Distance Learning Peggy Golden & Pamela Peterson Drake

Platforms policy Undergraduate and Graduate

Required platforms  Undergraduate: Blackboard ®  Graduate: eCollege ®

Undergraduate  In general, use Blackboard for all undergraduate distance learning courses and web-assisted classes  You complete a form at the ITSS site to request a Blackboard course shell.  You do not need to use the template provided by ITSS for course creation. There are more elegant styles of course management.

Undergraduate Platform – Blackboard  ITSS will ask you to back the course up yourself and you are responsible for doing this!  Blackboard multimedia servers cannot be accessed directly  Using Impatica !

eCollege  Used for web courses and web assistance at the graduate level  There is a “backcharge” to the student for eCourses  Web assists with eCompanion are free

How do I identify the nature of my course (web assist vs other types of courses)?

A class is fully online if …  There is no tyranny of time or space. Students never have to come to campus  All materials can be completed through the course shell

A class is web-assisted if …  The primary location of the class is the classroom  The web platform is used to supplement or communicate in between class meetings.  The test: if the platform disappeared, could the class continue?

Other distance learning forms  The hybrid course – some in class, some web-based activity. Designated as mixed mode on the registrar’s listing  Web-assisted “synchronous” classroom using Video-OIP classrooms on multiple campuses

Codes  All distance learning courses whether UG or Graduate have special codes that give the registering student information

The syllabus Minimum requirements and suggestions

The Syllabus  Name, contact info, office hours  Course description – include catalog description and prereq’s  Learning objectives/outcomes  All policies of class  Schedule (may be modified downward; could be separate document)

Additional elements of a distance learning syllabus  All the details must be spelled out for each unit including where to submit assignments  Groups need to be formed without face-to-face interaction. Students need to be informed of the process and what tools they can use for group- work.

Additional elements of a distance learning syllabus  Multiple communication tools need to be used to supplement information in the syllabus (students cannot read, really!!)

Faculty-student interaction The good, the bad, and the ugly

Interaction   Discussion board  Group projects/efforts

 Do use to remind students of due dates and tasks.  Do explain to students your response policy.  Do explain to students that excessive may result in their being identified as spam by filters.

, cont.  Do remind students of the University’s policies if students use inappropriate language or otherwise are unprofessional in communications.  Do not use to communicate grades.

, cont.  Do not use to argue with students.  If a student has an issue with grading or deadlines, invite the student to speak to you in person (or by phone, if identity can be confirmed).

Discussion board  Use forums to organize discussions.  Designate general forums for course- organization issues.  Do remind students of proper discussion board etiquette.  Recommendation: Do not permit anonymous postings

Groups  Understand that students in a group may not be able to work synchronously.  Establish group discussion forums.

Testing and evaluation Special issues in distance learning

Testing  Testing, in general  Subjective assessments  Objective assessments

Testing, in general  Announce the coverage, format, rules, and the Honor Code in advance of any assessment.  Treat every assessment as “open book”.  Use assessments as part of the learning process.

Testing, cont.  Use several different types of assessments.  Use assessments that require the application of knowledge.  Make the course content dynamic.

Subjective assessments  Get a writing sample of the student at the beginning of the semester.  Use Turnitin® for essay exams. Be sure to disclosure on the Syllabus that you will be using Turnitin® [FAU rule].  Use questions that require personal input or are individualized.

Objective assessments  Draw from a large pool of questions or software that creates unique questions.  Use a time limit.  Do not allow back-tracking.  Randomize questions.  Add dynamic content (e..g, current events; specific discussion events).

Final exam scheduling  You can only offer the final exam during the final exam week; Including the weekend before final exam week appears to be a reasonable accommodation for students who work full-time during the week.  You cannot span the Reading Day in your final exam period.

Final exam scheduling  If you do not give a final exam, you must continue running the class during the final exam week.  There is no specified exam time for a DL course, so it is not reasonable to specify a small (e.g., 2 or 3 hour) window for the exam.

What’s new  Impatica demo Impatica demo  Windows Producer Windows Producer  Firefox browser Firefox browser

What’s new with Blackboard®  Respondus  StudyMate  Course journals  Team tools  Backpack  Impatica

Pam Peggy