Well bloggers, online courses have been developed amidst much weeping and wailing. Test courses were lost, files could not be uploaded, videos were not displayed and every imaginable calamity that can affect a harried student working on an assignment mere hours before the deadline, occurred. Even in the swirl of the stress and chaos, you all persevered. I peeked in every now and then and gave a bit of comfort and encouragement here and there but by and large most of you sweated and did the work and I was impressed. I can safely say that most of the courses were clear, practical and aligned with objectives and context. There is much that can be done to improve because there is always room for improvement but I am satisfied that most of you understand what is required to develop a blended course, you understand how and when technology can and should be used in a course and you understand the constraints of your circumstances. I feel certain that if I had not given the assignment of preparing a blended course then you would not have fully appreciated all the issues involved from process to pedagogy and technology. In other words, the proof of the pudding is in the eating...
Thank you Dr D for the exercise. It was a truely enjoyable exercise. I learnt a lot while doing it and yes, You are so right about improvement too: Already I can see one or two things that I want to add to the course I submitted! Very addictive indeed!Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI did my test course under the assumption that I would be teaching it next semester. However, within this past week it has been confirmed that some minor re-shuffling has been done to the Literatures in English section's teaching arrangements, so I'll be responsible for another course instead. It was fine with me teaching either course, so I'm not heartbroken. The course I'll be ultimately teaching is already on myElearning, because I had already blended it when I taught it a few times previously (it had not been a blended course prior to that when another lecturer was teaching it). Because of Dr. Dianne's CUTL course I now know how to improve it by storyboarding, labelling sections, embedding videos, using more technologies, etcetera.
ReplyDeleteThe good coming out of this change is that I can pass on what I did on myElearning for this assignment to the lecturer who will now be teaching it (i.e. the "test" course); who was the one that designed the course in the first place; who had recently retired, but has stayed on to help with the teaching load; and who hadn't had the course on myElearning before. Therefore, the test course - and the storyboard - may well be of benefit to this lecturer and her tutor(s) next semester, since she had very recently shown an interest in blending her courses.
If-/Whenever I'm to take over the course in the future (since it's one I've tutored & co-lectured in the past when I was a postgrad student), I'll already have posted it online and can make whatever necessary adjustments are required, without having to start from scratch.
Hence, based on everything I've said above, I do not at all feel that my test course was in vain. Instead, the exercise garnered additional benefits.
Dr. Thurab, you have jokes, huh? It was a good exercise. I look forward to the day that I would get the opportunity to actually executed the online course on some "real live" students. It would only be then I can see what spices I would need to add or subtract and not just rely on the "sweet" aromas.
ReplyDeleteDr. Dianne, it was a worthwhile experience for me. I especially enjoyed translating the storyboard to the online course. It also allowed me to read and explore in areas outside of my field. I was also happy today to see your posting of how we can get access to our online couse shell, I am looking forward to adding the rest of details to it. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteHi Dr. D! I enjoyed the assignment a lot, and since this was the task I had set aside to complete during my vacation for work... I can work on something else for the upcoming semester for my students =0. I'm actually quite proud of the product which was completed in a relatively short space of time. And I'm looking forward to introducing the next batch of students to this course. I believe giving students the opportunity to use the online module as it is laid out, will certainly enhance their experience in this course. Glad I took the time to complete this assignment as I structured it in the storyboard. Thanks Dr. D.
ReplyDeleteHello Dr. Dianne, this assignment could not have come at a better time for me. We have been given a mandate at UTT that as of Sept 2011, we must use the blackboard environment for ALL our courses. If I had not taken the time to do this assignment, I would have been beyond crazed come Sept. I now know what it takes to create a blended course and at first I even thought that it may have been really difficult to use the techniques I learnt in TLTL 6206. I found ways of incorporating journals, forums etc into my course that I previously would have never considered. This was truly a rewarding assignment!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dr. Dianne for this opportunity. I really felt more enthusiastic about building and using a blended learning course after completing this course and this assignment.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just found out that the course I used for the assignment has been scheduled for 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on a Saturday in the September semester and I am now even more enthusiastic about blended learning. I intend to increase the online component of the course and make use of skype and webx so that I can enjoy some Saturdays in those 16 weeks.
Again, I thank you.
Thank you Dr. Dianne for all the encouragement that you gave me during this course, I could not have done it without your kind words throughout.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the day when I can implement this course, that would be a red letter day. I really enjoyed this course and even though I cannot have a blended course now, I will be using some of it as teaching and learning strategies for the students. Hats off to you Doc.
Dr Dianne, I must thank you for the experience of building a blended course. I certaintly would not have felt as empowered as I now feel about a blended course if you did not give this assignment.
ReplyDeleteI know that my sentiments after the fact might seem unbeliveable but that is how i feel now - after the fact! After the nights of stress when i just could not get on line, when i thought the tech gods must have been conspiring against me, when my picture just would not upload.
In spite the calamities, it was proven that as in most things; the proof of the pudding was in the eating or doing.
I hope that i would get an opportunity in the near future to actually implement the course i built.
Finally, thank you Dr. D. for your help, understanding and constant support. I appreciate it greatly.
Dr Dianne, I must thank you for the experience of building a blended course. I certaintly would not have felt as empowered as I now feel about a blended course if you did not give this assignment.
ReplyDeleteI know that my sentiments after the fact might seem unbeliveable but that is how i feel now - after the fact! After the nights of stress when i just could not get on line, when i thought the tech gods must have been conspiring against me, when my picture just would not upload.
In spite the calamities, it was proven that as in most things; the proof of the pudding was in the eating or doing.
I hope that i would get an opportunity in the near future to actually implement the course i built.
Finally, thank you Dr. D. for your help, understanding and constant support. I appreciate it greatly.
It is definitely a very worthy exercise and it helped to improve our preparation and delivery as well by every means. Since it was about the course which we are teaching currently it was quite easy to readily reformat everything as per the requirement. I did not do just for the sake of this assignment, but kept that as a standard format for the current and future use. After I got some good feedback from you, I also have started preparing similar course content and story board for a new course which I have been developing and for the rest too, which I'm up to teach.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opportunity Dr. Dianne!
-Jaya
Definitely, and I love pudding. I never thought that I would be able to create a blended course. Once I understood the story board aspect of it I thought it was very helpful for me to deliver at least one of my courses as a blended one. I must say that it is time consuming and some what addictive just like a good pudding.
ReplyDeleteKeshia Davis-Barnes