Minutes for  February  10 , 200 5 -  4 P.M. -  6:00 P.M.  AS 192

In attendance at the DLMG meeting :     Marcia Graber, Keri Sanders, Lorna Peralta, Bob Klassen , Sandra Woien, Julia West, Donna Gaudet, Chuck Hall, Susan Quade, Jon D'Ambrosio, and Peg gy Johnson .

Chuck, Susan and Jon, previous DLMG members, shared their experiences teaching online. Jon D'Ambrosio's Automotive Course Jon piloted an online automotive class about brakes. Intended to serve technicians in remote areas of Arizona, the class had two students. Jon did not get the cooperation he expected from small shop owners. These were the people who had indicated they wanted such a class to be offered online.

However, the small shop owners had to agree to have the students work in their shop, supervise their work, and write up weekly reports on the student's progress. Because of the low enrollment, Jon is not currently offering the course online. He thinks that would need to advertise it heavily (marketing) and find garage owners who are really committed to the program for their employees.

Jon recommends getting a flash (pin/thumb) drive for your files. Then you can easily save your course each time you update it and take it with you. This is really helpful if you move between home, work, and CTL computers. If you include a lot of pictures in your course, you may want to save the files as pdf (Acrobat) files. They will be a much smaller file size.

Acrobat is available on the computers in the CTL for your use. You can create the documents in Word at home. Then bring the files into the CTL computers and tell them to print your file.  One of the "print" options is to save as Adobe Acrobat (pdf).

Chuck Hall's Management and Leadership Course

Chuck strongly recommends DLMG members enroll in Donna Gaudet's CIS 236 class (Web-Based Teaching and Learning). Lorna seconds that suggestion. Donna plans to offer CIS 236 again in the summer, over 8 weeks. The course is entirely online and lets you see an online course from a student perspective, which is extremely useful.

Chuck stresses how important it is for you to be quite familiar with the mechanics of your course. Practice using the features you incorporate in your class (e.g. WebCT dropbox, email). Chuck warned faculty not to get awestruck by the online classes they see as part of DLMG.For your first online class, keep it simple. He repeated this good advice several times. Develop a good, simple course for your pilot. Then you can add the bells and whistles in the future, as you get time.

Chuck recommends you get someone to proof read your course materials.  Peggy suggested in addition that you offer extra points for any errors students find if they are the first student to report the error to you.

Chuck wishes he had made his online course available to students a week or two before the class began. Instead he waited until the first day classes officially started. This is completely under the instructor's control so it is something he will do differently next semester. Then students who want to get started early can get software downloaded, hardware in place, etc. This makes for fewer problems the first week of class.

Chuck suggests that you encourage students to invest in a high-speed internet connection if they want to enroll in an online course.  He thinks it very important that you answer emails often, rather than letting them pile up.  Set expectations realistically. In your course syllabus, be explicit in explaining how quickly students should expect a response back from you (e.g. within 48 hours on weekdays).

Chuck uses text at the top of the course homepage to post last minute announcements or ask students who have not been participating to contact him. The last bit of advice Chuck had was to enjoy teaching online!

Susan Quade's International Business Course Susan recommends not doing any course content the first week of class. Give students the first week to get their software, hardware, internet service provider, and course supplies in place. Have them do one of each type of activity they will do in the course. If they will take online quizzes, have them take an online quiz. If they will submit assignments through the WebCT dropbox, have them submit an assignment this way the first week.

Susan created all her documents in Word (Microsoft Office Word).  She then saved them as a web page. (File>Save As>Web Page).

Warn your students to disable their pop-up blockers when they open WebCT. Otherwise, the pop-up blocker will treat WebCT as a pop-up and shut it down. We are seeing students with two or three pop-up blockers that they need to disable. The MCC Helpdesk can talk them through the process (480-461-7217).  Alternatively, a student can hold the control (ctrl) key down while they click on a WebCT quiz and it will bypass the pop-up blocker.

Susan highly recommends stopping in the CTL and working with Donna and Melanie one-one-one if you run into problems with your course. She commends them for their incredible patience and willingness to help. Peggy is also available.

Midway in the course Susan asked students for feedback on how things were going. Based on their input, she made some adjustments in the course.

Susan has an interesting grading policy. Students can pass the course but get no higher than a grade of C if they take all the quizzes and exams. To earn an A or B, they must participate actively in the discussion board. 

Susan really likes using WebCT's dropbox for submission of assignments. The instructor can set it up so the dropbox accepts no late submissions if desired.

Susan sent her students a welcome letter about a week before class started. Modeled on Peggy's welcome letter, she felt this was helpful in getting things off to a smooth start.

Susan has a notice in her course to students that they should contact her if they have not received a response to an email they sent her within 3 days or a grade posted in the online grade book within a week after taking a test.

Susan includes some optional resources for students. Some of these are links to documents she has used in her on-campus class as hand-outs.

Marcia visited Richard Felnagle and saw his fantastic online course. Incorporating streaming video, Richard has created a visually exciting course.  Using Real software, Felnagle saves his lessons in three different formats - one mostly text based for students on dial-up, an intermediate file that has pictures that are low resolution, and a high-resolution format for students with fast internet connections. 

An alternative is to save videos or large files to a CD or DVD that your students purchase. You take them to the bookstore and the students buy them with their other course supplies.

Donna's CIS 236 Course

Donna showed the group some parts of her CIS 236 class. The course homepage does not contain any icons. Instead, Donna uses it for class announcements. The has a regular "Monday Morning Update" that keeps students in touch with what's going on.

The course homepage then links to another page listing the Modules.  If you click on a Module, a page opens with three links on it (to Comments, Activities, Resources) for that particular module. Donna's syllabus is in sections (different links), rather than one continuous long document. This is to keep students from having to scroll down many pages (they don't do it). But you might want a link so the student could print the whole document as one page if they so desired.

Donna recommends you use a vertical design in your course. Chunk the material into segments, such as modules. Each section should not cover more than 2 to 3 weeks. Pick a consistent format and use it for each module.  Donna includes a checklist under the Activities link. Students are advised to print it and keep track of their grades. This is how it looks:

Module 1 Activities

You might want to print off the check sheet below to help you keep track of your Module 1 activities. In order to earn completion points, you will need to work through all the activities prior to the indicated deadline (see Modules Page). (Link to PDF version of the Activities sheet for ease of printing.)