I like week 8: different pace and interesting as usual. Some good interactions.

• I read the chapter 6 last week from S. Ko and S. Rossen already.
• I also read the article from Jonathan Mott suggested by week 8 syllabus but I will have to read it more in depth. I am still not too proficient with some terminology. I need to do more homework on that..

✍Blackboard collaborate / Elluminate session !:

I used this tool several times for my class and not all students participated (6 at a time is the maximum who can participate, I believe) and this is a very good tool especially for review sessions before a test. I usually offer these sessions the day before a test day in the evening as an option. The most dedicated ones would participate so overall I never had more than 5 at a time.

✍ Pilar Hernandez’s Voice Thread:

I did go back a few times after recording my initial comment the very first time: it always seemed that I forgot to make an extra comment!

I talked about Blackboard Collaborate / Elluminate! + NING. The latter I use almost every day for cultural posts and comments. NING has been very good for all of us (the students and myself) to create a rewarding community feeling to my class in order to bring forward some useful participation between foreing students and my students at Miracosta College.

My NING network for my class: nothing to complain about!

The purpose of this blog is the comparison between French culture and other cultures, such as Mexican, American and Asian cultures. I could use the blog within Blackboard but via NING, I find it more “special” in the sense that I can insert pictures and the layout is not as “boring” as in Blackboard…NING ( for free) is good and it does not have to be a cultural blog like mine but it could be about any subject in the world as far as I know.

Besides these obvious facts (to me), you can participate being an outsider so you don’t have to be a student: all you need is to be interested in building on online community and it ‘s been working very well.

Replied to comments for weeks past too.

Week 9 on the way…

Some news:

• I read and  I again learned quite a lot. Everyday I learn something new! Some sites I was aware of but not everything from Ko and Rossen, Chapter 6: Building an Online Classroom.
• Try Twitter: I already have an account. I mainly use (and so far) it in reference to worldwide news and to post some “controversial” political events.

• I viewed Pilar Hernandez’ video on Building Community in Your Online Class . Pilar is such a good speaker: very informative video with plenty of good advice to improve. Always and always.
• Post: ➸ Is Second Life truly useful for an online community? I took a workshop on this subject a few semesters ago. Lots of work to implement this online tool. I heard of an Italian teacher in the US who is doing all of her office hours via Second Life but teaches on site. Not teaching an online class yet, could this be an excellent or good or o.k. option for students as an interactive way to communicate with teachers?  Second Life does require a good understanding of “technological / digital” work to be able to navigate easily. I tried it by creating an example of an online communication tool with my students but the problem for me was that there was a multitude of chats on my screen coming from Second Life members from literally all over the world. I could never delete these comments for more than 5 minutes at a time. There must be a trick to get rid of that.
• Comments on other blog posts via Pedagogy First! All done this week of Oct. 22nd, 2012.
• Bonne chance / Good luck ! ➼ Teaching an online concept for my discipline level 102 to Anglophone students: dictation for an intermediate level (foreign language); not graded, just a test on grammar and vocabulary. *Note: I assume that the students already have some basic concepts on grammar + vocabulary. First, they listen to the dictation. Second, they write. Good concept to teach what a dictation is for students who never wrote any dictations in the past in their own language. Dictation for students in New York as a preliminary test:
• http://org-www.tv5.org/TV5Site/dictee/dictee.phpredirection=classement&id_dictee.
• Completely lost or just for checking answers, go to: http://org-www.tv5.org/TV5Site/dictee/dictee_3.pdf

• I took the Internet Skills quiz and I scored almost 88% because I was not thinking clearly…
•  I also explored (and that was not so obvious to me with all these “strange codes”) Dave Raggett’s Introduction to HTML
• I learned about RSS feeds (the RSS the Oprah Way): I did like it but I need to review it in  a minute or so.
• I setup my own newsreader account with Google Reader and I added the Pedagogy First! blog feed to my reader: done!
• I did learn this also: how to embed a video to a WordPress.com.
• I found a video on YouTube that teaches some vocabulary in a fun way for my class but especially that teaches some basic concepts for foreign languages (vocabulary again; very, very basic but not boring ) for an online course.
• A bit of html also: <iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/0SUPeXLQsxY” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SUPeXLQsxY&feature=related

The Online Syllabus

I read Chapter 5  from Creating an Effective Online Syllabus

➨  The most likely recommendation to implement in my class is:

I found this chapter very detailed but the entire book is so detailed and precise already. Here are some options I like and I think that I already implement most of them in my actual Blackboard. There are several points I favor as being the most important to me:

1- The contract / 2- The map / 3- The schedule

For the contract, it is more or less already established with the general template that we receive from our dept. at Miracosta. It covers the general rubrics of class participation and grading criteria. I use this every semester and I basically don’t bring any changes to that.

For the map, I do like this idea. I did use at some point in the past some type of a map for the grading to show in a more illustrative way (circles and arrows) which assignments receive a certain grade based on weight. But the map mentioned in chapter 5 refers to it as the “geography” of the course so it does go beyond the grading. I like this analogy.

I use two components: the face to face and the online components for a variety of assignments. The face to face goes over the assignments and the online components are simply about how to get there to do the assignments from the student’s computer.

The most important point in this chapter in reference to the map is about building a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation to guide students and point out what is to be expected from them in the course. Presenting a video capture would be an excellent tool to use as an introduction to the course.

The students would find it more captivating somewhat and not as boring by simply reading a syllabus without an audio tool with the teacher’s voice. It might be more work at first from the teacher but certainly more stimulating both for the teacher and the student. And also much more clarity with a video so you know where to go from the very beginning of the online course.

Finally the schedule part is about the layout of the assignments on a weekly basis. I agree with this but I also reinforce some important assignments by reinserting a specific homework a couple of days or a few more before the due date. I did mention that in a previous post too, I believe.

➨The least likely recommendation to implement in my class is:

On page 125, there is a topic about redundancy saying that it “is often better than elegant succinctness.”

However, I think that instead of repeating the same each week or every two weeks, a paragraph should always be on top of the syllabus stating that certain rules /directions will always be applied for the entire course. Typed in bigger characters to draw the attention so it can never be missed. A hyperlink within the course in all sections can always direct the students back to what he/she is supposed to refer himself/herself to.

➨Elluminate Recording: Lisa M Lane and Jim Sullivan, The Interactive Syllabus

 ➨How does what you read contrast with the method presented in the workshop?

I don’t really see too many contrasts between the Elluminate session and what I read in regards to contents. They are both very detailed and with Lisa I think the emphasis is more on the content section from Blackboard. The old Blackboard 8. The aspect of the Elluminate session I like was about the syllabus that you can always see . I myself insert the syllabus as a PDF attachment. I will change that.

Perhaps one might see a contrast between the chapter 5 and the workshop in regards to hyperlinks that Lisa focused on. That is a good tool to use to avoid the students to look for sections somewhere on the syllabus and perhaps get lost on the way until you are fully familiar with the online course. The hyperlinks save time and puts you “face to face” with the document.

Three online classes I viewed and enjoyed among others:

☞ I like the class designed by Janeen Apalatea: similar to Blackboard in regards to the layout and very clear for anyone accessing it. I like the divisions on a weekly basis and the sections to the left with “student ressources,” etc. I do some similarity with my own Blackboard. More details than mine, of course since it is an online class.

☞ Trisha Hanada-Roger: very rich in information. I am very impressed by the number of files, images, etc. which are part of this online class: the sky is not the limit about this course: I see it as being very complete for online students or just any students curious to know about dances all over the world  (extra credit opportunities, dance videos, shared discussions about various topics, tutorials, etc.) There are aspects of it I could learn from if I ever design an online class in the future.

☞ Jean Proppe‘s class was very good also: all the field trips were listed with very good descriptions about each one.

The three courses use the same format: the weekly layout, which I like very much. It is clear and you know what to expect to do. I use this but I also give myself more options: a mix bag of weekly, daily tasks and the entire semester ➸ the latter focuses on titles of assignments but details are given a few weeks before as we get near to the due date).

Ideas after viewing these online classes: planning a class ⬇

I would need to prospect some new technology:

Jing, Moodle ressources MLS and the directory structure to manage files on T. Hanada Roger’s class. The chat room also is something I never used in Blackboard but having a hybrid class, I have not contemplated the possibility or even the desire to use it. My students at the present time do not want an online class because it is simply not the purpose for now but I might add a few more things for “testing” purposes.

I now need to make some research about Jing, Flicker and other online help. I am not sure what to use yet and what can be really useful and easy for both the the teacher and the student.

Chapter 3 “Teaching online” on how to build a class:

➸ The feedback is very important: how to improve a class by asking students what could be better to make it “profitable” to them. The feedback from the teacher is essential but asking students what they think is too. Individualized comments on specific assignments and general comments as well for the entire class for the same assignments also so that students can see that the teacher cares about each individual and for the entire class as well. It also shows what other classmates do or think. Community effort.

➸ Ideas on group projects / assignments: to start them early is an excellent option besides the individual projects. It is clear that both are essential to an online class.

➸ The section on “Redesign from longer to shorter:” the tendency to say and to add too many subjects should be cut down whenever necessary. You don’t want to overwhelm students by throwing too much at them: it is a question of selecting the right material. One topic can be chosen without adding several sub-topics, which could be redundant.

Being practical (what to add, what not to select) and understanding the purpose of the class (what I want students know about my class) are the essential keys.