Rodney Cullifer

Discussion Comment

Helping Acclimate Students to Expectations and My Teaching Style

To help my online (synchronous virtual classroom) students get acclimated to the class flow and my expectations I do two things: 1.) Before the first day of class I post a detailed announcement "ABC123 Course Information and Expectations." The posting contains my contact information; my availability; schedule for all live sessions; details on what is needed to do well in the Discussion Threads; APA formatting guidelines and hyperlinks to support information; grading scale; late policy, etc. 2.) My first live Chat Session is "How to Earn an "A" in This Class." In this one hour live session I break the… >>>

Rodney Cullifer

Discussion Comment

Ground to Online

I have taken multiple ground courses and reconfigured for online. I agree with the statement that an online syllabus/course must be more dynamic. In the classroom we have instant feedback to our teaching style, assignments, and participation. Online there is an inherent feedback delay, and shortcomings are often not discovered until the students submit their assignments. I try to keep students on track by providing "Hints Announcements" each week highlighting what the key concepts are for the week. I then reinforce this with the assignments (or vice versa if the assignments are static from the school). Rodney C.

Rodney Cullifer

Discussion Comment

Formative Feedback

I like to deliver feedback using the "sandwich method." Point out the good, talk about things that were not done so well, and ending with something positive. The first positive helps to engage the student by recognizing something done well (the student will want to read more to see what other compliments are in the feedback). Then the "teaching moments," followed by something else the student did well. The student then leaves with "I am doing all of xxxx well, if I just work on yyyy, I will be able to do well in this class." Rodney C.

Rodney Cullifer

Discussion Comment

Dynamic/Leading Syllbus

When doing an online syllabus, I put in multiple "hints" in the syllabus to help students now what to focus on for the week. I feel this helps students to not feel overwhelmed when assigned to read multiple chapters, and at times review multiple sources. I supplement this by doing a "Hints Announcement" each week as a reminder what is most important to know for the concepts and assignemnts for the week. Rodney C.

Rodney Cullifer

Discussion Comment

Reaching out to Students Who Early in the Class are Not Participating

Here is a message that I email to the students (and their advisors) in the second week if there has been no participation in the class. Subject: Welcome to the Class! Welcome to the class! We will have an exciting xxx weeks, and I just wanted to send this quick note to remind you that due to the accelerated nature of this course it can be challenging to catch up if you fall behind. I want to see you do well, so be sure to read the Ã¢â‚¬Å“HintsÃ¢â‚¬Â announcements that I will each week, and of course if you have… >>>