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February 01, 2006
Success Strategies in Online Courses
Yesterday (January 31, 2006), I attended a webcast entitled "Early-Term Success Strategies in Online Courses" which featured a discussion of how four colleges in Illinois are helping both instructors and students succeed in the online environment.
I found out about this webcast from the Learning Times, a great place for getting information on presentations, web boards and conversations dealing with learning.
The session was broken into 4 areas:
* Course information and orientation
* Student Services and Contingency Planning
* Early Warning and Retention
* Early Feedback
The three presenters did an excellent job presenting on these areas. You can check out a recording of the webcast at:
http://www.learningtimes.net/ioc2006/freewebcast/ilcco.html
I learned quite a lot in this 1-hour session. most notably, I was intrigued by the idea of contingency planning for students and instructors. I liked the idea of being prepared if there is a problem with the course management system or the student's hardware and having everyone on the same page if something should occur.
I also found it interesting that studies have shown that the most important contact is made with students prior to the beginning of class and during the first two weeks of the class. Apparently, contact during this time has a large affect on retention and student completion of the course.
The other thing that I found very interesting is that this is a state-wide consortium of schools that have adopted the same practices, including mandatory 8-week training of faculty using online technologies that deals with the technology and the pedagogy.
Later in the day, they held another webast that they describe as:
Roundtable Recording: "Keeping Current" Featuring NCQ Talk!
by NCQ Talk (Susan Manning, Dan Balzer and Kris Smith) with Deb Hutti and Jonathan Finkelstein
This session featured a lively discussion on how one can stay current in the world of education and technology. The NCQ Talk Podcast team was live online with Dr. Deborah Hutti and Jonathan Finkelstein and colleauges across the globe to share tips and strategies for identifying pivotal readings and resources and coping with the shear volume of information available today.
A recording is available at:
http://www.learningtimes.net/ioc2006/freewebcast/ncq.html
This session was sponsored by the Illinois Online Conference (IOC) 2006. The completely online conference takes place February 15-17, 2006, and features over 65 presentations by and for education professionals at all levels. Register today and join colleagues from around the globe: http://www.ilonlineconf.org
Posted by lyoung at February 1, 2006 07:45 AM in category
