Are you nervous about diving into online education? Want to expand your reach beyond your current online course or program? Then join me for a 20 minute interview on online education and advocacy with Dr. Amos Bailey.
Reflective practice is a well-known concept within education, and I believe it should be integrated into all courses and programs, regardless of discipline. It has theoretical foundations in promoting lifelong learning and professional development, and readily links with metacognition.
A quick perusal of the internet will turn up an unlimited number of extremely complicated rubrics for discussion boards. They can be overwhelming and scary. They can make you feel like you are nickel and diming your students for every aspect of their participation. Also, a callback to my previous post: discussions are not meant to serve as a platform for long-winded, one-sided speeches, but this is how it often translates online. Banal, wordy “discussions” can also translate into assessment burden and burnout for instructors.
Oh discussions, the often-dreaded exercise of the online experience. The design of a discussion can turn an exciting topic into a banal exercise where students are drafting large, online speeches and grasping at straws to provide two “meaningful” (hello subjectivity!) responses to other colleagues’ long speeches to meet the requirements in time.
Every semester we host several Canvas Basics trainings for faculty. My baseline goals for faculty attending Canvas Basics are simple: know how to organize your course with Modules, customize your navigation, and seek help using the Canvas Guides and/or the Helpdesk.
The University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) held their Central Region Conference in St. Louis September 26-28, 2018. I was pleased to see that instructional designers held a steady presence throughout the conference. Our role is often misunderstood, so positive exposure on a regional and national level will expand local collaborations with faculty and programs.
