When our team of volunteers from Blackboard arrived at the Capital Area Food Bank we knew we had a sweaty, dirty job ahead of us and we were excited about it.  Before we rolled up our sleeves and snapped on our latex gloves we got an orientation to the mission and reach of this vital link in the welfare of the working poor in our nation’s capital. Hunger and malnutrition in America is real.  Some might find that statement oxymoronic, especially in light of the frequent studies about growing obesity in this country.  Hunger and malnutrition isn’t always visible, it is all around us and rarely discussed.  Hunger’s negative effects can be seen in schools, at work, and in homes.  Children have a diminished capacity to learn; adults can’t work as effectively; and seniors are more prone to illness.

Guest post from Dan Lake. Creators of online learning courses, whether professional designers or practicing instructors, are always looking for professional development materials and for good models of practice upon which to base their own efforts. Blackboard.com has created nice tutorial materials at the On Demand Learning Center. Here one can watch a series of narrated tutorials grouped into three categories:

• Understanding  the Blackboard environment and Building a Course;
• Communicating and Collaborating; and
• Assessing Learners.

We asked past Blackboard Exemplary Course Award Winner – Judy Hammock, Course Designer and Developer from University of Nevada, Reno for her top tips for designing an exemplary online course.

1. I feel I was successful because I worked closely with another person on campus who had completed a course application previously. After doing the first one, she had a much better idea of what to include and the methods to use. This was invaluable. If you don't have someone like this, look at the samples of previous winners to help you set the tone.
2. Provide clear directions to your students in your course. What sounds clear to you may not sound clear to your students. Provide several ways to get information to them for assignments.  It is helpful to give examples. You should show that you are providing several ways to express what you want done. For example, you might have an assignments page at the end of a lecture, write about it in an email, or have the student go where examples of assignments are provided.
3. Try to provide several ways to instruct students. Not everyone learns through reading. Include films, PowerPoint Presentations, written, and verbal assignments all telling the student what it is you want done. 
4. Make sure that each week or segment of the course is done in the same way. The font and color should remain the same from week to week. Remember that you will have students with a disability at times. Make sure that you have the proper equipment or tools so they may learn along side of your non-disabled students. 
5. Make sure you provide a place where students can express feedback. This can be done several times in the course so that minor changes can be made if it benefits the whole course.
6. Start your Exemplary Course Submission form early and make sure you understand all of the directions and questions asked. This is not a document/application that you want to do at the last minute.

Consider participating in the 2011 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program by submitting your online course for review. Deadline for submissions is January 18, 2011. More information is available at http://www.blackboard.com/ecp

 

 

We asked past Blackboard Exemplary Course Award Winner – Dr. Robert Gibson, Associate CIO - Academic and User Services at Emporia State University for his top 10 tips for designing an exemplary online course.  Rob gave us 11 : )

1. Use some sort of quality checklist rubric: Quality Matters; Chico State; Blackboard Exemplary Course, etc.
2. Exercise Blackboard's secondary tools within the course where appropriate: Scholar, Twitter feeds, blogs, wikis, journals, podcasts, etc.
3. Create a short podcast for each week's material that introduces the topic (in general terms). Podcasts are normally 10-15 minutes each.
4. Build out robust discussion topics by salting the forums with topics that relate real-world experiences to the course readings. Begin each discussion topic by posing a question that pulls in the student's personal experiences. This makes the readings less esoteric.
5. Design the course with discreet menu items that differentiate various elements: Assignments should be separate from Course Readings, etc. Upper-most items are the most important/most accessed.
6. Include a robust faculty contact section with links to graduate students, technical support, etc.
7. If you use guest lecturers, include a sidebar option with links to their resources and presentation – include a photo of those people.
8. Include forums that are non-graded, but that serve as a location to post videos, news items, podcasts, etc. for the subject matter.
9. Include a video course introduction using a tool such as Camtasia. Go through each section of the course and describe the content using a voice-over.
10. Per the quality checklist, be sure to include perfunctory information pertaining to various support offices: Office of Disability Services, etc.
11. Design the course with ADA in mind – always. If you use YouTube, be sure to explain and use the captioning feature. Refer to this site: http://accessproject.colostate.edu/ for tips on preparing PowerPoint and Word files for access by people with disabilities. (Universal Design for Learning)

Consider participating in the 2011 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program by submitting your online course for review.  Deadline for submissions is January 18, 2011.  More information is available at http://www.blackboard.com/ecp

 

Dear instructors, teachers, instructional technologists and instructional designers,

This is the time of year that many of us think about the gifts we’ll be giving to others. My question to you is – what is the gift that you’ll be giving to yourself? 

How about giving yourself the gift of professional growth and development?