January, 2008

Online Classroom - January, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
…

Inviting Experience Rung by Rung: Designing Effective Literature Ladders
By Jan Schmittauer, PhD
Online teachers have a unique challenge to provide active, engaging, and meaningful reading experiences for their students. One way to do this is by using literature ladders, a technology-rich tool originally described by Dr. Annette Lamb, a professor at Indiana University–Indianapolis, to transform reading from a passive practice to an enriched, multidimensional experience.

Tips from the Pros - Teaching Upper-Division Math Courses Online
By Markus Pomper
The shift from lower-division to upper-division courses constitutes a paradigm shift for most students. I recommend a three-pronged approach to help students make this transition in online courses.

Online Teaching Fundamentals: Course and Instructor Evaluation: If It’s So Good, Why Does It Feel So Bad?
By Patti Shank, PhD, CPT
Most of us would agree that continual improvement is a good idea. For example, the manufacturer of my MP3 player needs to make certain options easier. But I’m thrilled that recording a television show using my DVD recorder is easier and more intuitive than recording a television show on my old VCR. One of the reasons that continual improvement in our jobs doesn’t feel as good as continual improvement in the electronics we buy is that improving humans is hard. And it’s far too often done in a hurtful way and for the wrong reasons.

Using Personality and Learning Assessments as a Metacognitive Icebreaker Activity in the Online Classroom
By Jacqueline A.F.I. Carroll
Palloff and Pratt (1999) and TA Consultants (2003) suggest that a sense of community is built based on a warm, friendly, interactive online environment. Furthermore, when these aspects are present in combination, this will bring about an improved learning environment. Therefore, one of the most important priorities for instructors is to set the tone for a friendly, interactive, and inviting learning community early in the course. This can be accomplished through an effective icebreaking activity.

Consider Learner Characteristics, Learning Conditions in Course Design
In the early days of online learning, text was the primary medium of instruction. Now options abound, but finding the appropriate tools and using them effectively is another matter.

Teaching Online With Errol: Become a Better Online Instructor in 2008!
By Errol Craig Sull
As online instructors, we should make at least one resolution and do whatever we must to keep it throughout this year: to better ourselves as online instructors—for us, our students, our schools. To not do so means we stagnate and thus so does any course we teach, and the losers, ultimately, will be our students. If you take but one of the following suggestions as your teaching resolution for the year AND stick with it, you will become better as a teacher.