1. Online Teaching:
Not a Spectator Sport
Ronda Jacobs
Director, Student Success Center
College of Southern Maryland
La Plata, Maryland
rondaj@csmd.edu
AFACCT ’14 Conference
Prince George’s Community College
Session 3.7. January 9, 2014

2. Before Class Starts
• Check your computer
 Load all updates and software (and then don’t
update anything until the semester ends)
• Check publisher site and resources
 Links
 Course pack

3. Before Class Starts
• Update your syllabus
 Read (ALL OF) it before you post it
 Post in Word AND PDF
• Update due dates
 Syllabus
 Course – grade center for Blackboard

4. Due Dates Should Be Obvious

5. Online Navigation
• „Start Here‟
 Give students a place to start, make it obvious
• „Landing Page‟
 Where do you want students to land when
they first enter your course? (Announcements)
• Sequential Navigation
 Course navigation should progress in the
order you plan on covering the material
 Hide what you don’t want them to see!

6. Online Navigation
• Group Course Elements
 Immediate course
information
 Sequential presentation of
course materials

7. Online Navigation
• Group Course Elements
 Communication tools
 Quick links and tools

8. Online Communication Tools
• Discussion Boards and Blogs (Public, 2-way)
 MAIN – instructor keeps class informed
 HELP – class questions, give expectations
• Announcements (Public, 1-way)
 Time sensitive (always date restrict)
 Send to their private email, don’t overuse
• Course Mail (Private, 2-way)
 Student progress (feedback) and grade related
 Keeps a record for later retrieval if needed

9. Discussion Board - MAIN

10. Main Discussion Post
The following course work is due Monday, Dec 9, for Module 7:
Module 7:
Issue 7 - podcast on social media
Pre and Post Quizzes
This discussion has you consider the impact of social media. What
are the pros and cons? Take a look at the questions and back up
your answers with specific real-world examples and a web source.
Take a quick look at the grading rubric in the course syllabus. Don't
forget to respond to a minimum of two student posts, going beyond
"I agree" to add to the understanding of the topic.
Questions? Please post to the help forum so we can all help out.
Prof Jacobs

11. Announcements – Welcome!
Carefully read everything on the "Start Here" information page before exploring the links found on
the left side frame of the BB course.
Click on the Syllabus link (to your left) and the Start Here Module (to your left) to get started. You
should read and become familiar with the syllabus. Use the schedule in the syllabus as a check-off
list so that you don't miss anything. Check your due dates often.
Take a look around. All learning modules are open and available. One warning: DO NOT click on a
Quiz unless you are ready to take it. Also your Text Book comes with a Passcode for some online
materials that requires an Access Key ... we Do Not use this material in the course and we Do Not
have an Access Key.
Make sure you can locate the announcement and e-mail tools to your left. I use these tools to
communicate with you in the course so you should check them often. You should check both of these
tools when you check into the course at a minimum of 4-5 times a week.
During the first week of class you will be completing introductory assignments to become more
familiar with the course and Blackboard as well as the first learning modules. To help you focus on
what is due each week, Your Instructor will post to the Announcements area (link can be found to
your left) weekly expectations.
As always, feel free to mail your instructor from inside of the course if you have any questions. Take
time now to plan out how you will complete your course work. Do not to wait until the last minute or if
you e-mail your instructor they may not have time to help you.
Again, Welcome to class!!!
Prof Jacobs

12. Welcome Your Students!
• Welcome your students to class, let them
know you are happy to have them and excited
to start the semester!
• Post your welcome to the Announcement tool
AND the MAIN Discussion Board
 Announcements go away, posts don’t
• Welcome Message
 Posted before 8 am on the first day of class
 Should provide basic online navigation

13. First Day of Class
Positive
Helpful
Available

14. First Week of Class
• Forward momentum/progression
 Include something you can grade quickly
and provide feedback – i.e. Student Intro

15. Intro Blog – Give Them a Reason
Creating a cyber-community is essential to the
success of an online course. Many of the activities
assigned in ITS 1015 will allow you to work
individually and at your own pace to meet the
course requirements. Other activities, however,
are designed to encourage communication among
students to create a classroom-life atmosphere.
Participation in the group activities are as
important as completing the individual
assignments. In this activity, you will have an
opportunity to get to know other classmate online.

16. Intro Blog – Give Expectations
Please post your own introduction to the
"Introductions" Blog Discussion forum.
• 1. In the subject line of your posting, Type this:
"Meet (Your Name)"
• 2. Include at least five things about yourself
• 3. Review postings made by your classmates
and reply to at least two

17. Who Are You?
• You are not the HELP Desk!
• You are not a counselor
• You are not their peer
• Establish boundaries, set expectations, and let
students know how they should address you

18. You are…
• A facilitator of knowledge
• A content expert
• Their instructor
• Present and accounted for!

19. Communication Rules
• Be Consistent
• Let students know how you will communicate
with them, how often, and how they can contact
you
•
Let your students know how they should
address you up front (no guessing)
• Give course work extensions sparingly, esp.
early on

20. Class Help Forum Example
• Students who have a question about
information or concepts presented in a
particular chapter should post a message to
the Class Help Forum.
• Classmates are expected to look at these
postings and reply to them if they think they can
answer the question or provide some help. The
instructors will respond to questions posted to
the Class Help Forum within 48 hours if the
question is not answered correctly by a
classmate.

21. Students that are MIA
Contact
Report
Move
On
• Concentrate your efforts early
 Report absent students the first day
 Report absent students the first week
 Report students that stop out

22. First Three Weeks of Class
• It takes three weeks to develop a habit
 Keep them informed
• Follow the points
 Discussion boards*
 Assignments
 Assessments

23. Example Rubric

24. Example Feedback
Initial post – answers are very general and are not
supported by examples or specifics from the
podcasts or experience (-4). Please add to the
answers. Please review specific feedback in the
course mail and update the post as appropriate.
URL – missing (-2), please add an external URL
address from the web that promotes the
understanding of this discussion topic and add a
complete statement describing it. The purpose of
this part of the assignment is to help with research
skills, looking beyond the course material.

25. Example Feedback Cont.
Response posts –good for the second response
but the first is very brief, general, and basically “I
agree” (-3). Posts should add to the discussion by
bringing in new information. Please update the
posts with a minimum of 4-5 statements, adding to
the discussion using the web, your textbook,
experiences… Take a look at feedback in the
course mail for suggestions to help out.
Please make updates as noted above and in the
course mail by Wed night, Oct 16. Updates can be
made by going back to your original post, click on
the post, click edit, make changes, and then click
submit.

26. Course Mail - Feedback
Good, but need to expand on the response posts. You are good for content, just need
to support opinions. Also, please describe each URL. See feedback below. Updates
can be made through Mon night, Dec 16.
Prof Jacobs
---------------------1. What's one development in technology that could give Facebook trouble?
Mobile computing has been the biggest development in technology to cause trouble for
Facebook so far. The mobile version is severely lacking and members are noticing it
more and more. It‟s sluggish and almost impossible to manipulate. Other social
networking sites may be able to develop better mobile apps that almost completely
trump Facebook‟s. Good
2. Is Twitter a major player in the social media scene? Why or why not?
Twitter is considered a major player in the social media scene. The microblog sight
(site) has well over 100 million members and even businesses use them to promote
and keep customers up to date. Companies like Comcast even use Twitter for
customer service requests. With Tweeter (spelling), you also have the ability to live
feed events that are taking place around you. I‟m not sure Facebook has that ability.
Good comparison. Please describe each URL below with a complete sentence.
•
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/
•
http://9to5mac.com/2013/11/08/many-users-reporting-facebook-app-crashingfollowing-latest-update/

27. Course Mail - Feedback Cont.
Responses:
•
I agree that other social networking sites could give Facebook
trouble. I think for this to happen, other sites would have to get
ahead of Facebook in technology development and have a
more improved mobile experience than Facebook. Google + will
hopefully give LinkedIn some competition in the near future,
mainly because I am annoyed with LinkedIn (why? Please
add). Twitter is definitely a major player in social media. The
number of users alone should give the site major league status.
•
OPEN ID can be a major issue for Facebook as people value
their personal information. Although some people live through
the sight (site) and share everything anyway (sentence
fragment, please revise). Google + should give LinkedIn some
troubles due to LinkedIn's lack of privacy also (how is it
similar? Please add). Twitter is definitely a major player; there
are hundreds of millions of users on Twitter daily, that alone
should give it the majpr (spelling) player status.

28. Example Assignment Feedback
Good for the first review, all criteria are well
addressed. For the second website, all questions
are addressed except how current the site is (-1)
and information about the links within the site (-1).
For the last website, needed to address authors,
each article has one (-1), if the site is current (-1),
and information about the links in the site (-1). All
other questions are addressed. Good
descriptions, just need to check that all
assignment questions are covered.

29. Midterm Time!
• About a week earlier, REMIND THEM
• Post Midterm Grades
 Even during the summer and mini sessions
• Be Honest
 If a student is failing, let him/her know
 Add extra credit points at the end of the
semester (if you offer extra credit)

30. Finals Week

31. You’re Not Done Yet….
Grades
Update
Finish
Up
Roll Over
Spreadsheet

32. Example Blackboard Course
• ITS-1015
• The Information Age: Emerging Technologies
• Web course, 100% online
• 9 learning modules and a PPT project
• Word, PPT, and Excel are used
• Websites are evaluated for validity/reliability

33. Questions