Lucas Carr

I learned that helping students create a sense of belonging and purpose is important to developing an online learning community.  I believe I would use this in early assignments in the form of public feedback in forums to encourage confidence in participation.

For me the biggest takeaway from this module was the need for consistency.  I can see how changing even small components from module to module might confuse students.  I definately see myself creating and testing modules before opening them to students.

From this module I learned that there are many facets to managing an online course.  Prior to this module I did not think about all of the behavior issues that could arise from this type of learning environment.  For myself I plan to utilize the information from the Records Keeping section to make sure issues do not slip through the cracks.  I plan to keep records based on the type of management issue that is encountered.  Folders in an email system could be used to organize, and then color coding messages to indicate whether the issue is resolved or needs… >>>

I have seen and participated in asynchronous discussions in LMS programs such as Blackboard.  I liked the fact that it was structured for each student to have a post, and that students could reply with additional thoughts or ideas inside of those.  I had professors who even graded based on reply quantity and quality.

Does anyone have any suggestions for creating such a discussion board within Google Classroom, or in conjunction with Google Classroom?

I learned about strategies for supporting participation in asynchronous discussions.  I've always had an issue with typed questions and responses due to the fact that emotions are typically not conveyed well, or are often misinterpreted.  I would use the strategy of applying color, text properties and possibly emoticons to properly convey the intent of posts and replies.  I think I would also include this in a netiquette lesson for students to set procedures for asynchronous posts and responses.

I learned about the importance of using biographies in e-learning environments.  I plan to use the teacher biography as described as a model for students to follow.  Secondly, I would use the student biographies as a firt day assignment.  I also believe that including biographies in the form of videos could be an excellent multimedia approach to including biographies.

To me the biggest standout in this module is the importance of providing both learning and technical support.  I believe that most teachers are comfortable with creating and implementing learning support structures in an e-learning environment as many of them can be implemented from traditional classroom environments.  However, I believe that technical support can easily be looked over as we often see current students as "tech experts" that do not need technical support.  Often times we may assume that e-learning assignments that are incomplete or not submitted are results of lack of effort or forgetfulness, when the reason could easily… >>>