Marcela St Onge

Make a regular schedule for formative assessment by studentds regrding your course material, and implement changes within 1-2 weeks.  Keep  history of all changes, and save all learning objects in a library in case you need to add them to another course.

One of the things I've run into in a F2F classroom is problems with slacking during group activities.  I use a lot of different strategies to combat this, but I really liked the idea offered in the text.  Offer the entire group bonus points if every member scores over a certain percentage on their individual grade.

"This can be as simple as offering bonus points to a study group if everyone in the group scores above a certain minimum grade on an assignment, test, or individual paper."

One of the things I've been concerned about is how to design an online course that's still engaging and helps my students become good problems solvers.  My subject is science, and I really rely on hands-on learning.  I have colleagues who, when asked to move to an online classroom, simply use the textbook online system where their students read the textbook, watch videos, and take m/c tests.  So with this in mind, there was a section on LMS where they stated that properly used lectures, video, guest speakers, discussions, group projects and individual reactions helped inspire students to think outside… >>>

To draft a workload management strategy, it's helpful to refer to the course syllabus.

Generally, every assignment you give the students that requires feedback can be noted and scheduled out.  This helps the instructor know how much time they will need to block off for student communications.  The instructor can then go back and look for areas where this communication can be streamlined, such as usilizing auto-responses or FAQ databases.

I like the idea of using the 7 principles of learning from both the instructors perspective, but also having the student use it from their perspective.  I intend to use this to structure my eLessons, and turn it into a survey or self-assessment for students.

I also like the idea of helping students establish a time management calendar.  I use this in my personal life to block out my day, and I think it's a great way to help students stay organized.  

As technical skills are a fundamental part of an eLearning environment, this is something the instructor must establish upfront.  Students should be given a survey of necessary skills, and tutorials in the case that they are deficient in any of these skills.

As online instructors, it's very important to establish guidelines for how and when students need ot communicate with the instructor, and each other.  Since the class format in online, you lose the clarity and immediacy of a F2F interaction.

I've learned that I should start my eLearning students off with an online learning readiness survey.  Many of them have never taken an online course before, and are unaware of their strengths and weakness as they relate to their ability to succeed in an online environment.  The survey feedbck should also give students techniquies to improve areas of weakness.  I believe the most common of these weaknesses for students that I will be dealing with is time management.

In addition to helping students become self-aware of potential obstacles to their success (and giving them strategies they can implement), I believe… >>>