Mammoth Mountain
Week 4 has a lot of information! Wow, I find myself watching videos or reading the assignments a couple times over to make sure it is sinking in.
Ch. 5 – Interesting Points & Recommendations/Things I am Most or Least likely to Incorporate into my Class:
- Syllabus is so important – YES! I have continued to refine my syllabus over the years. I will continue to refine my syllabus. I notice if I am not clear enough in my syllabus, then in class we spend too much time discussing details about due dates and style, rather than the important content of the assignment. I will be adding a chart which includes objective in one column and assignments in the next column for next semester.
- I really like the idea of posting a “welcome” at the “entrance” of the course. I will do definitely do that.
- The point about clarifying due dates and times including time zone was something I hadn’t thought of. I know the POT course is taken by people in all time zones, but is this an issue for most other classes at MiraCosta? Don’t students need to be relatively close so they can come on campus at some point?
- The reading really emphasized how important sequence is on the syllabus. They talk about being really comprehensive, which I can agree is important. However, how long is too long? At what point is there an overload of information, and then none of the important things stand out? I like the idea that Pilar suggested of providing link in the syllabus to certain policies or assignments, so that is it not too overwhelming. See Pilar’s video:
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- I will certainly include clear expectations about teacher presence in the online class and response time to students.
- It makes sense to organize the online class by weeks, so that is something I will do. I will clarify which assignments are due at what point each week.
- For my on campus classes, I spend the first class meeting reviewing the syllabus and course details and doing introductions. Is that what you would spend the first class time for in a blended class? Or would you expect them to come to class already having gone over that info online?
Pilar’s video is extremely helpful as a tutorial in creating an interactive syllabus in Blackboard. I will use many of the suggestions she made:
- Organize syllabus by weeks
- Be consistent in the order of assignments you provide and make sure it is purposeful
- Each week should culminate in an assignment of some sort that reflects the weeks learning.
- Put due dates in red.
- Use pictures in your syllabus to make it appealing.
Getting Started with HTML – This one I had to read a couple times, then I did create a web page using HTML code in notepad. I was able to open it up and see my work from the web, impressive! I needed more help, so I used this website and I was able to make it work http://www.tizag.com/beginnerT/.