Hi again Everybody!
Now that you have decided on the general module framework for your course, and begun to plan out your learning activities within each module, at this stage sequencing and consistency will be very important to take into consideration. A well-designed course will be consistent and logical in its presentation and organization.
How do I best sequence my learning activities within a module?
· Some relevant questions to ask yourself when considering the sequence of the learning activities for each module are:
– What does the student need to know or do before they can do an activity?
– What does the student need in order to accomplish or participate in the activity?
– For example, does the student need to participate in the discussion before formulating and writing an essay written assignment?
– For example, does the student need to have done the reading before reading your lecture, or before beginning work on a writing or discussion activity?
· Some relevant questions to ask yourself when considering the quantity of the learning activities for each module are:
– How much work do I expect from students in my traditional class? (You should expect the same quantity and quality of work from your online students as your classroom students.)
– How many students will be in this class? (for example, depending on your objectives, your involvement in class discussions, or the number of written assignments can be more with fewer students, or less with a large class.)
– How much time do I have to devote to this class per week? (be realistic)
– What are the relative weights, in terms of importance and in how they will be evaluated, of the different learning activities?
· Some relevant questions to ask yourself when considering the pacing of the learning activities for each module are:
– How long does it usually take students to accomplish a given task/activity? What are my expectations of pacing in my regular teaching environment?
– Are there any issues specific to the online environment that would affect those expectations?
– How long does it usually take me to respond, give feedback, interact, etc. with students and their work?
If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Don’t forget, you can also “meet” in our online workshop space!
Alex and Bill
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 6
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 online program: Create and Draft Class Community Areas
Hi again Everybody!
One of the activities we did as part of our training a couple of weeks ago was to add several “Class Community” areas in your online course. If you did not yet create these areas, please take a moment this week to consider creating them in your course, and to begin add the functionality and content into each of these documents to begin to build this “course information” area of your course.
For examples of how we implemented these areas of Class Community review the homepage of this course. Take special note of the content presented to the students in each of the areas.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, see you in our online workshop space!
: ) Alex and Bill
Create Areas for Communication/Interaction/Engagement in your Online Course
Best Practices
Quantity and quality of interaction with the instructor has a significant and positive correlation with student satisfaction and reported learning. By creating and strong sense of class community in your online course and by creating mechanisms for interaction and engagement with your students and opportunities for interaction and engagement between your students you can positively impact the levels of satisfaction in your course.
Create a “Talk with the Professor” Area
What is it?
The “Talk with the Professor” or any area added to your course or modules where you and your students can post public questions or comments. For example, a “Talk with the Professor” area functions as a discussion area specifically designed for student-professor interaction. I recommend adding this area to each of your modules based on research that shows that student satisfaction and learning online is significantly and positively affected by quantity and quality of interaction with their professor. This area demonstrates to your students that you are accessible and provides a specific area in each module dedicated to student-professor interaction.
How should it be used?
“Talk with the Professor” is analogous to a student asking you a question before or after class, or perhaps in the hall. It may or may not deal directly with the content of the course, but allows for students to ask general questions of you, in a public forum.
When do I use it?
As the instructor, you should look for questions in the “Talk with the Professor” area of each module and respond to them in a timely manner. Likewise, you can ask questions and interact with students in discussion that you initiate as well.
Create a Mechanism to Obtain Feedback from Students on the course, e.g., A Culminating Activity
What is it?
The “Culminating Activity” module is a module that I recommend you create and use in your course as the final activity to “wrap-up” your course. A course wrap-up is a good way to end a course and will give you:
1. valuable information about your course from the student perspective, which will help improve your understanding of online teaching and learning.
2. valuable feedback that you can use in the evaluation and revision of your course for the next time you teach it.
I encourage you to use a culminating activity in your courses (see list of example questions for this in your manual) . Using student feedback to inform the evaluation and revision of your course is an important component in your development as online faculty and in your course design process. This evaluation and revision cycle is something you should do every time you teach/re-teach a course.
When do I use it?
The “Culminating Activity” module is designed to wrap-up a course at the end. However, there is also valuable information that can be gained from collecting such information during the course as well at midterm for example. Collecting feedback from your students on the design of your course will help you when it is time to evaluate and revise your course.
Create a “Private Student Folders” Area
What is it?
A space in your online course dedicated to private communications with each student. The Private Folders area is a module that I recommend you create and use in your course for all private communication between the student and the instructor.
1. To keep all course-related documents in your course. This makes your course-related correspondence easy to find.
2. To keep all course-related documents, file attachments, correspondence secure, virus-free, backed up, and for tracking purposes. Keeping interactions with student within the course eliminates the possibility of the excuse that email was lost or never received.
I encourage faculty to have students use only the Private Folders module for private communications and request that students never send them email. This eliminates the need for and use of unreliable student email systems for course-related communications in your course. Student email systems and accounts can be unstable, and so the existence or arrival of course documents or communications sent via email between the instructor and student(s) cannot be guaranteed. You should specify your preference for private communication in your course. If you decide to use this area with your students, you must be sure to monitor the area for student communications. Your online course development tool may have a built in mechanism to facilitate this desired functionality
How should it be used?
“Private Folder” functions in the same manner as meeting with a student one-on-one, in your office. It is an opportunity for students to ask questions, get clarification, further information, an explanation, or have a discussion that they do not wish to share with the class. It is also a place where you can interact privately with your students.
When do I use it?
As the instructor, you should look for questions in the “Private Folder” and respond to them in a timely manner. Likewise, when you need to note something privately to a student, you may also post a message for them here.
Create a Bulletin Board area for your Course
What is it?
The Bulletin Board is essentially a discussion area in an area outside of a particular course module. Just as students have the opportunity to talk or chat with each other or with the instructor when taking a conventional classroom course, so should they also have the opportunity to do the same in a online course. The Bulletin Board gives them this opportunity. Your online course development tool may have a built in mechanism to facilitate this desired functionality.
How should it be used?
The Bulletin Board would be a space available only to students enrolled in your class to post and/or read messages and respond. These can include questions or comments to other students and the instructor about the course. It can also be a place where students can go to talk about non-course related subjects. You can also use it as a place to make announcements or as an archive of any class announcements you may have.
When do I use it?
You should check the Bulletin Board area regularly and use the Bulletin Board to make announcements, or to respond to students questions.
Create and use the Class Announcements
What is it?
The NewsFlash is an area for a short message that generally appears at the top of your Course home page. Your online course development tool may have a built in mechanism to facilitate this desired functionality
How should it be used?
The NewsFlash is used to display a brief class message to students.
When do I use it?
You should use the NewsFlash area to make short messages and announcements to the class. (The length should not be more than 2 short sentences. Use the Bulletin Board for lengthier announcements.) In the NewsFlash you can direct the students to an item in the Bulletin Board, or to another course area. You can also use it to remind students of due dates, or to encourage them to participate.
Create/use a Standard Mechanism for Asking a Question
What is it?
There should be a mechanism built into your course where by a student can ask you a course content related question from virtually any location in the course. These questions posted by your students should be public documents. If one student has a question, it is likely that another has the same question. Answering it once in a public location, or encouraging students to answer each other’s questions in this area will help make your workload more manageable. Your online course development tool may have a built in mechanism to facilitate this desired functionality
How should it be used?
Essentially it provides your students the opportunity to “raise their hand” from anywhere in your course to ask a question, or if they want clarification, further information, or explanation.
When do I use it?
As the instructor, you should look for questions in the Question Areas of each module and respond to them in a timely manner.
Create a Personal Profile
What is it?
The “Profile” is a biographical sketch; a way to introduce the members of your course to each other. It is a way to begin to develop a sense of class community by helping you to get to know each other, and to learn some things about each other. Usually profiles are collected in an area for that purpose in your course and are form that you fill out that allows for the inclusion of a photo or weblink. Your online course development tool may have a built in mechanism to facilitate this desired functionality
How should it be used?
The profile is used to introduce the members of your course to each other..
When do I use it?
Profiles are generally filled out as one of the first introductory activities in an online course. You should create a profile to introduce yourself to your class and direct your students to do the same as one of their “ice breaking” activities to get the course started.
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 7
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 online program: Courses for Observation
Hi Everyone!
You have been given access to several online fully asynchronous courses for observation. We have gotten the necessary permissions for the observation from the faculty and students involved. Please read the guidelines for participating below then use the links and the access instructions to “observe” the courses. These courses were not created using the course management system you are using to create your UAlbany summer program courses. Use them as examples of how to structure a course, what kinds of activities instructors conduct, how faculty design and implement the activities, how they evaluate them, how the course looks and feels with student activity, etc.
These online courses have been selected as models for you to observe. They demonstrate a variety of content areas and approaches to online course content layout, and show creative ways to implement a variety of learning activities and objectives.
How to “observe” an online course
General Guidelines:
Please respect the work by students and faculty in these courses as private and confidential. Do not disclose anything you have read and do not share the passwords you have been given for access to their courses.
Your access is as a “Reader.” You will be able to see all areas of the courses including, the assignments, evaluations, and the discussion related to the courses. You will not be able to add documents or contribute to the courses in any way.
Minimize the sound file browser window so that you can listen to the commentary while you follow along and browse/tour the course. Be sure to pause the audio whenever you need to catch up or find the location in the course being discussed.
Courses available for you to “observe.”
BLS Exemplar Courses for Observation
2008 – scroll down to view previous years.
(http://www.webct.com/exemplary/viewpage?name=exemplary_home_page#1)
Podcasts: guided tours of online courses and conversation between faculty and instructional designer: http://sln.suny.edu/sln/public/original.nsf/dd93a8da0b7ccce0852567b00054e2b6/543a6ea4d75d0e0e852571c40061a368?OpenDocument
Bill Pelz’s courses:
http://herkimer.sln.suny.edu
Username: kteststudent@herkimer.edu
Password: kteststudent1
200810 – SS152-VM – Developmental Psychology – short format
200820 – SS152-V1 – Developmental Psychology
200820 – SS155-V1 – Abnormal Psychology
200820 – SS161-VQ – Introductory Sociology
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 8
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 online program: finding resources
Hi again everybody!
If you haven’t been to our workshop space recently, check it out. We have added some shared resource sections. Look in the course menu column and look for the shared resources and shared resource links.
In addition, if you are looking for a particular resource for your course, anything from an online calculator, to a specific simulation to illustrate a particular process, or for suggestions on how to design a particular learning activity such as a role play or case study or small group activity…. please let us know.
Don’t forget to look at the courses posted for observation in our workshop space. They are WebCT exemplars and there for you to review for ideas on how to structure your activities. Look under module 2/3. faculty roundtable: instructional design/exemplar courses for observation.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Don’t forget, you can also “meet” in our online workshop space!
Alex and Bill
—– Forwarded by Alexandra Pickett/SUNY on 02/20/2008 02:00 PM —–
Week 9
subject: UAlbany Summer ’08 online program: finding resources
Hello!
Thanks so much for a wonderful session last week. It was great to see you all again and to see how far you have all come in your courses. Bill and I want you wish you all good luck with your first onilne teaching experiences and hope that you have a very rewarding and satisfying term.
I have set up a spot in the discussion board area of our joint course where you can post questions and resources for each other, and that you can use for communications with each other as the term unfolds. It is called Your “help each other” Space.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Don’t forget, you can also “meet” in our online workshop space!
Take care and good luck — Alex & Bill
Alexandra M. Pickett
Associate Director, SUNY Learning Network
The State University of New York
State University Plaza – Albany, New York 12246
Tel: 518.320.1393 Fax: 518.320.1554
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