Get Your Students Hired
Charlotte ,
We as instructors have been on the receiving end of good and bad classes and should bring what we have learned as students to our own classes.
Shelly Crider
Joel,
Students are not the only ones who like what they see. We as instructors like a nice easy feel for a class as well.
Shelly Crider
Sarah,
How will you keep the students involved? Will there be any type of research in their given field? Those are a couple of questions I would work up.
Shelly Crider
As a visual learner I would have to agree with this statement. If a course feels uncomfortable to me because it is difficult to navigate or the structure is all over the place, I become frustrated and eager to finish. This can result in zero retention of the information. To avoid this, it is best to try to accomodate all learner types when structuring your classroom.
Yes, I agree that the look and feel of an online course is equally important as the content and what the students learn. If the LMS is difficult or confusing to use, then it becomes the main focus and distracts the student from learning.
I agree. If you are unable to engage the student on this basic level, it will be difficult to keep them engaged as they dig deeper into the course. I am hoping to be part of the curriculum and design team going forward. What are some key characteristics needed for design team members, in your opinion?
Ekwuniru,
There are some nice resources out there....do you know about the Purdue Owl? http:/
Shelly Crider
E-learning is the wave of the future. I treasure any given opportunity to add to my on-line knowledge and skills. Having taught same course to -ground and on-line students in same semester, I found that majority of students prefers on-line learning environment. Some technology that becomes available to online classes, such as turnitin, is something I hope to be included in on-ground learning environment. It has a way of helping students to master how to write in their own words.
Alan,
hmmmm We would like to try to teach the student how to research with other resources other than Wikipedia!
Shelly Crider
Trista,
Good post. You sound like you know your students which in turn will allow you to create a class for them that will make them feel a personal touch.
Shelly Crider
Well at some level I agree. It sounds more along the lines of the MOOC concept. My experience with career college students is they want the minimum amount of clutter and focus on the specific content they must have to pass the course :o) We have tested add ons over and over again with limited success. But presenting material in a clear and easy to understand manner seems to be the winning combination. Lifelong learner? I think Wikipedia probably does a better job of creating that than higher education.
I strongly agree with this statement. When a new student enters a new course they have to take some time to learn the 'rules of the game'. This can be challenging in an on-ground experience. But add the remote nature of a distance class combined with the usually accelerated pace and it can become a nightmare if the student has to learn a new approach with every course. Standardization of look and feel makes the environment more familiar and allows the student to focus more on learning than on how the game is played.
Precisely, Lyn ~ first impressions are everything! If the first thing our students think upon seeing our online courses is "Ugh...what in the world am I supposed to do with this?", it is likely they will be discouraged to continue and encouraged to leave rather than motivated in any way to be engaged and stay.
I wholeheartedly agree with the statement that the look and feel of an online course is as important as the knowledge and skills it is designed to impart.
I equate this statement with my own experience visiting various websites. Some websites are quite obviously designed with the user or site visitor in mind and are actually a pleasure to browse: pleasant graphics, modest yet poignant colors, obvious page descriptions and links, etc. Other websites appear to have been developed by someone who didn't give a second thought (sometimes, not even a first!) to the user: too much text, not enough or irrelevant graphics, obnoxious color schemes, etc. Generally speaking, I leave the latter of these sites quickly while I feel comfortable to visit the entirety of the former.
If our online courses are not designed with the student in mind, it is likely they will leave us quickly.
Alan,
Oh yes, it is good to hear that the education was wonderful and "came to me easily".
Shelly Crider
The simplicity of navigation is one aspect the customer (student ) will use to evaluate the experience.
Albert,
We need to leave intimitation for something out of the classroom!! we need a nice safe environment!
Shelly Crider
John,
I highly recommend that you create files that you can simply use over and over again. For instance, have a file on how to update your java! Many times students cannot open a file due to this problem.
Shelly Crider
I agree. It is important for the students to feel like the class is easy to navigate and not be intimidated by the layout and format.