Dear Maryanne,
It's been a wee while coming, but here is a review of
your wonderful
syllabus. Thanks for sharing. I learned a lot. I will post a word document in
the files
section in case some of the links do not work.

I used the rubric for online instruction from CSU Chico as a means to evaluate
your
syllabus. The rubric is available at: http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi. I
followed the
checklist called: Instruction Design Tips for Online Learning, and I have taken
some
suggestions that seem applicable to your course from there.

The checklist has 6 categories: Learner Support and Resources, Online
Organization and
Design, Instructional Design and Delivery, Assessment and Evaluation of Student
Learning,
Appropriate and Effective Use of Technology and Faculty Use of Student Feedback.
It wasn't
necessary to apply the assessment rubric to your syllabus, but it is also
available at the
above site if you are interested. There are a good few aspects of your course
that I am not
sure about, so I have just identified questions where I think they may be of
help.

Category 1: Learner Support and Resources

Possible areas to consider:

A. Information about being an online learner

• Tips for being a successful online learner
• In your survey on computer use, is there an aspect on readiness to be an
online learner?
If not, some questions may be appropriate
• Checklist or links to Blackboard troubleshooting tips, how to use LMS tools
and FAQ's
for the LMS.
• Netiquette guidelines

B. Course specific resources

• FAQ site on course information
• Estimated amount of time needed for completing course requirements

C. Resources supporting course content

• Glossary of terms or links to definitions of new vocabulary. (Blackboard has a
useful
glossary tool that might be worth considering. I saw that Voycabulary was
mentioned, so
perhaps you are recommending the use of that tool).


Category 2: Online Organization and Design

A. Course navigability and organization

No site access to comment.

B. Syllabus includes

• I was not able to identify (a) clearly defined program goal(s) although both
the course
description and rationale speak to the program's purpose. It would also be
useful to
identify how each module of the course relates to this goal by defining
learning/performance objectives for each module. If an end of module checklist
was
prepared based on the outcomes of the performance objectives, the students could
evaluate their own success in meeting the objectives of the module and
ultimately the
goal(s) of the program.

Possible areas to consider:

• Summary of timeline for modules in the Grading section of the syllabus
• Summary of recommended timeline for completion of activities for modules in
the
Grading section of the syllabus

C. Aesthetic Design

No site access to comment.

I am impressed at how detailed the syllabus is, and I think this is very useful
for students
in online classes. It might also be nice if the course content were organized
module by
module with an online tool that the students are using (i.e. blog or wiki). It
would serve as
a model of how these tools could be used, and may allow you to streamline the
syllabus
document if you think that is necessary.

D. Consistency in course

I really appreciated the activities review at the end of each module in the
syllabus. I'm sure
this is very helpful to students.

E. Universal Accessibility

No site access to comment.


Category 3: Instructional Design and Delivery

A. Promote interaction and communication

I do not have access to the site to comment on this aspect of the course, so my
questions
would be:

Do you describe netiquette and enforce it? http://www.dtcc.edu/cs/rfc1855.html
Is participation tracked, and if so, are less-frequent posters drawn into
discussions?

B. Goals and alignment to learning objectives

I think you do everything that could be expected in terms of the organization
and delivery
of the content in meaningful sections, but perhaps the organization should be
driven by
the articulated goal(s) and learning/performance objectives. I would be
interested to know
how you decided on the order of the modules. I think that the process of
defining your
objectives would suggest alternative arrangements of these modules. This would
be
especially true if you selected one of the tools (i.e. the blog) to be the hub
for gathering
the students developing networking capabilities.

C. Learning objectives and activities are integrated

I wonder what elements of review are built into the modules. Obviously, it is
possible to
connect ideas that you have been discussing as a class in online discussions,
but how do
you conclude the module? Does it tie into the previous topics and/ or preview
topics to be
considered in the next module. Again, identifying where the students will be in
terms of
desired performance objectives would help guide review and progression.

D. Activities to enhance student learning

I think you have selected a range of wonderful activities and content.

Have you considered charting the types of Multiple Intelligences that your
activities
promote? I have found it a useful activity in considering learner differences.
There is a
book by Christison (2005) that provides some useful checklists for this purpose
(as well as
some nice face-to-face classroom activities). I haven't used this in an online
setting but
could imagine using it. Here is a review: http://tesl-ej.org/ej37/r5.html

E. Activities to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills

I wonder how you have students organize and manage all of the tools that they
become
acquainted with. It seems as though the blog is consistently used throughout the
course
for postings, and could be used for organizing access to their online tools.
Gathering their
networking tools and postings in one place might assist with their collaborative
efforts
after the course is over. It would also demonstrate that they could use a blog
appropriately. I guess in terms of architecture my personal preference would be
to use a
wiki and have links to everything else from there. I used a tweme this summer to
link
delicious, flickr and twitter in one location via tags. You can embed twitter
updates in the
wiki. This might be another option to consider as your course covers all these
elements.

Category 4: Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning

Just a few questions:

How do you assess the quality of postings?
Do you use rubrics? Are the guidelines made available?
Do students have an opportunity to evaluate their peers performances or to
self-rate their
own performance?
How frequently do you respond to student work?

I saw that you offered models of previous students work, which I think will be
very helpful.

Category 5: Innovative Teaching Technology

This is an interesting question under innovative, but I think that you probably
do
everything else:

Do you provide links to low-bandwith alternatives for downloading media?

Category 6: Faculty Use of Student Feedback

Do you conduct an end of course survey? Is the effectiveness of each module
assessed? I
recommend http://www.surveymonkey.com/if you haven't used that service already.

What procedures do you follow to assist students that are falling behind in the
program?

To what extent do you include formative evaluations? i.e. a discussion topic on
how to
make delivery more effective.

Do you have online or face-to-face office hours to discuss issues?


Maryanne, thank you for sharing this course with me. I have no doubt made some
assumptions that I should not have, but I hope this is generally useful to you.

You mention connectivism in your syllabus. I am interested in Siemens
description. It
seems like an inclusive banner under which theories of social constructivism,
biological
research into learning and the Web 2.0 experience can be housed. I am looking
forward to
the start of the seminar this week.

Below are a few more resources that I came across while I was thinking about how
to
organize effective online instruction:

http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/eoi_vista.shtml Links to videos of outstanding
online
programs. The agricultural education course was particularly interesting. I
liked the
suggestion of quizzes on course readings for starters. Easily adapted and would
allow you
to identify those that are committed to the course.

http://blackboard.bradley.edu/faculty/Recommended_Ef_Use_BB/
Ten Principles of Effective Teaching and Practical Examples for the Classroom
and
Blackboard. There is a pdf version. The document offers good practical advice
that is easy
to read.

The University of Illinois, surely a recognized leader in e-learning and online
program
design, has some great resources at this site:
http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/id/index.asp

If your university has a copy of the Sage Handbook of E-Learning Research, there
is a very
interesting article titled: Development and Philosophy of the Field of
Asynchronous
Learning Networks by Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Murray Turoff and Linda Harasim as
well as
other goodies.

Another useful, but rather dense book, is Principles of Instructional Design by
Robert M.
Gagne, Leslie J. Briggs and Walter W. Wagner. 5th Ed. There's good support for
the process
of determining performances objectives within a systems approach.

Thanks for the article on creepy tree-houses. It's a catchy idea. I've created a
few in my
time and have just perhaps assumed they're not creepy because I made them. I
think it all
ultimately comes down to having the learner be the center of creation.

Good luck with your course.

Best regards,

Robert





--- In evonline2002_webheads@yahoogroups.com, "Joao Alves" <joao_alves44@...>
wrote:
>
> What a great syllabus for using the Internet in the language 2 classroom,
> Maryanne. Thanks for sharing this. Actually it is a great plan on how to
> organize a course about using the web 2.0 tools. I have ordered the book you
> suggested to your students myself.
> Are your students teachers? Is it totally online? Will you ever meet them
> face to face?
>
> Thank you.
> Joao
>
> 2008/8/24 Maryanne Burgos <maryanneburgos@...>
>
> > As suggested by Carla and Nina, I have uploaded my syllabus for Using
> > the Internet in the L2 Classroom. I hope others will upload theirs as
> > well. It could be a great opportunity to share and feedback is most
> > welcome!
> >
> > BTW I thought I had uploaded it previously but realized today that I
> > mistakenly uploaded it to the Y-group Learning with Computers.
> >
> > Maryanne
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Joao Alves
> http://joaocarlosalves.eu
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>