Dear Colleagues,
It's just past the mid-semester point. We are all settled in to the fall routine. Here are some things to do and think about.
Entering Grades in Blackboard Learn
It is important that you enter grades for every student for an assignment. If a student deserves a 0 because the assignment wasn't submitted, enter the 0. Don't wait until the end of the semester to enter the grade.
Here's why: By default, the Blackboard Learn Grade Center is set up to show a running total. That is, it shows what the grade would be for all the assignments that have been graded.
So, if there are 4 assignments due (and you are using points), and the student only submitted 3 assignments and received 100 points on each of them, the running total for those 3 is an A, 300 pts/300 pts. If no grade is entered for the missing assignment, that's what they see. However, if 0 points are entered for the missing assignment, then the running total is 300 pts/400 pts or 75%, a C. That's a wake-up call.
Bottom line: when you grade, enter a grade for every assignment, even if it's a zero. It gives the students a realistic picture of their progress.
Professional Learning Opportunities
Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series (BITS) webinars
October 26 at 3:00pm EDT
"7 strategies for a student-centered course"
Do you want to create an engaging course that allows students to construct knowledge through participating, interacting, and sharing? Join Dr. Rene Martinez of Regent University (VA) for seven strategies on how to make your course student-centered in order to successfully engage your students.
November 9 at 1:00pm EDT
"Using humor to engage students online"
Want to learn how to effectively incorporate appropriate humor into online courses to enhance the learning journey? Then this webinar is for you! Join Lisa Panagopoulos of University of Massachusetts Lowell for tips and strategies.
There are also recorded webinars available on the registration site.
Quality Matter Improving Your Online Course (IYOC)
November 10 – December 1, 2017
This workshop explores the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric and provides a framework to improve online and blended courses. Participants use the QM Rubric to review their own online or blended courses and develop a course improvement plan. Participants must have a developed online or blended course to work on. The IYOC workshop runs asynchronously in QM's Moodle LMS. Register by November 7th to secure your seat. Limited to 20 participants. For more information, please contact Debbi Canavan.
Tech A490 in spring
I will be teaching Tech 490 Designing and Teaching an Online Course this spring. It will be in UAOnline soon and available for tuition waiver. Here's the course description:
Provides practical and theoretical advice and support for the design and development of an online course. It models current best practices, facilitates sharing online, demonstrates a variety of tools and strategies available in the Blackboard environment, and provides direct instruction about online teaching and learning. All required work relates to an online course that the class member is developing or revising.
There will be eight synchronous online class meetings on Monday nights during the semester. Debbi Canavan will be co-teaching with me.
Encourage you students!
This study from the UK found that sending weekly encouraging texts to students lead to lower dropout rates. The findings don't surprise me. It reminds me of the work of Nel Noddings on caring in education. Most instructors do care, but it's important that the caring show up in relationships. It really helps.
"I do not mean to suggest that the establishment of caring relations will accomplish everything that must be done in education, but these relations provide the foundation for successful pedagogical activity." Nel Noddings
I regularly ask the faculty I work with to post announcements and to reach out to students who haven't logged in to Blackboard for a while. Human beings are relational animals. Connections and a sense of caring matter.
