Online Course Peer Review

Last week I attended the annual International Conference on College Teaching and Learning and came away with all kinds of good ideas to incorporate into my online classes.  One that I especially liked was using 4-5 minute YouTube video clips  to spur online discussions.  Here’s an example from nutrition instructor Karen Schuster of Florida Community College of Jacksonville:

Chapter 9:  Calcium and Healthy Bones

This week’s video segment is about healthy bones and specifically bone density and the metabolism of calcium in the body.  It comes from a source that may be surprising to you:  NASA!  What was the most interesting or surprising information for you in this video?  What questions were you left with after watching the video?  Was this video helpful as a learning aid for you as a student in a college level introductory nutrition course - why or why not?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkdZb6K55-U

The presenter recommended giving students extra credit for finding factual videos on YouTube that might be used for future class activities.  This serves as another learning opportunity for students while potentially saving the instructor time!