I’m waiting for my textbook due to arrive on the due date for this post, but I want to get started anyway. Though I’ve been using Blackboard and now Canvas for 16 years, I’ve begun to realize that creating an online course will be a lot of work! I certainly need this program to construct an online course and am grateful for it.
I viewed the video on Curry’s Eng 100 Course and learned new helpful terms like “access points,” “doorways,” and “pathways.” I hope the fact that I haven’t used those terms in the context of online teaching isn’t too painfully reflective of my newbie level of expertise here.
I have a few ideas about creating my courses after having viewed a few of the ones linked in this Unit: I want a home page with simple links to each week’s work: Week 1-16. For each week, once open, I need to figure out how to accommodate the following: 1. The week’s lecture/information (via slideshow or podcast) on the selected topic (critical reading, the writing process, essay structure, MLA formatting, etc.); 2. A blog or discussion forum for exercises that correlate with the lecture/topic; 3. Links to reading selections/videos/films; 4. A means by which students can upload essays when they are due (not every week, of course). 5. An occasional multiple choice reading quiz.
Here is my very rudimentary video- still working on sme of the basics, but I want to get this post up so I can get to my next class!
Ok I got the book today. Yes, the list in the intro proposed by Chickering and Gamson provides a good guide- I have heard one criticism from students who take online classes: the instructor doesn’t answer emails. I have already emailed Curry three times this first week, so I can see how getting to all those emails asking for instruction and clarification can be challenging. I hope to create, like everyone I suppose, a simple yet substantive course- I like Curry’s Eng 100 course: the same four parts/aspects for each week. I’m not sure how to encourage students to try and figure out answers to questions independently before emailing me, but I will chat with my colleagues for their advice on how best to approach that request from students.
I am comforted when reading the Warnock’s introduction about migration rather than transformation. I hope my courses, which are broken into fairly clear units with symmetry in instruction and praxis, will translate fairly well into an online format.
Re: Chapter 1 and voice and presence, I will be interested in seeing if my in-class style morphs from the chill instructor with that ’70’s vibe (b/c I’m that old) to something different…