Online Course Peer Review

Most online instructors try to incorporate meaningful discussions into their courses as a way to get students interacting with each other.  This can work beautifully if discussion requirements are established and easily understood by students.  In addition, message protocols guide students to write clear and effective messages, which can reduce discussion frustration.
Here are some discussion [...]

Journal article reports have proven to be one of the most successful activities I’ve required of my students.  When I first started teaching online, I knew I wanted to incorporate library research somehow, but wasn’t sure just how to go about it.  One of LSC’s librarians, Connie Moeller, encouraged me to have students search for journal [...]

All faculty who teach online or who are thinking about teaching online, are invited to an open lab time to learn from each other!  While the hour will be largely unstructured, participants will have the opportunity to view examples of quality online learning on the “big screen” and discussions will be facilitated to maximize the [...]

Some of the information presented at Thursday’s discussion presentation:
Adding creativity to online discussions:

Write great discussion questions  http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no2/akin.htm 
Invite a guest speaker or “expert” into your online discussion
Have different online classes interact with each other - perhaps have one group of students teach another group a new concept
Incorporate3 – 5 minute YouTube videos or podcasts
Utilize a free online survey [...]

Getting Creative with Online Discussions is the theme of the semester’s first “Learn from Each Other” session.  All LSC faculty members are invited to attend Thursday, October 2 from 12:00 to 1:00 in room E2402. 
Most of us use online discussions as a way to get our students interacting and learning from each other.  They can be a powerful learning [...]

While browsing through the MERLOT website (a good resource for online learning materials) I  happened upon the  Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.  This online journal is published quarterly and its objectives, as found on the website, are to:

Enable faculty to use technology effectively in teaching and learning by learning from a community of researchers and scholars;
Enable academic programs to [...]

When an online course goes through the peer review process and does not meet minimum rubric standards (minimum standards = a score of 60 out of 70 possible points AND yes scores on all 3-point essential standards) the course is considered “in progress”.  The instructor of the “in progress” course is strongly encouraged to make recommended changes in order to [...]

A couple of years ago, the LSC peer review team leaders had a brainstorm session and developed a list of online course best practices.  This list can be found in the upper left hand corner of this blog.  It’s good info!
While “surfing the web” (that sounds so outdated!), I recently found an excellent resource from [...]

The online course peer review process is entering its fourth year at LSC!  In that time, 48 different LSC online courses have been reviewed and 25 faculty members have volunteered as peer review team members.  Interest in this voluntary and confidential process continues to grow, especially as professional development plans are due and faculty evaluations are [...]

LSC Librarian, Connie Moeller, recently presented a session to faculty about using streaming video in online classes. She provided us with the following links to websites and film companies which provide free streaming video (these can be used right now free of charge in our online classes!):
Annenberg Mediahttp://www.learner.org/resources/browse.html (free but requires thatyou create a login)
History [...]