cynthiasite
read. think. write. speak. be.
User loginupdates & infoSpring 2010
> While this site formerly hosted my online composition course, I have migrated all of my materials to Desire2Learn. This site has been restructured to focus on my academic blog as well as on materials & resources for distance education faculty, both here at Suffolk and across the state. |
blogsWhat Do DE Faculty Really Need?Hi, all! I've been away from the blog for a few days because from 2/26-2/27, I was Albany for SUNY Days/Higher Ed Lobby Days. It was very interesting to hear our legislators' reactions to Governor Spitzer. On 2/28, I held two of my three DE Mentor Orientation meetings (see item #2 under mentor responsibilities), one on the Ammerman Campus and one at Grant. On 3/1, I hosted the Eastern Campus orientation meeting. I'd like to share what I'm hearing from DE faculty thus far about what they want and need from the college by way of support and professional development. And I'd love to hear your feedback too, of course. In no particular order:
Enrollment Issues: AWOL Students, Rosterlings, VanishersSeveral DE faculty have recently posted comments about students who are officially registered in their class but seem to be AWOL, others who post a pic of their tattooed arm but nothing more, suggestions about waiting to "T" the rosterlings, and others who prefer not to wait until the state census date to make space for "real" students. Dealing with students who are "late starters" and students who do wish to participate but have legitimate legal or medical reasons for not being able to at times presents one set of challenges for which I hope that our DE faculty continue to share their good advice and suggestions. However, having students officially enrolled who never log in even once seems to be a perennial problem. On this matter, George Tvelia writes the following: Clues to Disruptive DE StudentsGiven the spate of recent workshops at Suffolk about dealing with disruptive student behavior, student civility, etc., I found this Feb. 20, 2007, New York Times article interesting: "Flame First, Think Later: New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior" by Daniel Goleman. It seems there's a psychological term for what most of us discuss in terms of netiquette as when students flame classmates: the "online disinhibition effect," which refers to "the many ways people behave with less restraint in cyberspace." Apparently this phenomenon which enables students to send less-than-respectful messages to their professors is the same phenomenon that enables quiet students to "speak up" more in online discussions. Is anyone else using Bb?There are so many quirks in Bb; I was wondering if anyone else is suffering her way through. A problem I've been having is that some documents I create do not show up in the Gradebook. (For those who have not yet used the program, Discussion Board is the classroom, Gradebook is where you must view/give feedback/grade the assignments.) Today a student submitted her assignments (I can see them in the Gradebook) but they did not show up in discussion. I think it's the same problem. DE Mentor Orientation MeetingsHere's the info on my DE faculty mentor program orientations: Ammerman • Wed. 2/28 • 11:15-12:20 • ACC Computer Lab Glad to have this forum.Cynthia, Thank you for creating this super forum! I have needed a place to discuss some of my concerns regarding the online courses I am teaching, and this is the perfect venue. Not sure if anyone else is experiencing this, but about half of my current online class is AWOL. I have attempted to get their email addresses, but for some reason SLN's email feature is not allowing me to access their emails. Can anyone help me with this? I am about to call the SLN helpdesk. Two of the students were denied access to the class, and they seemed quite puzzled about why that happened. Those two have gotten their issues resolved and are now offically reinstated. Ten others came online, went through the orientation and have never returned, and yet they remain on my roster. SLN vs. BbAfter six semesters using SLN I was pretty comfortable, but since I am developing a new course I thought I would make the move to Bb now. I took two training courses and was able to set up the course without too much trouble. The first problem - a big one - was that students were notified to log on to SLN. It took two weeks of confusion to bring them over. Some just stayed with another EG13 SLN course, some were so frustrated they dropped. About a month before starting the course I found that my text had a supplement through Bb that could be included right in my class. The publisher downloaded My Literature Lab and I went back to include assignments (which were really cool). Well...the access code that came with the text did not correspond, so they gave students all new codes. These, too, did not correspond. Two weeks into the course I had to scrap the MLL idea. After the SLN/Bb fiasco, students could not access assignments. Clarification of CMS StatusGood evening, everyone! I've received a few emails from colleagues that begin, "Now that we're moving to Blackboard, I have some questions about the transition from SLN to Blackboard...." I want to clarify that the college -- to my knowledge as of 2/15/07 at 9 p.m. -- has yet to announce a decision regarding the CMS platform. Yes, the Distance Ed Committee (DEC) has unanimously recommended Blackboard, but we have yet to hear the official announcement. So when SLN discontinues support for the current IBM Lotus Notes/Domino platform, likely in 2008 but by 2009 at the very latest, the college will have to move either to Blackboard or to ANGEL. (You can read the SLN Policy Advisory Committee's Chancellor-Endorsed Recommendation and the subcommittee report on Maintaining SLN Platform.) Yearning for face-to-face Interaction?I teach a class online via the SLN platform. The first module, which is the "Icebreaker," is rather long and repetitive for a purpose- so that the students may spend time with it and get familiar with the system of posting questions and participating in threaded discussions. Once a students passes the test questions, which are based on the course procedure, the rest of the course becomes very easy, indeed! But a few of the students, having gone through the "Icebreaker," are still asking for "personal help," though they had passed the icebreaker test. What's happening here? Frequency of student postingI hope this is the right place to post a comment. I have never posted to a blog before. I guess I am getting old - no, not virgin blogger - the font is so tiny I can't read some of it! My students have not expressed quite the sentiment of George's, but I do have a hard time getting through to them that they must post at least three times per week-long discussion. Any ideas on how to make this information penetrate better? 
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