1. SWCC FACULTY AS STUDENTS: THE RESULTS Holly Booth booth@swcciowa.edu Accounting and Business Instructor/Mentor Trainer Southwestern Community College, Creston Iowa

2. SWCC Distance Education Goals Academic Year 15-16 1.Use original content to online courses – something beyond textbook-generated slides and handouts. 2.Have some gradable items (that are actually graded) by the end of the first two weeks. Financial aid implications! 3.Instructors presence felt in the online classroom. - something where students can “touch” instructor interaction.

3. Goal #1: Original content to online courses ■Instructors need to add original content to online courses – –Something beyond textbook-generated slides and handouts. –Original lecture notes, podcasts, videos. –We need to personalize our courses. –Web 2.0 tools: Jing or any other tool to capture your voice, face and screen.

4. Goal #2: Have gradable items by the end of the first two weeks and grade them. ■Instructors need to have some gradable items (that are actually graded) by the end of the first two weeks. ■This is important for student success, not to mention to aid financial aid in releasing funds. –Students need to be actively participating to get financial aid. ■Students need to feel connected to their instructor from the start.

5. Goal #3: Instructors presence felt in the online classroom ■Instructors need to have their own presence felt in the online classroom. This could mean many things: ■Include your picture or animated version of yourself ■Actively participating in threaded discussions ■Robust feedback on assignments ■Multimedia content from the instructor - something where students can “touch” instructor interaction. ■ICCOC is doing a research project on this to determine if students do better academically if instructors are active in the threads; common sense would say that is probably true.

6. Who, What, Where, When, Why ■Who –Offered to any full time or adjunct faculty of SWCC ■What –EDU101A, e-Certification Developing Online Courses ■Where –Online with a SWCC mentor/trainer as the instructor ■When –October 19, 2015 - November 22, 2015 ■Why –Opportunity for faculty to improve their courses

7. Who: The Results ■6 showed interest, 3 full time and 3 adjunct ■4 of those began, 2 full time and 2 adjunct ■1 completed, adjunct (retired full time faculty), 2 full time mostly complete

8. What and Where: EDU101A e-Certification Developing Online Courses ■Developing Online Courses is an instructor-led online course that takes 5 weeks to complete and requires frequent participation. ■EDU101A was designed for both faculty and administrators who will be involved in developing online courses.

9. When: October 19, 2015 – November 22, 2015 ■Started week of midterm ■Finished just before Thanksgiving ■From Thanksgiving 2015 through early February 2016 to complete the demonstration course

10. Why: Course Improvement Announcements: personal tone

11. Why: Course Improvement Picture of Instructor Audio/Video

12. Why: Course Improvement Pictures: keep to 200 pixels wide and lock to keep height and width proportionate Right click on the picture to activate the Properties feature.

13. Why: Course Improvement Other features discussed in EDU101A: Course Admin: Enable/Disable Class Tools and Items  Disable Journal and Live tools

14. Why: Course Improvement Course Admin: Threaded Discussion Preferences: Allow discussions to be edited

15. What did I learn as the instructor? ■Timing was about right for the course. ■Need firm commitments from participating faculty, if possible. ■Still need to somewhat rigid on timelines, yet be flexible to allow reality to interrupt faculty’s plans. ■Reality got in the way for me, too. –My husband was an only child, his mother had angioplasty in her left leg on July 24, 2015, battled numerous other infections, then failed to thrive during the fall and passed away on January 1, 2016 at the age 94.

16. What did the faculty/students learn? 1.What did you learn from the online course content that will improve your teaching skills either face to face or online? 2.What did you learn about being a student that you may have forgotten from your past experiences of being a “student”? 3.Identify the technology skills you learned about that will help you be more effective in the classroom? 4.What did you learn that you were not expecting to? What did you not learn that you were expecting to? 5.Please speak to the timing of when the course was offered and how the timing could be improved to better meet your scheduling needs. 6.Please identify at least one new item you will use in a course you teach, identifying the item, how it will be used, the type of course (online, face to face or hybrid) and the course name.

17. 1. What did you learn from the online course content that will improve your teaching skills either face to face or online? ■Importance of staying connected ■Having various assessment strategies ■Authentic assessment-great with children and adults ■Demo courses-great ideas for all courses ■Interested in creating hybrid courses now ■Audio lectures ■Continuous communications-even with the quiet students Faculty/Student Responses

18. 2. What did you learn about being a student that you may have forgotten from your past experiences of being a “student”? ■Audio or real time opportunities make a difference to avoid misunderstandings ■Life got in the way of timelines ■Instructor work with you and responsive to communications ■Empathy for online students ■Understand the anxiety and concerns of online students ■Understand the importance of email turnaround ■Expectations of grading ■Online tutoring encouraged Faculty/Student Responses

19. 3. Identify the technology skills you learned about that will help you be more effective in the classroom? ■Added videos ■Added a properly sized picture ■Effective assignments that require specific content ■Use Webliography for websites/articles/videos easily then use threads to discuss ■Course good for newer faculty ■Something more tailored for more seasoned faculty Faculty/Student Responses

20. 4. What did you learn that you were not expecting to? What did you not learn that you were expecting to? ■Looking for anything that is helpful to their teaching ■Embed pages into pages ■Pathways – treasure hunt ■Make and post a video ■Pooled questions in an exam Faculty/Student Responses

21. 5. Please speak to the timing of when the course was offered and how the timing could be improved to better meet your scheduling needs. ■Crazy semester –Daughter married, father-in-law passed –Lengthy cold –Junior high, high school and college students in one family ■Good timing for newer instructors ■Too many fires in the oven ■Our college was also preparing for a HLC visit last week Faculty/Student Responses

22. 6. Please identify at least one new item you will use in a course you teach, identifying the item, how it will be used, the type of course (online, face to face or hybrid) and the course name. ■Added lectures ■Added verbal instructions to address past issues students have had ■Added tips for success ■Include more than just gradebook to e-companion courses ■Have students contribute more-discussions- Webliography ■Announcements for weekly contact with students Faculty/Student Responses

23. Summary EDU101A e-Certification Developing Online Courses ■Pros: –Great professional development option for faculty –No cost, developed by ICCOC –Immediate use of items ■Cons: –Time and commitment involved for instructor and student –Moving to a new LMS in near future

24. Opportunities going forward ■Provide instructor specific training –Pooling of questions in exams –Creating and posting videos ■Be ready for the move to the new LMS with appropriate training options

25. Holly Booth Southwestern Community College ■booth@swcciowa.edu ■Accounting and business instructor ■Mentor/Trainer ■Questions?