As a developing Educational Technologist, I've had an outstanding experience watching a series developed by Penn State University's World Campus Faculty Development Center known as the Strategies for Managing the Online Workload (SMOW).
I've embedded the entire series below!
The series contains 2.5 hours of advice (broken into 1 min topic chunks) on best practices in online and distance education. The words of wisdom come from experienced faculty working at campuses around the globe and cover topics like "Course Zero Planning" (see comment below) to "Targeted Office Hours." Originally an iTunesU series, the videos are now up on YouTube.
Very valuable advice for anyone who wishes they could sit down with an expert and barrage them with questions.
A Note on Course Zero Planning
If I could recommend one video to start with, it would be Course Orientation / Course Zero by Sandhya Srinivasan - Director, Office of Educational Technology and Assessment, University of South Florida.
In the video, Srinivasan describes the usefulness of creating orientation material with instructors that is available to the student prior to signing up for a class and will better inform and prepare students to succeed in an online course. This includes everything from objectives and assignments to due dates and contact information so there are no surprises once the student enrolls.
Next she outlines the concept of "Lesson Zero." This is a list of activities a student will complete prior to beginning coursework to ensure they meet the tech requirements (like clicking a link to a file type that will be used in the course) and contact-based activities to familiarize the student with the process of contacting instructional and IT support staff.
Great ideas informed by solid theory and practice.
In the video, Srinivasan describes the usefulness of creating orientation material with instructors that is available to the student prior to signing up for a class and will better inform and prepare students to succeed in an online course. This includes everything from objectives and assignments to due dates and contact information so there are no surprises once the student enrolls.
Next she outlines the concept of "Lesson Zero." This is a list of activities a student will complete prior to beginning coursework to ensure they meet the tech requirements (like clicking a link to a file type that will be used in the course) and contact-based activities to familiarize the student with the process of contacting instructional and IT support staff.
Great ideas informed by solid theory and practice.
A Quick Guide to Using Embedded YouTube Playlists
Below I have linked the YouTube playlist for the entire SMOW series. I chose Course Orientation / Course Zero to be the first video to be played in the series.
If you would like to see a menu for the entire series, click the "PLAYLIST" button on the top left of the embedded video frame. From there you can see the titles of each video and choose which video to watch next.The next video in the playlist will automatically load once the current video ends.
Enjoy!
If you would like to see a menu for the entire series, click the "PLAYLIST" button on the top left of the embedded video frame. From there you can see the titles of each video and choose which video to watch next.The next video in the playlist will automatically load once the current video ends.
Enjoy!
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