Technology DayMay 5, 2012

Dawn CoxBest practices for new instructors

Greetings from the Great Pacific Northwest

My introduction

Experience:• Schools: Cochise College in Arizona,

Kaplan University (nationwide) Wilmington University

Georgia Military College• Instructional design experience

We all love the technology! But it is also about the simple interactions.

Sometimes it is all about the relationships• Instructor to student• Student to student

Prompt and positive feedback it key to this interaction. I am going to discuss this.

Course Design and set-up

• Be consistent• Be organized• Consider aesthetics• Be redundant• Set clear deadlines• Give great feedback• Be flexible• Save time!

Be consistent

Be Organized: Create a clear and consistent “path” for students to follow

Be Redundant Place frequently used documents in more

than one place or provide them through various delivery methods. For example, a due date document should be:

1. Emailed to the students 2. Posted in the “Start Here” section 3. Placed in each assignment area that applies

Set clear deadlines

• The most common problem that students have in online courses is time management. Help them.

• Make a ‘due date” document with all of the assignments and assessments

• Implement a late policy• Send reminders. If a student is absent for more

that five days, email.• Be flexible. If a student has a situation, work with him.

Discussion Board Suggestions• Create weekly discussions that might apply to real life

situations.• Create a clear rubric for grading procedures.• During the first week, respond to each student’s

introduction.• Encourage students to be “positive.”• Respond to each student’s initial post each week.• Check the board at least once a day.• Ask questions to encourage dialogue.

Email Suggestions

• Check your email at least once a day and respond to each student in a timely manner. It is suggested that 24 hours during the week and 48 on the weekend is the best policy.

• Create a data base of answers if it applies.• Negative emails: If you are angry don’t respond right

away. I usually send a quick email telling the student that I will respond within 24 hours.

• Email the whole class at least once a week. This can be done through announcements in BB.

Assignment Suggestions

• If students are submitting in MSWord, use the “track changes” tool.

• Create detailed, clear rubrics that explain the grading procedure

• Address the student by name when providing feedback

• Grade all assignments in a timely fashion

Track Changes

Rubrics

Feedback

Examples of feedback for onlinequizzes and assignments (MML)

• Perfect or close to perfect score:• Wonderful! You almost earned a perfect score on your

MML practice problems covering the topics: the advantages of the metric system, metric units, converting units in the metric system, length, area, volume, mass, and temperature in the metric system, and dimensional analysis in the US system. Please email me or IM me if I can answer any questions. Here are the problems that you had trouble with: #5 mass in the metric system, #9 US to metric conversion, and #12 relative metric amounts. Email address AIM: dawnellencox

For a student who did not do as well

Below 70%:It is great that you worked on your MML practice problems which dealt with the topics: variation with applications, graphing linear equations, and linear inequalities. It appears that you might need some help:). I would be happy to meet with you on IM or via email. Don’t forget to use the Similar Exercise button next time. This will give you extra practice on the exercises you are having difficulty with. Here are the problems that you had trouble with: #6,9,18 Venn diagrams, #8 intersection, and #11,15 set notation. Email address , AIM: dawnellencox

Save time!

Create a “FAQ” folded on your hard drive.

Since I teach math, I often get students wanting me to work problems that are similar to the ones that they have to work for their assessed work.

I work every similar problem and then I save it to my hard drive. That way when another student has the same question later, I can pull that up and send it to him.

Hold virtual office hours

• Use your classroom chat area or AOL IM for my office hours.

• Choose the time slots that you think most students will have time to “drop by.”

I do encourage students to make appointments as well.

Thank you for listeningI hope that you enjoyed the

presentation!

Contact information:dawn.e.cox@wilmu.edudawnec@charter.net