Syllabus: their bible

Transcription

1 COM 2.05 Online Survey/Results From: Wilson, Eric Sent: Tuesday, October 08, :44 AM To: Louella Nelson; Weispfenning, John; Hanlon, Anna; Kagawa, Akemi; Cooper, Barbara; Shine, Brenda; Flowers, Carol; Margolin, Cathryn; Oberlin, Craig; Robertson, Darrin; Scane, Danielle; Sharp, Diana; Profeta, Glen; Golden, Jill; Koontz, Jennifer; Milunas, Joe; Poshek, Joe; McCall, Leslie; Nelson, Louella; Lerma, Maria; Rothchild-Boros, Monica; Hostetler, Sheila; Blackstock, Victoria; Oviatt, Vinta Subject: OAB Needs Your Help Good Day, On behalf of OAB, we would like to ask you to please replying to this on what communication tool(s) you use in your class. This will help us for the Communication class. Faculty From: Rothchild-Boros, Monica Response These are the things I do to interact with my students - Now my concern is that they are not trackable - URG! Videos: I have created introductory videos : Welcome to Cultural Anthropology & Insight into how the course is structured & How to Submit Assignments into Bb Tutorial Quiz: Students do this during week 1 to ensure that they have read the syllabus carefully and explored the Bb course site thoroughly Student Success in Main Menu: I have created a series of exercises to do and study tips for students to help them be successful students in all of their courses Syllabus: their bible Study Guide: I have provided a detailed study guide for each chapter on the Course Content page s 1) Class-wide s sent through Bb from Tools 2) s sent to specific students from the grade book 3) s sent to specific students from Tools 4) s sent to specific students from the DB 5) Students who me get responses within

2 hours - to my outlook Graded Work 1) I embed questions in my lectures that students must answer. They must create a word doc or rft and submit in Bb as an attachment. I save the work to my computer and comment on their work. Through 'Needs Grading' I attach their work as well as an answer key that includes 'my' answer as well as numerous examples of excellent student answers. In the comment box I indicate they have the answer key for guidance and their work with comments. I also enter the course grade through 'Needs Grading' 2) 9 discussion boards - students must present a thesis in an original thread and then comment and question the ideas of 3 students as well as respond to all of the students who have commented on their original thread. If there is a problem with the original thread I will the student to edit/fix the thread - I don't participate in the DB so that students feel free to engage each other. When I grade the DB - students who do not earn full credit get an explanation of why they 'lost points' 3) Weekly chapter tests that are graded by Bb and recorded automatically. If students underperform - I will them about their poor performance and ask for an explanation. 4) 2 Course papers - these are submitted in Bb by attaching and are commented on in detail and then returned from 'Needs Grading' with a grade. Students scoring below 75% also get an example of a paper that is well crafted so that they can use it for guidance. From: Rothchild-Boros, Monica I feel like I am online with them 24/7 :) It has been suggested, by 'state officials', that class wide s are analogous to Announcements and that they do not constitute an 'effective method of communication'. I beg to differ and think we should explore this issue in greater detail. While some class wide s may function like Announcements as reminders, many are designed to offer guidance that the whole class can benefit from

3 not just a specific student or two and then they become 'words of advice' which is a form of 'personal interaction'. Monica From: Koontz, Jennifer [mailto:jkoontz@occ.cccd.edu] From: Lou Nelson [mailto:lounelson@cox.net] Sounds like it is an issue, then, of whether the addressed the student by name as there is not other difference between direct s and announcements or mass s. In which case there are programs that send out mass s that address each receiver by name in each . Can blackboard do that? Hello Committee: I use Blackboard heavily with my students both to issue announcements and reminders and to augment online lectures. Please see below for an example of the "feedback" variety of that s essentially training students to read directions more closely on prompts and understand key terminology. I agree w/monica that s can be quality communications containing information crucial to students' success. My students know via the Syllabus and on the BB Menu: Mail: Check Me Daily. I use Announcements just as the semester opens to greet students and give key orientation information. After the semester begins, I use as outlined above. If a student has a problem or doesn t understand an Assignment or Discussion prompt, they know to me in BB and/or call me at home to resolve the issue. in my classrooms is definitely a key part of regular and effective communication with students. Whereas my feedback on a post is a oneway communication to the student, dead-ending there, s often go back and forth between us till an issue is understood or resolved. Lou Nelson OCC English Department Instructor Sample "Feedback" to Students: Sent Saturday, September 21, :24 PM Subject: How to get a better grade on future posts I have graded all Discussion 1 "About You" posts. Many of you are very busy indeed! The overview: follow directions carefully. Here are some notes: No attachments please I did not grade homework that was posted as an

4 From: Lou Nelson From: Lerma, Maria attachment. To obtain a grade, after clicking on "Grading Information" inside the discussion, follow my directions in the Feedback window. After this, if you attach homework without being asked to do so, I will simply assign a zero. I had to waste time opening attached homework developed in various types of software, some of which I don't have, instead of spending that time on essays. So if you want points, you gotta post your work in the discussion posting window. If you cannot embed a photo when requested, fine; I realize it s more challenging even with my stepby-step instructions. Thus the About You prompt said it was okay to attach a photo. And by the way loved the photos. Fragment is not sentence ; list is not paragraph Several students lost points for writing sentences and paragraphs when fragments/lists were requested and emphasized. While this may not seem problematic, for me it's a question of wasted time. I wasted time giving individuals feedback about following directions rather than seeing your information and photo, giving a quick note and grade, and then moving on to spend quality time grading your essays. Specific, not general Some students lost points for being general about some responses. For example, some were vague about when they plan to do Eng 100 homework rather than including a schedule. I did ask for a "schedule." My thinking is that a homework schedule should be similar to a job schedule: You show up at specific times and work for a specific number of hours; then you re off to your next activity. I hope you get my point about reading prompts carefully. I will be less forgiving on future posts just to save wasted time. Prof. Nelson I like your take on Discussions, Maria. I just got a brainstorm for my class! I like the "opinions" idea. Would love to see a sample prompt. :) Lou lounelson@cox.net I am a great fan of the Discussion Board--students really enjoy the interaction. We have reading comprehension questions, opinions on article, and general help on the discussion board.

5 Of course, I chime in and give feedback but avoid too much of my presence to allow students to interact more freely. María From: Rothchild-Boros, Monica" <mrboros@occ.cccd.edu> From: <Golden>, Jill <jgolden@occ.cccd.edu> Eric Your request will not work since these people need to be 'enrolled' in the course for them to receive an through our courses. Remember that if you have an entry 'User Demo' - so that we as faculty can keep a running total of all of the course points - that 'student' does NOT receive an when we send out a class wide either through tools or from the grade book. So I am not sure how we can you through Bb if you are not 'enrolled'. I just went to Tools and none of them provide a link to the OCC directory at large - only to those enrolled or teaching or administering. Hope you can clear this up for us :) Monica I think Eric is asking what tools do we use when communicating with our students. I use Blackboard through the gradebook to contact a student directly, sometimes to the whole class but seldom Of course I respond to all questions from students as soon as they arrive in my inbox, should they me outside of Blackboard. My favorite is the Announcements section, where I send an of the announcement to all of the students. It is also important to include comments when your grade a students work, whether in the Discussion, Blog or Assignment area. If I review a test I will also send a comment about what I found. Before the class starts I will send an through MyOCC with a copy of the syllabus, just to get them started. I probably contact each student about 2 or 3 times per week depending on the work assigned. I hope this is what you are looking for, J i l l G o l d e n M S R D

6