Week One: Our Students, Ourselves
Quality online writing classes are accessible, learner-centered, implement appropriate composition theory, and support learners in communities.
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Whether you are new to the online environment or an experienced online student, we have all been enrolled in college writing courses that "worked" for us...and we may have experienced courses that didn't work. In Week One, we will think about online learning and teaching from a student perspective as we also begin to prepare to teach in an online setting.
Learning Outcomes: Accessibility 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 |
1.1 Discussion Board: Introduction
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Icebreakers are an important component of an online class, and a time when you can accomplish four goals: 1) build community, 2) become familiar with your students' experience and expectations, 3) allow students to practice course tools, and 4) give students early opportunities for success in the class.
With these goals in mind, I would like you to complete the first class discussion board, an icebreaker:
Think of the online space just as you would a face-to-face classroom. If we were sitting around a table introducing ourselves in a face-to-face classroom, "discussion" wouldn't be limited to talking about ourselves once, responding to two other people, and then sitting in silence or ignoring everyone around us. Here are some strategies for engaging with your online classmates:
The rubric for the discussion boards can be found in Blackboard under the My Grades button. |
1.2 Activity: Selecting Accessible Online Course Materials
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OWI Principle #1 states that "Online writing instruction should be universally inclusive and accessible." In other words, as we design online writing classes, our first priority should be selecting materials and designing assignments and assessments that allow students with a broad range of capabilities and abilities to be able to access and complete the class.
The Hewett reading this week identified a number of accessibility issues related to digital students in the 21st century, including focusing on the knowledge that students bring with them while also realizing that they might need more specific instructions, in a variety of formats, in order to function well in online classes. The Warnock readings this week discussed how materials and activities that we might take for granted in the face-to-face classroom take on new importance when they move online. The key to Warnock's concepts are keeping the students at the center of the classroom and working to replicate the interactivity of the face-to-face class in the online setting. In this activity, we will start considering what online resources we might select for our online writing course with some of these factors in mind and how we might use those resources to build an online unit for a class (which we will do in Week Two). The activity asks you to think about how you can reverse design a course to develop assignments and activities To get started: Choose Your Own Adventure! Goals:
Because some of you have never taught before and some of you have, you have one of two options to choose from in completing this assignment: Option 1: If you are working with a class that you have previously designed face-to-face, and are moving the class online, you can follow this path. Option 2: If you are new to teaching, you can follow this path. To complete this assignment:
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