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Teaching a Blended Class. Trey Asbury Campbell Faculty Orientation August 17, 2006. Definitions (Campbell).
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Teaching a Blended Class Trey Asbury Campbell Faculty Orientation August 17, 2006
Definitions (Campbell) • Blended Course--the method of content delivery whereby 50% of course is conducted in the traditional classroom with the remainder conducted in conjunction with Blackboard Course sections on-line.
Definitions (Campbell) • Assisted Course--this method of support allows instructors to further the use of technology in the classroom. Students increase their computer literacy skills in the navigation of turorials to learn the use of Blackboard. Instructors have a method of posting files, adding to discussion, and posting student progress via a downloadable, secure gradebook.
Myths About Blended Courses Teaching a blended class will free up time for other scholarly pursuits.
Myths Blended courses require less work from the student. • Not all blended courses are created equal. • Then again, not all classroom courses are created equal.
Myths I’m too old to learn the technology that comes with teaching a blended class.
Myths My course cannot be taught in a blended format.
Myths • I must schedule a set class time for online discussions and assignments for the portion of the class that is online. • Synchronous v. Asynchronous Delivery
Myths Students are tempted to cheat in a course with an online component.
Truth • Students are tempted to cheat in a course with an online component… • Students are tempted to cheat in a course taught entirely in the classroom. • KSBI TV Video Clip
Safeguards • Proactive proctoring--remind students to turn off cell phones, PDAs, and other electronic devices to the OFF position when entering the classroom • Set timer for online assessments • Provide a variety of graded assignments. • Turnitin.com
Turnitin.com Turnitin.com: Plagiarism is a serious cheating offense that is morally, ethically, and professionally unacceptable. Turnitin.com will check your paper against its database, and produce a “match percentage” between the two (if your paper is entirely cut and pasted from a source within the turnitin.com database, the match percentage would be 100%). Based on several years of experience with the plagiarism website, I have created the following penalties to be applied to papers based on the following match percentages:
Turnitin Rubric 0-15% No penalty—direct quotes are covered here 16-20% One letter grade (10pts), with chance to re-write (up to 5 pts earned back) 21-30% Two letter grades (20pts), chance to re-write (up to 10 pts earned back) 31% and up Excessive lack of paraphrasing. Score of zero for the assignment and student reported to Dean of Student Life for cheating offense.
Syllabus • Clear and Concise Expectations • Links to examples of good assignments • Deadlines and associated penalties • Turnitin.com requirements and penalties • FAQ • Campbell Requirements
Creating Assignments • Practice Assessments • Discussion Board Exam Review • Virtual Field Trips • Group Projects • Presentations
Blackboard Academic Suite “Version 7”
Discussion BoardConsiderations • Will participation be graded • Will there be a required minimum number of postings • Will students be required to respond to each other • Are DB requirements stated clearly in syllabus • What type of interaction are you looking for (e.g. questioning, sharing outside experiences, listing outside resources, etc.) Source: Univ. of Wisconsin-Stout
Discussion BoardEvaluation for Improvements • What topics generated the most discussion • Why did certain topics generate a lot of discussion • Did the quality of postings meet your expectations • How did the quality of student responses compare to their other work in the course Source: Univ. of Wisconsin-Stout
DB Suggestions • Following the deadline for the first post, provide feedback to the class about who did a nice job meeting and/or exceeding expectations. Single-out the do-gooders and suggest that the other students read those posts. • Send group emails to the slackers. Politely remind them that they need to pick up the ball.
DB Suggestions • Use humor with your posts, to create a more informal atmosphere. “Students in the humor-enhanced section felt that everything was more casual. They spoke to me through e-mail using a somewhat different tone. They earned more class participation points, and they seemed to feel more comfortable interacting.” Shatz & LoSchiavo, 2005
DB Suggestions • Be active initially with your students, but participate less over time. • Modeling, not dominating. • Restrained participation gives students control and ownership of learning (Swan, 2004).
“Canned” Essay Responses The blended course allows instructors to reserve time in the classroom for teaching, while testing outside of class. One way to decrease instructor time behind the computer is with the “canned” essay response.
Social Psy Midterm Feedback Below, you will find responses from the class to each question that earned full-credit. While these are not the only responses to earn a perfect score, they each demonstrate the necessary components for a complete answer. Note that typos and grammatical errors can still earn full-credit. Comment(s) related to most common errors and/or omissions are also included. Please call or email with specific questions about your exam.
Describe the concept called "self-efficacy". What factors do you believe contribute to the development of this concept, and why? • Self-efficacy involves a person's personal beliefs about how effective, effiecient, or skilled he or she is. It is different than one's self-esteem in that one may have low self-esteem while still having high self-efficacy for a particular attribute possessed. Many factors contribute to self-efficacy. Among these includes external evidence of such efficacy. External appraisals contribute because it gives a person evidence to see him or herself in a particular way. Praise from others and social comparisons to others in one's peer group are such examples of such evidence. These will help a person view him or herself as particularly effective at certain things. Internal self-appraisal is another contributing factor. This can happen in the form of certain goals reached. Overall, self-efficacy is a concept that changes over time based on these and other contributing factors.
Asbury’s comment: Most everyone had the concept down, but failed to include factors that may have predicted self-efficacy. Adjectives such as persistence, for example, become circular definitions (and perhaps outcomes), rather than explanations for self-efficacy. In other words, saying that a person has high self-efficacy because he or she is persistent, does not tell us anything about what leads to persistence.
Course Cartridges • Real time-savers when building your course. • Many nice features to facilitate student learning. Psyc 222 Cartridge
Summary • Be specific about course requirements • Provide a variety of requirements for learning enhancement • Provide examples of assignments • Keep the online-component asynchronous • Set and post deadlines for all assignments
Summary • Do testing online to save classroom time • Respond to emails in a timely fashion • Be courteous and considerate with emails • Use the Announcements function instead of email whenever possible • Be flexible, but consistent with your policies
References CNN Today On CD-ROM: Introductory Psychology Vol.1-4 (2004). Cheating--Comparing Student Papers with What is on the Web. Thomson/Wadsworth Publishing. CNN Video Clip, KSBI TV, Los Angeles (retrieved 2006). http://www.ksbitv.com/video/3022221.html Shatz, M. & LoSchiavo, F. (2005). Humor Increases Student Participation in Online Courses. Online Classroom. August Issue. Swan, K. (2004) Instructor’s Restrained Participation in Thread Discussions Gives Students Control, Ownership of Learning. Online Classroom. October Issue.
