How to enhance course design by strengthening instructor presence & building interactivity?

Editor's Notes

• #2: Introduce ourselves Hi I’m Eleni Diakogeorgiou….blah blah Hi I’m Amanda Moras -- etc etc
• #3: E: We are going to review a few things with you today all centered around how to enhance your course design by building your presence in the classroom We will start with a general discussion about some of the difficulties you may have during classes and go on to how to get them engaged through feedback, discussion boards & enhancing the course esthetically. Throughout the presentation will will toggle back and forth with the SI blackboard site in order to show you examples from our classes. Finally - we will end with Q&A
• #4: E: We definitely want this to be interactive so we aren’t just talking at you - this is a way that you can ask a question and for those who want to answer out loud they can, but also those people who are shy can answer as well. This tool is called Poll Everywhere. Powerpoint has the ability to embed the poll directly into the slide. I have used this at conferences (large & small conferences) people seem to like it and you can enable the settings to be anonymous - students also like it because they have their phones out anyway… So let’s go there now!
• #6: A
• #10: A: Can use flip grid for introductory DB posts If cost is an issue, have students upload a video
• #11: A
• #12: A
• #13: E
• #14: E
• #15: E
• #16: E
• #17: E: You will see faces of our students in this post, but don’t worry - we make them sign their life away to us once we accept them into our program and one of the forms allows us to use their pictures! For this discussion board I had students visit an Athletic Training setting that they have not yet seen or worked in - with that students then had to post a selfie on the discussion board and provide some information regarding that setting. This group even brought their selfie stick.
• #18: Using journal entries can create a “safer” environment for students - I try to flip flop discussion boards with journals. I’ll make it so that only I can see the journal entry. Students tend to write more and be more honest during the journal entries so I use them for controversial topics where students may shy away from stating their true opinions out in the open per say on a DB
• #19: A: Be mindful of a few things: Make sure the questions you as are specific, and also be mindful of what of how often you are asking students to post. You can alternate tools - the biggest part of this is to make sure you are maintaining a presence in the DB or the classroom - you don’t want the student to feel as though you aren’t paying attention. Another thing thats good and a kind of catch all is to do some sort of wrap up with the students.
• #20: A
• #21: A
• #22: User Friendly Make it easy to get somewhere 1 click Go to blackboard site and meet in my virtual classroom Organize modules Change Pictures Make it inviting The Digital Institute course shell is a great example
• #23: A
• #24: A
• #25: E: On snow days or for any other reason that you can’t get to campus there are a ton of tools you can use in order to record a lecture and post for the students. I like Webex because it's more real time - students can interact and ask questions as they would in class. We bring in people from all over the country to lecture for our students. We can use it while we are in class or when the students are at home. For instance, in AT we have a variety of settings that a student can work in - CT is a small state therefore we are limited to our geographic area for clinical rotations (at least during the semester and while we remain in undergrad) we bring in the assistant AT for the carolina panthers, the AT for the cincinnati ballet, an AT from Vtech, UConn & SF Giants - all people the students normally wouldn’t get to chat with. We all hop on a web ex and the students can talk with them during a lecture.
• #26: E:Something else I started using webex for is for office hours. When I’m not on campus or even somethings when I am - I set up the “personal meeting room” in web ex and students can attend office hours. I have my normal contracted office hours but I’ll add office hours this way - I can share my screen, students can just hop in for a few minutes and ask a question. I’ll keep the camera off and i’ll hear a ding when they enter the room - then I’ll turn on the camera and join them. Working remotely is super easy and I can stay connected with my students even when I’m not on campus. It took them a while to get used to it, but once they hop on they like it very much because they don’t need to leave their room!