CourseSites Exemplary Course MOOC Week 2 Round-up. Guest Blog Post from Kimberly Seeber. Kimberly lives in Bloomington, Indiana, US. She is a licensed elementary teacher and a graduate student in the Instructional Systems Technology residential master’s program at Indiana University. Her interests include technology integration in the K-12 environment and online learning.

In Tony Robbins’ Ted Talk, he says humans need “certainty, variety, significance, connection, growth, and contribution” in order to feel satisfied and fulfilled.  Online course instructors can incorporate these needs when creating an online environment thereby empowering students to experiment with new ideas and share their perspective.  Students will engage and succeed in an online course when they feel respected, valued, and understood.  Week Two’s discussion in the Designing an Exemplary Course MOOC uncovered insightful ideas that communicate the message, “You belong here.”

In honor of the recent launch of our new MOOC powered by the CourseSites Open Course Series on Designing an Exemplary Course, we are excited to invite you to join us for a Tweet Chat to discuss best practices of building a dynamic course on Oct 11^th at 1pm EDT.  We are fortunate to have Dr. Torria Bond, a leader in Instructional Design for California Baptist University, an instructor in the CourseSites MOOC and last year’s Exemplary Course Winner, as our special guest.

Guest Blog Post from Kimberly Seeber. Kimberly lives in Bloomington, Indiana, US. She is a licensed elementary teacher and a graduate student in the Instructional Systems Technology residential master’s program at Indiana University. Her interests include technology integration in the K-12 environment and online learning.

In response to the video, The Voice of the Active Learner, instructors considered what it means to be an active student and an active instructor. The discussion focused the following themes: digital natives, digital divide, technology effectiveness, lack of technology support, challenges of learning new technology, novice and expert technology users, surface learning versus deep learning, and the transition from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side.”

Guest Blog Post from Kimberly Seeber. Kimberly lives in Bloomington, Indiana, US. She is a licensed elementary teacher and a graduate student in the Instructional Systems Technology residential master’s program at Indiana University. Her interests include technology integration in the K-12 environment and online learning.

With the introductory week zero of the Designing an Exemplary Course MOOC well under way, communities are forming, old and new friends are networking, and Exemplary Course Directors are preparing for this open online learning experience.  All 1,926 of you (and counting) are eager to find out how one identifies, defines, and applies best practices when developing online courses.  But this week was all about YOU.  Who are you?

Hello everyone! My name is Lauren Krznaric and I’m thrilled to be the newest team member on the Program Marketing Team at Blackboard. The Fall is already shaping up to be packed with many great community programs including our Exemplary Course MOOC! I’m excited to also be a part of the Catalyst Awards and Exemplary Course Program. The 2013 program will kick off in early December but over the next few weeks I will be highlighting some of the 2012 winners.

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the 2012 Blackboard Exemplary Course Award Winners, Elena Pravosudova. Pravosudova wears many hats at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) – a school with roughly 18,000 students and 900 faculty. She is an associate professor, an undergraduate advisor, and a University Curriculum Committee chair. The winning course, Principles of Biological Investigations, is a team effort between herself and instructional designer, Alina Solovyova-Vincent. The course also earned one of the coveted six spots for Directors’ Choice for Courses with Distinction.