distance learning peggy golden & pamela peterson drake
TRANSCRIPT
Distance LearningPeggy Golden &Pamela Peterson Drake
Platforms policy
Undergraduate and Graduate
Required platforms
Undergraduate: Blackboard®
Graduate: eCollege®
Undergraduate
In general, use Blackboard for all undergraduate distance learning courses and web-assisted classes
You complete a form at the ITSS site to request a Blackboard course shell.
You do not need to use the template provided by ITSS for course creation. There are more elegant styles of course management.
Undergraduate Platform – Blackboard
ITSS will ask you to back the course up yourself and you are responsible for doing this!
Blackboard multimedia servers cannot be accessed directly
Using Impatica!
eCollege
Used for web courses and web assistance at the graduate level
There is a “backcharge” to the student for eCourses
Web assists with eCompanion are free
How do I identify the nature of my course(web assist vs other types of courses)?
A class is fully online if …
There is no tyranny of time or space. Students never have to come to campus
All materials can be completed through the course shell
A class is web-assisted if …
The primary location of the class is the classroom
The web platform is used to supplement or communicate in between class meetings.
The test: if the platform disappeared, could the class continue?
Other distance learning forms
The hybrid course – some in class, some web-based activity. Designated as mixed mode on the registrar’s listing
Web-assisted “synchronous” classroom using Video-OIP classrooms on multiple campuses
Codes
All distance learning courses whether UG or Graduate have special codes that give the registering student information
The syllabus
Minimum requirements and suggestions
The Syllabus
Name, contact info, office hours Course description – include catalog
description and prereq’s Learning objectives/outcomes All policies of class Schedule (may be modified
downward; could be separate document)
Additional elements of a distance learning syllabus
All the details must be spelled out for each unit including where to submit assignments
Groups need to be formed without face-to-face interaction. Students need to be informed of the process and what tools they can use for group-work.
Additional elements of a distance learning syllabus
Multiple communication tools need to be used to supplement information in the syllabus (students cannot read, really!!)
Faculty-student interaction
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Interaction
email Discussion board Group projects/efforts
Do use email to remind students of due dates and tasks.
Do explain to students your response policy.
Do explain to students that excessive email may result in their email being identified as spam by filters.
E-mail, cont.
Do remind students of the University’s email policies if students use inappropriate language or otherwise are unprofessional in communications.
Do not use email to communicate grades.
E-mail, cont.
Do not use email to argue with students.
If a student has an issue with grading or deadlines, invite the student to speak to you in person (or by phone, if identity can be confirmed).
Discussion board
Use forums to organize discussions. Designate general forums for
course-organization issues. Do remind students of proper
discussion board etiquette. Recommendation: Do not permit
anonymous postings
Groups
Understand that students in a group may not be able to work synchronously.
Establish group discussion forums.
Testing and evaluation
Special issues in distance learning
Testing
Testing, in general Subjective assessments Objective assessments
Testing, in general
Announce the coverage, format, rules, and the Honor Code in advance of any assessment.
Treat every assessment as “open book”.
Use assessments as part of the learning process.
Testing, cont.
Use several different types of assessments.
Use assessments that require the application of knowledge.
Make the course content dynamic.
Subjective assessments
Get a writing sample of the student at the beginning of the semester.
Use Turnitin® for essay exams. Be sure to disclosure on the
Syllabus that you will be using Turnitin® [FAU rule].
Use questions that require personal input or are individualized.
Objective assessments
Draw from a large pool of questions or software that creates unique questions.
Use a time limit. Do not allow back-tracking. Randomize questions. Add dynamic content (e..g, current
events; specific discussion events).
Final exam scheduling
You can only offer the final exam during the final exam week; Including the weekend before final
exam week appears to be a reasonable accommodation for students who work full-time during the week.
You cannot span the Reading Day in your final exam period.
Final exam scheduling
If you do not give a final exam, you must continue running the class during the final exam week.
There is no specified exam time for a DL course, so it is not reasonable to specify a small (e.g., 2 or 3 hour) window for the exam.
What’s new
Impatica demo Windows Produc
er Firefox browser
What’s new with Blackboard® Respondus StudyMate Course journals Team tools Backpack Impatica
