Sample learning guide for Web course

I offer this learning guide for your consideration and ask your feedback. 


The purpose of a learning guide is to tell the student what to do and why and how for each learning module in a Web course.


Since a student has a book for this class and the book has the learning objectives, key terms, and exercises I do not duplicate them in the learning module. Rather I ask the student to use the book. 


I want the student to use the book.  Putting redundant material in the Web course will not serve the student. They won't have to wonder where they saw this or that, but rather turn to the text.


Not duplicating what is already in the book will keep small each shell.


Before I share the guide let me say what each learning module has:

• the learning guide
• a link to an ungraded self-test that students may take more than one time that provides answers and feedback for each question presented
• an answer key to the exercises found at the end of each lesson (the book here uses lesson rather than chapter) so the student may check their answers
• a PowerPoint (no bullets-each slide has a sentence and a graphic) that lists the key concepts of the lesson with much supplemental material inserted in the speaker notes
• an assignment that requires the student to use the skills presented in the lesson
• and a graded quiz

The same learning guide can be used for each of the 12 lessons in the book.

Learning Guide

To master the course objectives you must master the learning objectives for each lesson.

The best way to accomplish the lesson learning objectives is to follow these steps in the order presented:

1.   Review the lesson learning objectives in the Objective Domain Matrix (available on the first page of each lesson in your book) to understand what you will be able to do, know or learn after completing all the activities for this module.

2.   Take the self-test (available in this learning module or by going to Tests). This will show you what you know and don't know about this lesson. It will also expose you to content covered in this lesson. Don’t skip this step even if you think you don’t know anything about the material. The self-test is not graded and you may take it more than one time.

3.   Go to the first page of the lesson in the textbook and survey, question, read, review and recite (SQ3R) up to and including the Summary Skill Matrix. The Introduction Learning Module explains how and why to SQ3R a textbook. The first page of each lesson lists key terms used in the lesson. The first time a key term appears it will be defined. You should pay special attention to the terms and their definitions as you will want to master this technical vocabulary.

4.   Review the Summary Skill Matrix section which summarizes the main points covered in the lesson.

5.   Next answer all the questions in the Knowledge Assessment and Case Scenarios section that follow the Summary Skill Matrix in your text. These challenging practice exercises and case scenarios allow you to see if you understand the material covered in the lesson.

6.   Check your answers with the answer key provided in the learning module. Review the lesson again if you miss any of the questions. If you have questions about any of the material, please post them in discussion topic for this lesson.

7.   View the PowerPoint for each lesson (available in this learning module) so you can review what you learned. Be sure to read the speaker notes that appear under each slide. This exposes you to the main points of the lesson again and reinforces the material in your mind.

8.   The assignment (available in the learning module or by going to Assignments) will allow you to show that you mastered each of the learning objectives by applying what you learned when you did the lab exercise. The lab exercise will give you hands-on experience and reinforce the material covered in the lesson. Review the Assignment to see what you must do. There is a file that explains what you must do for each lab exercise and please check your work before you submit it. If you have any questions about an assignment, go to the discussion topic and then select the link for that assignment and post your question there. Please include page number and step in your post to make it easier to answer your question.

9.   Take the graded quiz (available in the learning module or by going to Tests). The quiz will check your understanding of the material in this lesson and will also reinforce the material. Review your results so you can learn from this experience.

 Thoughts?

John

Creating a useful introduction learning module

In a better world, students would not take Web courses until they proved their proficiency in WebCT  and basic computer and study skills. Since this is not the case, consider taking the time to build a useful introductory learning module where you can show students:

• How to use the WebCT tools in your course (and basic computer skills)
• How the course is set up
• How to study (where, when, how long, and how to read a textbook)
• About related professions

In the WebCT tools sections you can explain each tool and have them do so some simple practice. For example explain how the assignment tool works and have them submit a practice assignment using the procedures they will use in the course.

Don't forget to mention the timeout period and how to stay logged in by going to Mail and clicking the auto-refresh box.

You might give them the course URL so they can bypass MYCSMD, saving a few clicks and seconds and come right into the course. Each course has a URL listed at the bottom of the page in the Manage Course section.

Show them how to set the paging preferences throughout WebCT in the My Settings link on the WebCT login page. Too many students don't seem to notice the paging controls scattered throughout WebCT and this causes many issues.

In the about the course section you can cover Netiquette and list CSM services for Web students and how to do some basic computer maintenance.

You can handle computer maintenance with a link like this or this. 

And college students can get Office 2007 ultimate for 91% off the suggested retail price here. (They have to take a picture of their CSM id and upload it since we don't have student edu email accounts here.)

This is also a good place to list characteristics of good students and instructors.

The how to study section can come from links, too. 

The last section deals with related professions.  Consider posting a link to careeronestop like this one that shows the 50 fastest growing professions in Maryland.  And you can include one that gives more information about the profession.

One way to know if students go through the introduction learning module is to have them do sample activities like take a sample test or turn in a practice assignment. 

A gentle reminder to students who miss these activities often is all it takes to have them do it.

By taking the time to do this the student will be better able to focus on what you want them to learn. And you can point to this section when questions arise during the semester.

Thoughts?

John

Testing, 1, 2, 3

In my classes all tests are available the entire semester. A student could take all the quizzes and exams the first week if they wanted to. This has not happened yet, but I do have students take quizzes/exams well before they are due.

My tests are open book, untimed and students can take them twice, the average of the 2 tests is their grade. Each time they take a test/quiz they get a different set of questions because I use question sets.

There are simple ways to make open book tests more challenging.

First you can deliver questions one at a time and allow students to revisit them. You can also not allow them to revisit them. These options are quick to change. By only seeing one question at a time it is hard to quickly go through the test and compare your answers with another. 

For each type of test I have a different pool of questions.

For self tests (which are not part of the grade they simply allow students to test their knowledge of the material) I use short answer questions. WebCT/BB does terrible at grading short answer questions but I tell the students they are smart enough to look at their answer and compare it with the right answer is and know if they got it right.

For quizzes I use True/False questions. Quizzes are always due a day before we meet in class. For web classes I have all assignments and tests due on the same day of the week. But students can take the test anytime they wish.

For exams I use multiple choice questions.

I always use question sets.  A question set consists of all the questions for a chapter.  The question set is quite large and the number of questions on a specific test is quite small. So although some questions might be given to more than one student, usually they are not.

A question set chooses a set number (you decide how many) of questions to give to a student when they begin an exam and presents the questions in a random order. So one student might have a chapter 4 question first while another might see a chapter 5 question first.

Next you can randomize the answer order so the answers are not listed the same for each student.  This takes time as you have to change this setting for each question in the test bank. Also you want to make sure not to randomize answers if the answers need to be in a specific order. Example: one answer is "all the above." Naturally you want this to be the last answer.

So the questions are presented in a random order and the answers are random and the students can only see one question at a time. It they decide to take the test again they will see new questions.

Since the goal is to have students spend time with the material, this is one way to ensure that.  Students may not read a chapter before they see you, but you can bet they will crack the book when taking an exam.

What I find impressive about all this is that I still end up with a normal bell curve for my assessments. I wonder if this is because good students will take the time to do well while poor students won't.

You could try these techniques on one quiz or exam in one class and then compare your results and tell me what you find.

Preparing for the next semester

Even though I use a master shell some settings don't copy over to the new shell. So after I copy the master shell to the new shell I have to go Manage Course then to Settings to change a few things.

Chat: Allow Students to view chat logs -- change to True.

I use chat and sometimes students chat without me.  It is nice for them to go back and see the logs.

Discussions: Enable the My-Posts view so students (and I) can see all the posts we make.

Grade book: Display unenrolled members in Grade Book -- set to false so I don't see those who registered or dropped the class.

Mail: Allow messages to be forwarded to an external e-mail address -- set to true. I don't forward my mail but I know students who like to be able to do this.

Maximum attachment size (KB) --  I add a few 9s here so no one has trouble sending an attachment.

Enable My Computer Applet: Maximum number of files per upload -- I change this to 20.  This number is how many files you can upload at one time.

My WebCT: here I decide what news icons will display on the My WebCT page.


Any postings in Discussions will not copy over, so I keep the shell from the previous semester handy so I can reuse some of the postings.

Thoughts?

John

Getting feedback from your students

Each semester I have students provide comments on how to improve the Web course in their final assignment. Then I create a PowerPoint with all their suggestions and my comments and post it in Discussions for them to see and comment on.

An example of the PowerPoint is here:

http://www.slideshare.net/wiljs/student-suggetions-to-improve-web-course

This allows me to get some feedback from the students. Often I get some comments in Discussions and always find their thoughts useful as I prepare for the coming semester.

How to YouTube Successfully

Check out this University Business article about using YouTube for academics:
http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1459

Using assignments to teach tough topics

In two Web classes I have some assignments that students struggle with each semester. To prolong the learning experience of the assignment I use email or group discussion topics to provide feedback over several days or even weeks.

Traditionally a teacher gives out an assignment and materials, the student does it and turns it in. Then the teacher grades it and provides comments and then all move on. This ends what could be a valuable learning experience for the student.

I have learning modules that explain the assignments in detail and references to help the students out. But today's students like the just in time concept. They want information on something specific and only that. And on their time schedule.

So what I do is invite the students to email me their work. I tell students to get their work to me at least 48 hours before the due date to be sure of getting help. As the due date looms it becomes difficult to respond to everyone.

In the emails, I note errors and send it back and then they work on it again. This happens for some assignments many many times.

I try to keep my replies short and don't try to cover every error I see. I provide short emails pointing out something that is wrong and give some direction on how to fix it.

This process is time intensive and gets frantic as the deadline approaches and more students decide to get started.

But if you are willing to spend the time, there is no surer way of getting the students to understand the material than through this email exchange.

In one class I have groups and many group projects. Here I do the same thing, but limit all communications to the group discussion topics. Email is forbidden for group projects. If a student sends an email to ask about the group assignment I answer it in their group topic. This way all communication is public.

This works for many students, but there are some students who roll in on an assignment at the last minute.

I can't be just in time for them.

Using Groups in WebCT? Here's Some Tips and Tricks!

Check out these tips, trick, and tutorials for using groups in WebCT:
http://courses.csusm.edu/resources/webct/webct6/groupstool.htm

Open Access Course Materials

Open Access course materials are available at:

http://www.ucopenaccess.org/

Turning on all the tools

Consider making many WebCT/BB tools available to your students. They appreciate having them even if you do not use them in your course.

If you don't use:

• Announcements
• Assessments
• Assignments
• Scorm
• Goals
  
• Learning Modules
  
• My Grades
  
• Web Links
• Media Library
  

then you don't need to add them as there is nothing students can do with them.

These should be available whether or not you use them in the course:

• Calendar
• Chat
• Mail
• Roster
• Search
• Who's Online
• My Files
• My Progress
• Notes
  

There are ways for students to use them even it they are not used in the class. So if the students can find useful things to do with these tools, why not make them available?

For example if Roster is available and if the student edits their entry to include an email address they can then go to Mail and have all WebCT email forwarded to this account. Some find this useful.

But they can only do it if you also change the setting for the Mail tool (go to Manage Course>>Settings>>Mail to allow this). If you decide to do this, change the attachment size while you are there so that students (and you) don't get error messages when they try to attach a file that exceeds the limit in the setting.

Some teachers don't use the grade book, but students really like the it.

Especially if the teacher takes the time to turn on statistics for each graded event and remove non graded events. It is disorientating for students to review My Grades and see many entries that are not used. Once the grade book is set up and you allow statistics for each graded event it keeps itself. As students takes tests those grades go to the correct column and the same is true for Discussion Questions and Assignments.

Statistics allow students to compare each of their grades with others in the class. When they View Statistics they can see a histrogram with the distribution of grades for this event. They can also see the Count, Average Score, Median, Maximum, Minimum and Standard Deviation.



My Files allows student to save their work to WebCT and wherever they go and log on their work is there with them. When it is ready to submit they can attach the file directly from My Files to the Assignment.

My Progress shows students detailed information about each session they have in WebCT along with information about how long the session lasted and what they did. One of my classes uses this tool to help them report how much time they spend on the course each week. But even if not used in the class, students like to review these statistics about their WebCT sessions.

So consider making WebCT tools available in your courses even if you don't use them. Many students will use them and they will be grateful.

Some Interesting Articles I've Seen Lately

Faculty Focus is a great resource for online instructors. Check out some of the recent articles:

Tips to Reduce Cheating in the College Classroom

Understanding What’s Needed for Online Teaching Success

Reaching Online Students with Learning Disabilities

Assessing Online Learning: Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities  (Free Report, but must sign up)

Using student's self introduction to get best practices

This semester I asked students when they did their self introduction to include a best practice for Web courses that they saw in other courses, had heard about or just what they would like to see me do.

In my 2 Web courses the most often cited item was prompt feedback.

Several students mentioned other courses where they waited up to 2 weeks for an answer to a question.

Several more mentioned that they had to submit a second assignment before the teacher had graded the first one and so were unsure how they would do.

Many cited hating a course with multiple graded events spread out through each week. Especially when the teacher only grades once a week or less often. They prefer all graded events due on one day.

Others liked the fact that they could access all the different tools many ways in my courses.

For examples they can get to quizzes and tests by going to Assessments, the course calendar, or through learning modules. Some mentioned courses where the teacher forced students to navigate to certain things certain ways.

Others mentioned they like it when they have access to the whole course immediately. They explained that in some courses they have to wait each week to see what they will do the next week because it is only available one week at a time. They did not know if the teacher was building the course or if the teacher just wanted the student to only see part of it.

So give it a try...force your students to provide a best practice and see what you can learn about making your course better.

John

Anonymous Feedback or Suggestion Discussion Topic

Actually all my discussion topics are anonymous except ones where I have to see who is posting what like the self introduction topic.

An anonymous feedback or suggestion topic is one way to get input that you otherwise could not get. Some have told me that they don't want to see feedback from someone who is afraid to post their name along with their comment. But students have many reasons for remaining silent if they know that what they say can be identified with them.

Have you never been in a situation where you would like to say something but don't?

I am grateful for any feedback I get. Even though most of my discussion topics are anonymous, several students don't mind sharing and signing their posts.

During the semester I will ask questions in the suggestion topic like what would be a better way to form groups than the way I did and often I get valuable ideas on how to improve the course that I am not smart enough to think of.

Online Learning Initiative - Free

Check out this link to free materials from Carnegie Mellon (in the great city of Pittsburgh):
http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forinstructors/teach-oli

Lots of research, some packaged courses, all of which are free!

Not Necessarily a Best Practice, But...

This post really has nothing to do with Best Practices, but you might want to check out this article:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?em

Bottom line: "The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile."

Reference

Lohr, S. Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom. Retrieved August 24, 2009 from The New York Times Bits website: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?em

Social Learning

In the past couple weeks, I've seen some interesting information about learning styles and social networking. First, the READI (http://www.readi.info/) put out it's report on student readiness for online learning. One item of interest was the data that indicated nearly 30% of learners were identified as "social learners". Then, a great article appeared in Campus Technology magazine about social constructs in learning. You can check out the whole article at:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/07/22/beyond-social-networking-building-toward-learning-communities.aspx

Engaging Students in Math Courses Online

Thanks to Liz Rourke, Donna Sperry, and Natalie Cullen for their contributions to this post!

Several of us (see above) had a great chance to talk about best practices in online math classes last week, and I thought I'd share the results of our conversation. Best practices:

-Early feedback (especially to peer postings or peer reviews)
-Provide lecture materials, particularly for items like common student mistakes. These are best provided in some multi-media format such as videos, powerpoints.
-Another great alternative is the "Lesson Session" Donna Sperry invented. Each week she holds a synchronous "Lesson Session" during which she speaks (in the chat room) on a particular topic. She follows this up with opportunities for students to practice and share results, and then ask general questions. She's had great results, by requiring students to attend 3 out of the 14 or 15 available.
-Modeling good discussion posts and requiring students to reply in an acedemic fashion.
-Creating "good" discussion questions. Keys are to ask questions that are authentic, learner-led, reflective or synthesizing. Asking students to complete questions and post answers is definitely NOT effective.
-Provide rubrics for discussion posts.

Specific activities:
Lesson Sessions
WebQuests
Learner-led discussions: Example- Each student must create a word problem that must be solved using a Venn diagram. They must answer at least 2 other students' problems. They also must provide feedback to those who solve their posted problem.
Student Presentations
Group Projects for Authentic Activities (particularly in higher level courses)

Best Practices in Science Courses Using Online Resources

Question of the Week:

What innovative things do you do to make your online science course better?
Have you web-enhanced your traditional f2f class so you can use online resources? Which ones?
Have you found a great resource online you can share with others?

Post your ideas here using the "comments" link.

Here are a few online resources I use in my online Physics classes:

• Physlets: What a great name for these Physics Applets! Available at: http://webphysics.davidson.edu/Applets/Applets.html
• Videos from Intelecom: Check out the link to CSM's Resources at: http://www.intelecomonline.net) Contact the DLF (joelk@csmd.edu) for user id and password.