As I consider and reconsider how I want to put the course that I'm developing together, I continue coming back to the final deliverable I want from participants in the course: a full demonstration that the participants (new teaching assistants) are able to utilize our campus LMS effectively. With teaching assistants not always able to return to campus at a specific date and time, in particular if the teaching assistants are international students or are delayed on accessing their housing, ensuring that course content is online is critical.
So as I read though Chapter 4, I think about how I want to move forward with the learning techniques. The teaching assistants will receive training in classroom skills from another campus organization, so where do I want the focus to be? Since everything should build until the final project, I see the course as a blending of several techniques. For each module, I want the students to practice what they've learned - following very specific instructions on how to complete various assignments or tasks. The final project would integrate some experiential opportunities for the participants to build content in a simulated course.
In the end our teaching assistants have a limited amount of time to complete the course and the more practical experiences they have will help better prepare them to assist their faculty supervisors. This course should also encourage participants to explore more features within the LMS.
This post perfectly demonstrates one of my favorite quotes about education. "Begin with the end in mind" We need to make sure that we are building off of things we have taught earlier and not just beginning and starting over again with each section. This should all culminate in the final project, which should demonstrate the students knowledge of the course as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the design of the course. Very intriguing. If I understand correctly, the final summative assessment share some commonality with the capstone project we design for our students. The difficult part is how to evaluate the competence level though. Would like to hear your thoughts on that.
ReplyDeleteI had the same kind of course in mind. Our LMS is blackboard and the reality is it doesn't get used like it should do. In most of the courses it is 'the place to find the syllabus and articles to read". I'm interested in your approach and like to read or see more specifics, even after Blendkit is done.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think to much about the evaluation-part as the aim of my course would be more about getting them to know the possibilities rather than them to be able to use it all. If they would know what and how, it could already change perspective when they design or alter courses, I guess.