CogSim: Book Summary

Designing and Teaching an Online Course

Book Summary

BUY THIS BOOK FROM BARNES & NOBLE

Schweizer, Heidi (1999). Designing and teaching an online course: Spinning your web classroom. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Glasser's Four Psychology Needs

1) Belonging

2) Freedom

3) Power

4) Fun

FULFILLING PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ONLINE

BELONGING

	Hold an on-site meeting.
	Introduce yourself online
	Personalize your distance learning classroom by adding student profiles
	Use cooperative learning
	Be invitational by being accessible to students
	Use email
	Be approachable, be personal---respond quickly and thoughtfully to student comments

FREEDOM

	Let students choose when and how they complete assignments
	Give students the freedom to pace themselves to go faster or slower than others taking the course.
	Allow students to choose, through links, whether or not to explore topics in more depth (i.e., enrichment)

POWER

	Knowledge is power!
	Design learning experiences that are self-directed or involve discovery learning
	Create a variety of interactive experiences
	Allow students to share personal experiences related to the topic
	Consider how the online environment empowers those who may not speak out in a traditional classroom.

FUN

	Feeling successful is fun!
	Provide tutorials
	Provide material that gives students second chances
	Provide enough time
	Create interactive discussions
	Use group work
	Offer opportunities to exercise creativity
	Share responsibility for a "joke of the week"
	Use an announcement section (include some personal touches like holiday greetings)
	Create competition (e.g., be one of the first five to complete a scavenger hunt)

HINTS

	Teach students how to use the software (when possible, via a face-to-face orientation session).
	Provide a printed manual.
	Provide the contact information for tech support.
	"Ramp up" assignments in their degree of technical sophistication.
	Encourage and support the traditional learner.

DESIGNING DOWN

	Program Description
	Course Description
	Culminating Program Outcomes
	Culminating Course Outcomes
	Unit Level Outcomes
	Bloom's Taxonomy
	Course Outline

THREE “HOT” THEORIES

	Constructivism
	Multiple Intelligences
	Brain-based Research

WHAT DO LEARNERS NEED?

	A complex, activity-rich environment that arouses curiosity and interest.
	Multiple ways to make meaning.
	An environment that responds to the brain's natural inclination to see patterns, make connection, and create.
	Ways of connecting information to what learners already know.
	Opportunities for social interactions that foster learning.
	Opportunities to demonstrate learning in authentic contexts.
	Ongoing assessment.
	Assessments that tap into multiple intelligences.
	Access to models of good performance.

Summative vs. formative assessment

	Examples of "multiple intelligences"-type assessments
	Rubrics

DESIGNING RUBRICS

	Make sure the rubric's outcomes are consistent with your learning outcomes.
	Brainstorm a variety of ways to demonstrate mastery of the outcome.
	List criteria for what you think constitutes quality, OK, below average, and failing work.
	Check to ensure that language is clear, precise and unambiguous.
	Avoid unnecessary negative language.
	Give the rubric to students prior to the assessment.

MORE ON MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Provide a variety of assignments.

	discussions
	projects
	interviews
	research
	critiques
	peer review/reactions
	video review/reactions
	summarize
	design or art production

Provide assignments that utilize more than one type of intelligence.

Verbal/Linguistic:

	text materials
	storytelling
	poems
	news articles

Visual/Spatial:

	pictures
	drawings
	diagrams

Logical/Mathematical:

make up analogies

Musical/Rhythmic:

	music
	raps

Interpersonal:

	group work
	teach something to someone in the class
	service learning

Intrapersonal:

	set and accomplish personal goals
	assess your own work
	explain your personal values related to a topic

Body/Kinesthetic:

"Learning by doing" projects

Naturalist:

draw or photograph plants and/or animals

ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUPS

TYPES

	Base: support, encouragement, assistance (2-5 persons)
	Formal: project-based (2-4 persons)
	Informal: focuses on selected material to be learned (2-4 persons)

ROLES IN BASE GROUPS

	technical support person: responds to technical questions.
	recorder: writes minutes.
	facilitator: checks that all members are contributing.
	checker: assures all work is completed on time.

HINTS

	Group Identity: ask group members to come up with group names
	Which One is False: ask students to come up with three statements about themselves---two true and one false, and post them online. Activity involves guessing which one is false.

ENSURING INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY

	Use individual assessments like quizzes. papers, reports, presentations, and self assessments.
	Monitor student work
	Rotate responsibility for an "observer report" from each group
	Intervene when a group is struggling.
	Meet with each student individually (even if it's via chat rooms).

BEING "VISIBLE" ONLINE

	Communicate clearly: online and paper road maps, calendars, unambiguous directions and instructions, and rubrics.
	Personalize: use preferred names, be responsive, have a sense of humor, use an informal but clear writing style, make brief social comments.
	Be a Discussion Leader: be prepared, be accurate, clarify misunderstandings, refer students to comments made by others in the class, summarize discussions, raise questions and check for answers, and enforce guidelines for respect and responsibility.
	Be a Manager: establish a record-keeping system, set and maintain timelines, enforce rules and guidelines.

TECHNOLOGY

(Questions to ask potential hosting service, minimum hardware requirements, )

BE PREPARED TO HANDLE PROBLEMS

	Provide access to a technical consultant for a specific time period
	Provide technical help online within the course.
	Make use of the expertise of other members in the course.

Options:

	An 800 number.
	Online help (including FAQs)
	Provide email addresses, phone numbers, and hours of operation for important campus functions: bookstore, academic services, admissions, school office, instructor's office.

EVALUATION

Your evaluation give you feedback on how well your course:

	Enabled students to meet stated outcomes
	Created a viable and rich learning environment
	Provided for quality instructor feedback, interaction, and facilitation
	Included relevant and meaningful resources and activities
	Resulted in a rich, successful learning experience.

From a Course Evaluation You Could Learn

	What students liked and didn't like
	Parts of the course you may remove next time
	Segments of the course that need additional resources or activities
	How to better facilitate online student learning
	Things you will never do again
	Impressions of students' online experiences
	How you could structure the course differently to ensure that all students are successful.

Tips for Evaluations

	Keep data confidential
	Conduct it SOON after the completion of the course.
	Keep it simple.
	Support the written evaluation with follow-up interviews, if possible.
	Provide an online forum for a few weeks after the course is completed.
	Include a variety of ways to complete and return the evaluation (e.g., online, snail mail, fax).

Q&A

	Does online teaching take more time than teaching a traditional class?
	Initially, about 40% more work, but that declines to about 20% more work after you've done it before.

	What's the biggest difference between teaching online vs. traditional classes?
	Online classes: more facilitating, less didactic teaching.

	What is an optimal student-to-teacher ratio?
	Graduate: 15 to 1
	Undergraduate: 25 to 1

	How do you prevent cheating on online exams?
	(Prefers combination of papers, discussion, and projects so it's much harder to cheat).

	What are the pluses and minuses of online instruction?
	+: more responsive to students, more flexible
	-: student attrition, possible loss of interaction

	Will web courses put face-to-face instruction out of business?
	No, but institutions who cling only to face-to-face instruction will face a shrinking market.

Well, that’s it for the summary. If anything interests you, please read the book.

Submit a Summary!

f you've written summaries or reviews of books on teaching and learning, we'll include them here and credit you. You can email them to us at cogsim@cogsim.com.