June 2008 Weddings
Casperdy
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
also teaching related-online teaching
Who has taught online courses? I think Janks does, yes? Anyone else?
I'm applying for an adjunct faculty position that is online, as per the recommendation of my current department head. I've got all the listed qualifications, so it hopefully is a good match. BUT-I've never taught online and there are a few short answer questions related to how I would facilitate an online course. I would love some more specific help if anyone has any experience?
Re: also teaching related-online teaching
Yep - my FT job is online teaching (for a traditional bricks and mortar school). It would help my answer to know what kind of school you are applying for - proprietary or nonprofit. Online teaching is 100% different at each of those.
If you are applying for nonprofit you will most likely need to design your course as you teach, however if you are doing proprietary then your course will be designed for you and you will facilitate the course. If you are designing a course then you need to discuss your instructional design methods and how your assignments will force students to learn and apply the information. You will also need to discuss how you will design projects and writing to meet DOE Carnegie credit hour definitions as well as any accreditation/minimum course content requirements.
However, if you are facilitating then you need to discuss how you effectively run your course room to encourage participation. This includes participation on discussion boards, the use of rubrics, appropriate feedback, bringing in outside information, effective communication, etc.
Let me know if I can be of more help - I teach, design, and hire/oversee all of my instructors.
Yay! I knew you taught but couldn't remember if it was online. I would LOVE some help!
I assume it is a proprietary-it's an art institute (I'm apply for a position teaching interior design courses). The application website references the Socrates method, if you've heard of that. I would paste the description/explanation, but it's long! I can if you want though.
The facilitation/encouraging participation question is definitely part of my concern. I feel like I don't necessary KNOW what methods are effective online yet... They do an online teaching training once hired, but they have questions in the application that address these issues in advance.
For example, question 1 is:
How do you engage students and facilitate online discussion beyond student postings? How would you follow up and facilitate further discussion to enhance their learning and enrich the classroom environment?
Now, in my classroom teaching, we do have an online portal that we utilize throughout the course. There are discussion boards and student postings. I also use it for all quizzes, additional lecture notes, etc. Some projects are also submitted through an online drop box.
But are there other options out there that I'm not aware of? Like utilizing a live chat room several times a week that students could log in and chat with me and others (versus a discussion board)? What are some ways to encourage students to participate?
There is also a question about how much time I think the course will require of me. My automatic assumption based on my current adjunct position is that it will be at least a 20 hour/week commitment. I currently teach 4 credits (one 3 credit course, one 1 credit course) and I am IN CLASS for 7 hours a week. I spend about 15 hours outside of that time. Would 20ish hours seem like an appropriate answer to you?
Last question I'm working on today is how to help students that do not possess all of the necessary skills to use technology... which I think is a tough question. Unfortunately, I think some degree of online competence is required to be successful in an online course, but there must be some options to help non-savvy students. Any ideas here?
Would you touch on anything in your teaching philosophy statement that is specific to online teaching? I am including a cover letter with my resume upload, so I will have some space there as well if there is anything you'd suggest I include.
Thank you SOOOO much.
Essentially (from what I understand), the Socratic method is using questions to help students arrive at an end-point on their own rather than lecture. This is essentially your participation in a discussion board. For example - one of my DQ (discussion questions) this week was for students to find an online personal finance software, describe it and then discuss how it will help in the creation and following of a personal budget and how it will lead to financial success. My students posted their responses, but then I would ask probing questions like how will this software package help you to reach short, intermediate, and long term financial goals? Your participation in the discussion boards is designed to help the students understand the material and how the material will be used in the course. You want to ask questions that force students to elaborate on their answer and bring in concepts from the text as well as outside research. I may also bring in examples from media and then have the students discuss how they would have handled the situation based on what was presented in the text. In my marketing class I post mission statements and then ask the students to complete research and report how the company's operations and marketing campaign supports the mission statement of the company.
In your traditional classes you lecture and help them one-on-one with their assignments, but in the online world students have to take control of their own learning and you ask questions that force the student to explain the concept to you (rather than the other way around). That is the point of the DQ board - constantly ask questions to make the student think in greater detail and explain things to you. I also reference other posts: Sally, John stated XYZ, how does that fit into your explanation of ABC?
Keep in mind that the biggest challenge is technology. These students are here because they have had a hard life and probably couldn't get an education elsewhere. They have difficult home lives, unreliable internet, and sometimes improper goals. If you have access to Skype that sometimes works for group discussion (although in my experience few students come to additional sessions), but Adobe Connect is better. Whatever you use, make sure that there is not a download because a lot of students use public computers that they cannot download anything on. I personally do not give out my home number, but I will call students using *67 to block my number. That way they can set up an appointment to talk to me and feel connected.
For those students who are technology challenged, I bought a year subscription of Jing (it's $20 a year) and I can record screenshot videos of me walking them through something. It is saved in an MP4 format, which is the most user friendly. It has helped a lot when trying to explain technology concepts. It is also small enough to email.
I spend probably 15 to 20 hours a week. Most of your time will be spent answering questions and giving feedback/grading.
Hopefully this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!
I do teach online, and at UoP we have a brick and mortar campus but all assignments are posted online. I meet with the students for 4 hours a week in person.
I also took several online classes for my masters and specialist. The DQs that were most beneficial to me were the ones where I had to respond to others' posts. It was a PITA because I felt like I was always checking the discussion board, but I learned the most that way. Like have the students start a post so many times throughout the course, but then also give them a minimum of meaningful replies to other people's posts.
Life of mrsjanks