April 2005

Online Classroom April 2005 full issue PDF
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Self-Assessment in Online Writing Course Focuses Students on the Learning Process
Worth Weller, continuing studies lecturer in Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne’s department of English and linguistics, believes in the efficacy of online learning, but he doesn’t agree with the cliché, “I feel I get to know my online students better than my face-to-face students.”

Tips from the Pros
What role should the instructor play in threaded discussions?

10 Tips From a Distance Learning Trainer
As a distance learning trainer at the University of West Georgia, Christy Talley helps develop online courses, trains faculty in online instruction, provides student support, conducts student surveys and evaluations, and delivers online professional development. Part of her role is to give advice to online instructors. The following are her top 10 tips for online instructors:

Replaying History With the Help of Online Simulation
When Laura Cruz, history professor at Western Carolina University, began putting together a western civilization course for the first time at a community college, her top concerns were designing the course to meet the abilities of a wide range of students and minimizing the possibilities of plagiarism. “A lot of my colleagues, particularly those who taught U.S. history, did a lot of active learning projects, particularly getting students out into the community. But that’s tricky when teaching western civ. So I tried to think of something similar that would compel students to do actual original research that they would enjoy,” Cruz says.

Lost in Translations: Translating On-Ground Courses into Effective Web-Based Learning
By Sherion H. Jackson, Ed.D.
Creating a Web-based course from a current, successful on-ground course is difficult and, at best, can be considered a translation process. In the past, instructors have created Web-based courses by taking those courses that were being taught on-ground and posting the information online, then calling these courses “Web-based.” Imitating a sound, successful on-ground course will not necessarily bring about the same success for students in a Web-based learning environment. Simply converting lectures and other course materials from on-ground courses to Web-based platforms may not be as effective as hoped. (American Federations of Teachers, 2000, p. 8).

Aside: An Open-Source, Web-Based Tool for Anonymous Student-Instructor Dialogue
End-of-course evaluations provide valuable information that instructors can use to make improvements to their courses in the future; however, other than providing a forum for students to express their opinions, these evaluations come too late to make a difference for the people who fill out the forms.