Online Courses: Where to Start?

Where are you "on the map" of teaching online?

Helen and I have identified some key points on such a map:

We both started by created web-enhanced courses. In other words, we began to use online resources to supplement a course. Then, as we developed confidence and skills, we were able to replace some "seat time" with online activities. If we had to miss a face-to-face class session in order to attend a conference or for other reasons, we were able to still hold class. Eventually, we made a course officially hybrid - which means the university can schedule the classroom for other uses when we have slated class meetings to be fully online (while retaining certain days as face-to-face). Flipped and blended courses continue this hybridized element. Finally, teaching a fully online course requires knowledge of synchronous and asynchronous elements and the capacity to decide which to use when.

Where are you on this map? Have you created a web-enhanced course? Have you flipped your classroom? Are you looking to teach a fully online class or perhaps you have already done so? In preparation for our last Just-in-Time session (Tuesday, 4/28 @ 1:00pm in KPlz 175), think about what you would like learn/gain from a discussion about online teaching.

We will demonstrate a template on Moodle, showcase some screenshots from your colleague's online courses, and show our own work teaching online.

You might like to consider taking a MOOC about teaching online with Moodle. It begins on May 1st: http://www.wiziq.com/teachblog/moodle-mooc-6

Lastly, here is some great advice about "humanizing online teaching."

Different Approaches to Using Moodle

We had a great session today, sharing different approaches to using Moodle (the learning management system used at UMD).

Brian Gute, Rachel Breckenridge, and Char Harkins each walked us through a "show and tell" of a course or two that they have designed on Moodle and are currently teaching.

Brian's "tab view" method of setting up his course was a big hit.

Rachel showed us the value of keeping hidden links and materials from previous iterations of a course.

Char showed the interface with Turnitin and how robust the feedback mechanisms are in that interface.

Here are the examples of student work that Char shared as she discussed her Chapter Project assignment: http://www.d.umn.edu/hper/majors/exercise_science/chapterproject.html.  (These are public links through which students are sharing their work.)

If you are new to Moodle, here is a video to help you get started: http://www.lynda.com/Moodle-tutorials/Moodle-26-Essential-Training/163093-2.html.

Remember that you can get help learning more about Moodle from our academic technologists at UMD, simply by emailing at-itss@d.umn.edu.

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Post amended on 4/16/15 to include some inspiration!
Laure Charleux from the Georgraphy Department recently presented her work on gamifying a class in Moodle.  Here is her video demonstrating the game she created to teach statistics for students in the GIS major: https://youtu.be/SuSlF2G_rSU
Here is Laure's presentation from last week on Game Dynamics in Moodle.