Transitioning a face-to-face course to online delivery. Part 2
Dr. Gatteau discusses his experience in converting a face to face class to an accelerated format. His biggest challenge was the loss of student behavioral queues about their grasp of the material. Rick chose Blackboard discussion groups to provide a format to replace face to face discussions. He designs discussion questions so that they facilitate in-depth dialog and analysis, and not just regurgitation of information. Dr. Gatteau found that all students were engaged by the online discussions and the quality of the discussion was higher that he had experienced in his face to face classes. He uses class participation points as part of the grade for the course. These points are greater in his online course than in face to face as the effort required is greater. He also requires students to respond to other students posts. He finds that it is important to establish rules of communication up front civility and respect in discussions etc. Student online presentations can be challenging and require improvement in technology and writing skills. His students use online survey tools to evaluate group performance and presentations and the Blackboard grading center to collect and distribute student assignments. Online courses have advantages and challenges. They provide flexibility for both the faculty member and the students. However, expect online courses to require multiple design iterations to become fully mature especially for a first time teacher.