The instructor’s course has been launched and the students seem to be participating. In fact I have read circa 286 responses to the discussion questions posed by the instructor for the second and third module. I have read numerous emails between the instructor and the students. The instructor is actively involved with the students and the questions are well thought out, my opinion, and encourage participation. I find myself wanting to answer them myself! Interestingly, the students have begun to settle into the course and it’s materials with relative ease. They are developing their relationships with each other; and they are carefully being guided by the instructor to respond to comments from students that have not had comments before, thereby including everyone. Most of the direction given to students by the instructor is done in the email portion of the LMS and in the discussion threads.
What is amazing to me, is the fact that these students are relating most of the information, given by the instructor, in the modules and discussion questions to their own personal experiences. Two outstanding discussions were those on how learners learn and what each student finds is the best way for them to learn. The answers are quite interesting and should not be ignored by the instructor. I would make certain I was paying attention to what these students were saying. I would even categorize their responses to understand better what they are telling me about the course and their understanding of the material and what is being committed to long-term memory. There was quite a bit of information given that states they learn best by seeing pictures and practicing memory techniques. Also, they expressed their need to practice what they have learned after the course is finished.
In phase two of a course per Boettcher and Conrad, the instructor’s mentoring skills are important. So far the instructor’s mentoring and nuturing of students in the course would be rated excellent if I was called upon to do so. He/she is quite capable in the area of announcements, discussion threads and communicating in emails to the class. One thing I would do differently though, is encourage my students to use the rubric to help them determine where they are in the course regarding the level of their work. The rubric I developed would easily lend itself to this kind of student self-assessment. Also, given the amount of time it takes to monitor the discussions and read the students daily input to the discussion thread, I would want to have a teaching assistant jointly managing the course to help provide a deeper ability to help those students who seem to be floundering a bit which is reflected in their grades and quality of discussion offerings. If unable to accomplish this with a teaching assistant, I think would try to set up something that would allow for student or peer assessment of the other students’ discussion offerings and/or projects etc.
Because the course materials, which I try to read as much of as I can each week, are extensive, I would try to include podcasts and You Tube videos as much as possible. I would want my students to use the internet to add to the concepts being offered each module and to give more dimension to the discussion threads for that module each week. I can not clearly see how the students have time to reflect on and think deeply about the concepts the instructor has given them in the modules. In fact the quantity of the course materials has bothered me all week. As the article offered by Penn State Learning Design Community Hub states, “…how much material can students cover?” And, “…are they remembering unimportant details, rather than important concepts?” How much will these students remember after they have left the course? What big idea will they take with them?
Finally, most online courses use projects and/or ill-structured problems the students can research and solve rather than using quizzes. This was a rather disturbing problem with the course, the lack of time for the students to research and solve weekly problems regarding the concepts in the modules. I thought it would be more helpful if they would have had the chance to see what bloggers and researchers found out about the concepts they were learning. The bottom line is, I would want to offer them more visual and audio references, rather than the amount of reading they are required to do. I would couple this with asking them to research online the answers to the questions being asked, for more in-depth learning. The bottom line is this, because of the rich technology available with Web 2.0 applications, I would want to dig more deeply into matching learning theories with learning goals and tools.
JOYSTECHTOOL 
In addition to these blog entries, which are exactly what I’d hoped they’d be, I think you’re going to need some kind of short form list that will help you as you begin to put up your own online content. The list would be based on the blog contents–maybe four columns–like/ how it’s done and do differently/how it should be done. The blog helps you think in depth, but the lists will be quick references as you begin putting up content. We need to start thinking about the steps to creating a class or at least a portion of a class.
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Plesae read week 4. I am beginning to get to how I want to present a hybrid course. We probably need to talk about how you think this short form should go. I am formulating how I want the elements to work. I have placed a video on one type of hybrid method in Diigo. I placed it in there today. I also have a video on my blog that helps me get to what need to be done to get things right. I think I want to go a another week or so before I start getting material together. I am still deciding whether I want it in LMS Bb 9 or Instructive Canvas or my Wikispace.
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