Higher Education Observer

http://partsofspeaking.blogspot.com/2011/01/was-jesus-model-teacher-part-iii.html

http://partsofspeaking.blogspot.com/2011/01/was-jesus-model-teacher-part-ii.html

Reference to my other blog: http://partsofspeaking.blogspot.com/2011/01/was-jesus-model-teacher.html

Just a little tip I learned by accident. Because of the snow here, I have yet to meet my Monday only hybrid public speaking class. I used a discussion board (asynchronous) to get the students talking about the subject of public speaking and their experiences. It really helped. They were honest and supportive of one another, and since they will have to give a short introductory speech the first day (finally), they feel more settled.

Is a number of small assignments better than a few heavily-weighted ones? It depends on the level of student (level of preparedness), the discipline, and the learning outcomes. However, all things considered, it seems wiser to not "put all the eggs in one basket." When I hear a project is worth 50% in a freshman class, I cringe. The freshmen I know can't handle such a thing.

We met for class three days, then a powerful storm closed the college for four days, and we have Monday off for the Martin Luther Kig, Jr., holiday. More than ever flexibility will be necessary. Flexibility assumes a posture about life, a "I'll do the best I can but you know, I just don't control very much that goes on anyway" attitude. Perhaps flexibility works in inverse proportion to how important you think you are. If so, I must have thought myself very important in the past, because I wasn't very flexible! However, we will be trying to get caught up all semester!

I'm doing research on teaching Asperger's students in communication classes. I found this post on the Christianity Today website blog Hermeneutics, which has a good article about the church and persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I found this post from a person with AS very important; I hope I am not breaking any copyright laws here. Without exception, every discussion I've seen of autistics in church is about low-functioning autistic children and teenagers, and is directed at their parents or at other adults in their lives. What happens to these autistics when they grow up--do they grow out of it? Do they die? Or are they institutionalized, never to darken a church door again? And what about high-functioning autistics? I am an adult with Asperger's syndrome, i.e. a high-functioning autistic adult. I go to church, humanly speaking, of my own accord. I have yet to see anything, in books or the Christian media, that addresses the problems faced by Christian Aspi...

Environment matters. I remember back in the 70s when it was so radical to put the classroom in a circle or let the students (high school) sit on the floor. That was the beginning of casualness in education as the norm. Comfort=effective teaching. Now people think they can't learn unless they are comfortable, but comfort can be as distracting as noncomfort. Not to say we should make our students uncomfortable; we should create an environment that facilitates attentiveness and focus and not take it for granted. We really can't take any thing for granted anymore. How is that done? Well, you can list a lot of rules on your syllabus, or lead them in what I consider a fake exercise in "you make up the rules." Or you can just explain that there's a reason for expectations of behavior (minimization of distractions, for example) and be honest with them. I think there's a place for disclosure!

This from a Sunday School teaching seminar. What is the worst teaching method? The one you use all the time.

Is there a difference in starting classes in the fall and the spring? Yes, I think there is a world of difference, as a teacher, at least. For one, you are starting in the dark, so to speak: I leave for work in the dark and usually get home at dusk. The students seem less eager, more tired, maybe. They seem to have more financial problems, and more financial aid ones. Since I teach freshmen most of the time, I have students in the spring who are more aware of the system and I don't have to explain as much. Of course, I also have fewer classes (although not this semester) because we teach on a 5-4 schedule. (But at our college many teach overloads). We also get a spring break (too early) in the first week of March. What other differences? Comments would be appreciated.

One of the primary decisions that an online course designer/teacher must make has to do with the overall structure of the course. I see it two ways: 1. Thematically 2. Chronologically or unit/module-driven Thematically would be to create folders (or sections) of the course based on typical course issues. A folder/section on paper/speech/project/homework assignments; a folder/section on study or reading guides for tests; a folder/section for notes/PowerPoints/online lectures/ recordings; a folder/section for rubrics, etc. This has the value of guiding a student to what he or she wants. The student knows he or she is looking for homework, so to the homeowrk file it is. 2. The chronological or unit/module method would be based on the content of the course. For example, in my speech class we have four speeches, with lecture content oriented toward each one. So I have four folders, each containing all the assignment specs, rubrics, samples, and lectures related to that spee...

Picking up where I left off before Christmas. We are still in the course design phase: 1. Be sure to consult with the ADA coordinator at your institution to be sure that your class is ADA compliant or that the institution even has any policy on this. It should, of course--SACS or other accrediting agencies will flag it. My point is that you should be aware. 2. Similarly, be sure you know about how the class will be evaluated, either for institutional research purposes or for your tenure and promotion track. Again, this policy should be in place at your institution. Do the students fill out an online form? Is it confidential/anonymous? Does the form take into account that the course is delivered partially or fully online, which makes some of the typical questions on SET irrelevant or inapplicable? My point here is that you should know what you are getting into and design the class backward, and to be honest, if you are going to be "graded" for the class' de...