Week 9 Projects
Well, this week I have created the MyMathLab version of my online MAT 1A Calculus class. I created all of the homework assignments for the students, along with quizzes on each chapter and the proctored online math midterms they will need to complete.
The orientation for my online class will be uploaded to WebCT. This would be the first site that the students in my online class would access. Since I am not teaching an online class this semester, I do not actually have access to WebCT this semester, but once I am assigned the online class, WebCT space would be reserved for me and I could actually upload my orientation outline stating that the students would register and login to MyMathLab instead of WebCT for actual mathematics instruction, lectures, PowerPoints, exams and videos. For now, most of the instructions that the students would need to get started in my online class are clearly explained in the syllabus of the class.
The syllabus was created using Dreamweaver and it hyperlinked for easy navigation. The students can also print out a hard copy of the syllabus if they would prefer. Everything is included in the syllabus such as short description of the course, information about me, email address and phone numbers, grading scale for the course and lecture schedule for the short videos I plan to create for the course. The students should be able to determine what information is going to be covered in the class from week to week.
I have also included the official course outline of record for the students viewing. This is the contract between the district, students and instructors of the materials that should be covered in each class we offer at RCC. I have made sure that all of the required topics are covered in both lectures and homework assignments and the main topics are tested on the midterms and quizzes. This will ensure that if a student passes my class, he or she cannot state that one of the required topics were not covered in this section.
The homework for the entire semester has been selected and assigned by me as of this morning. I made sure that the students would be able to complete the assignments in the given 8-10 hours that are required for outside work in a traditional MAT 1A class per week. Some students might take longer to completed, but for the average student working their way through calculus, they should be able to complete all of the assignments for that week in 8 to 10 hours.
The quizzes for each chapter were created and assigned as well. I have carefully chosen questions that will reflect the students' understanding of the material that is important to MAT 1A and might be useful in the next sequential course which is MAT 1B. The time limit for each chapters' quiz was set to 2 hours and there are 20 questions on each quiz. Since the quizzes are not proctored, the students might be able to use the textbook or other outside sources to help with their score, but realize that they will actually need to know the material for the 2 midterm exams and the final exam which are proctored and closed book.
The midterms and final exam were also created for this online class. The questions were again hand chosen to reflect the students' understanding of the material that is essential to this class. The midterms and final exam are closed book and proctored exams that the students will take with the computer. I have allowed for partial credit on the midterms and final exam. The password for the proctors to type in after they have check proper photo identification to ensure that it is the correct student taking the exam is "ETEC."
The students that I would expect to take this class would be dedication students who are self motivated and understand the importance of learning the material and how it will apply to following semesters and even in other classes such as physics, chemistry and biology. I would expect them to want to learn as much as they can squeeze out of this course to better prepare them for the future. Some of the students might actually be math majors and would want to benefit from all they can from the asynchronous lectures and multimedia textbook format this class has to offer. If another instructor wanted to copy my course and use it as their own, I would not have a problem and would offer as much assistance as needed to help my colleague with their course. I personally believe that working together as a team to create a better and more successful learning environment for all of the students is the most important aspect of an online Calculus class.
I will still need to create some videos for one lesson, and plan on getting that done by next week.
Please look at what I have created so far.
MAT 1A Online
The login is "namekata"
The password is "etec676d"
Please let me know what you think or suggestions to the course that will make it better. Feel free to explore the course and the content areas.
James
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Week 8
Development-Testing
The media that I create using Camtasia would be tested to insure quality assuarance, both in the presentation of the materials and the quality of the material to make sure the desired students learning outcomes are being met. For my online class, I plan to upload a majority of my videos to WebCT, (our college's management's system) but that does not necessarily mean that every video will be compliant to ADA standards. I will need to create word documents explaining each step of the method to solve every problem that I create a video for. I want to create captions for the videos, but I am not quite sure if Camtasia would allow me to do this. I am thinking that I would need to create a PowerPoint to go along with Camtasia that has the closed captioning feature for the hearing impaired.
I would test my videos for completeness and validity by asking several colleagues to view the videos before posting to WebCT. This would check for accuracy, correctness and clearness of the explanations. I would also be checking for this three criteria as I created the videos as well.
I would then need to upload the videos to WebCT and have some sample students try the videos in settings where students would be watching the videos from. (etc. home, mathlab, work...) I would want to take note of any difficulties in download speeds, choppiness of the videos and audio with slow connection speeds and other issues that actual students might run into. I would also have this group of students test the videos on different platforms, such as Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Macintosh systems as well.
As far as quality checking and testing, I would definitely run my videos through a sample set of students. I would probably choose a controlled sample like a traditional class to view the videos and to give me any feedback and details/corrections on my videos. The reason I would choose a traditional class was so that I can ask for feedback when we meet as a class. I could also make any corrections/suggestions and then asked the traditional students to take a look at the videos again to see if improvements were made.
After the videos are posted, if there are any corrections and/or suggestions made by online students, I would need to remove the videos from WebCT, make the corrections, and then re-upload the videos for others to view. This would take time and more effort, but still would be possible. Hopefully, it I won't need to do this very often.
James
The media that I create using Camtasia would be tested to insure quality assuarance, both in the presentation of the materials and the quality of the material to make sure the desired students learning outcomes are being met. For my online class, I plan to upload a majority of my videos to WebCT, (our college's management's system) but that does not necessarily mean that every video will be compliant to ADA standards. I will need to create word documents explaining each step of the method to solve every problem that I create a video for. I want to create captions for the videos, but I am not quite sure if Camtasia would allow me to do this. I am thinking that I would need to create a PowerPoint to go along with Camtasia that has the closed captioning feature for the hearing impaired.
I would test my videos for completeness and validity by asking several colleagues to view the videos before posting to WebCT. This would check for accuracy, correctness and clearness of the explanations. I would also be checking for this three criteria as I created the videos as well.
I would then need to upload the videos to WebCT and have some sample students try the videos in settings where students would be watching the videos from. (etc. home, mathlab, work...) I would want to take note of any difficulties in download speeds, choppiness of the videos and audio with slow connection speeds and other issues that actual students might run into. I would also have this group of students test the videos on different platforms, such as Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Macintosh systems as well.
As far as quality checking and testing, I would definitely run my videos through a sample set of students. I would probably choose a controlled sample like a traditional class to view the videos and to give me any feedback and details/corrections on my videos. The reason I would choose a traditional class was so that I can ask for feedback when we meet as a class. I could also make any corrections/suggestions and then asked the traditional students to take a look at the videos again to see if improvements were made.
After the videos are posted, if there are any corrections and/or suggestions made by online students, I would need to remove the videos from WebCT, make the corrections, and then re-upload the videos for others to view. This would take time and more effort, but still would be possible. Hopefully, it I won't need to do this very often.
James
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Week 7
New Media for Online Learning
I have taught 3 online classes in my teaching career and every time I teach a class online, I am using a new media of communicating with the students in the class. I like to explore and find interesting ways in which I am able to reach out to my students and answer/assist them with any problems or difficulties they may be encountering with mathematics.
My first experience with my online math class was using the e-pak and emails between myself and the students. I would post bulletins on the bulletin board when there was a test or quiz coming up, but I would also send out a mass email so that the students in the class wouldn't be surprised or unaware. Using email seemed to work out good for the students because all of the students who were active participants in the class checked their emails almost everyday of the semester. I would also check my emails everyday and usually get back to student questions within 24 hours of them emailing me a question.
The only problem that I discovered with emailing my students is that I felt distant from them. I like face to face classes where I can "read" the expressions on students' faces to see if they are actually understanding the material I am lecturing on. By using the e-pak and emailing responses back to students when they had questions, I couldn't get that sense of satisfaction like as if I were actually teaching the class in front of them. I actually didn't really feel as if I was teaching my class but instead just answering questions like a tutor and letting the e-pak teach the students the mathematics.
So the second online class I thought I would incorporate the discussion board idea and have students post homework questions on the discussion boards and give credit to other students who can successfully explain the solutions. I would sometimes post more difficult questions for the students to answer as well. This provided more interaction with both the students and myself and students were always checking the discussion board for the latest post to see if they knew the answer to questions that were being posted.
This new form of communication between the instructor and students was a little better than just emailing alone. I still emailed reminders out to students and they would still email questions they had regarding certain problems, but at least we had more than one form of communication that we could use.
The last online class that I taught was an intermediate algebra class and I wanted to use some of the technologies that Dr. Newberry has used in this class. So in addition to the discussion board, email, and the e-pak from the publisher, I thought I would try podcasts and creating my own videos for more difficult problems in algebra. For extra credit, I would post on the discussion board a difficult problem and the students would be able to attempt to answer the questions my posting their responses on the discussion board. The student with the first correct response would be award the extra credit points for that problem. If none of the students could answer the problem, I would create a Camtasia video explaining how the solution was found. At first, these were audio only, but with the addition of a tablet pc, I was able to do screen recordings of the step by step procedures of how the solution was found. The students really appreciated the videos and most of the students found the screen captures to be more helpful.
It seems like every time I teach an online class, I learn more and more of the capabilities of the media that is available and the amount of communication that students want from the class. I have not had the experience of using a threaded discussion in my own online class. I have used Skype to communicate with students over the internet, but Skype requires that we communicate synchronously. But the advantage of using Skype was that there was no loss of understanding between me and the student. The student could ask me a direct question when something was not clear.
I have never heard about Second Life until this week in the podcast. I would like to explore they new form of media to see how I could integrate this into my online classes. It sounds like something that community college students might benefit from and enjoy using in the future. Perhaps this could help students who normally have a phobia of mathematics become more comfortable discussing math related problems if they do not have a fear of embarrassment from their peers.
James
I have taught 3 online classes in my teaching career and every time I teach a class online, I am using a new media of communicating with the students in the class. I like to explore and find interesting ways in which I am able to reach out to my students and answer/assist them with any problems or difficulties they may be encountering with mathematics.
My first experience with my online math class was using the e-pak and emails between myself and the students. I would post bulletins on the bulletin board when there was a test or quiz coming up, but I would also send out a mass email so that the students in the class wouldn't be surprised or unaware. Using email seemed to work out good for the students because all of the students who were active participants in the class checked their emails almost everyday of the semester. I would also check my emails everyday and usually get back to student questions within 24 hours of them emailing me a question.
The only problem that I discovered with emailing my students is that I felt distant from them. I like face to face classes where I can "read" the expressions on students' faces to see if they are actually understanding the material I am lecturing on. By using the e-pak and emailing responses back to students when they had questions, I couldn't get that sense of satisfaction like as if I were actually teaching the class in front of them. I actually didn't really feel as if I was teaching my class but instead just answering questions like a tutor and letting the e-pak teach the students the mathematics.
So the second online class I thought I would incorporate the discussion board idea and have students post homework questions on the discussion boards and give credit to other students who can successfully explain the solutions. I would sometimes post more difficult questions for the students to answer as well. This provided more interaction with both the students and myself and students were always checking the discussion board for the latest post to see if they knew the answer to questions that were being posted.
This new form of communication between the instructor and students was a little better than just emailing alone. I still emailed reminders out to students and they would still email questions they had regarding certain problems, but at least we had more than one form of communication that we could use.
The last online class that I taught was an intermediate algebra class and I wanted to use some of the technologies that Dr. Newberry has used in this class. So in addition to the discussion board, email, and the e-pak from the publisher, I thought I would try podcasts and creating my own videos for more difficult problems in algebra. For extra credit, I would post on the discussion board a difficult problem and the students would be able to attempt to answer the questions my posting their responses on the discussion board. The student with the first correct response would be award the extra credit points for that problem. If none of the students could answer the problem, I would create a Camtasia video explaining how the solution was found. At first, these were audio only, but with the addition of a tablet pc, I was able to do screen recordings of the step by step procedures of how the solution was found. The students really appreciated the videos and most of the students found the screen captures to be more helpful.
It seems like every time I teach an online class, I learn more and more of the capabilities of the media that is available and the amount of communication that students want from the class. I have not had the experience of using a threaded discussion in my own online class. I have used Skype to communicate with students over the internet, but Skype requires that we communicate synchronously. But the advantage of using Skype was that there was no loss of understanding between me and the student. The student could ask me a direct question when something was not clear.
I have never heard about Second Life until this week in the podcast. I would like to explore they new form of media to see how I could integrate this into my online classes. It sounds like something that community college students might benefit from and enjoy using in the future. Perhaps this could help students who normally have a phobia of mathematics become more comfortable discussing math related problems if they do not have a fear of embarrassment from their peers.
James
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Week 6
Hello everyone,
This week's assignment is a little difficult for me to complete. I think the assignment is to design and develop the media for one lesson from last week's course outline. So my lesson I will choose is one of the main objectives for Calculus students. This topic is related rates.
I would start the students off with the wikipedia definition of related rates. This would give the students a chance to interact with the content of reading the material online. I might also suggest that the students view a video explaining the walk-thru solution to a related rate problem so they can see the steps involved in solving the problems.
video 1
video 2
video 3
I would then present the students in my class with my video podcast of my explanation of related rate problems along with a sample problem for them to work through.
my video
I would assign either some problems from the textbook or from a worksheet online that the students could download and work on. These problems would be considered their homework assignment and they could work on them alone or in small groups.
homework
James
This week's assignment is a little difficult for me to complete. I think the assignment is to design and develop the media for one lesson from last week's course outline. So my lesson I will choose is one of the main objectives for Calculus students. This topic is related rates.
I would start the students off with the wikipedia definition of related rates. This would give the students a chance to interact with the content of reading the material online. I might also suggest that the students view a video explaining the walk-thru solution to a related rate problem so they can see the steps involved in solving the problems.
video 1
video 2
video 3
I would then present the students in my class with my video podcast of my explanation of related rate problems along with a sample problem for them to work through.
my video
I would assign either some problems from the textbook or from a worksheet online that the students could download and work on. These problems would be considered their homework assignment and they could work on them alone or in small groups.
homework
James
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