Welcome back! After a much needed
winter break, I have come back refreshed and ready to work! This semester
we will be learning how to successfully facilitate an online course using the
learning management system, Blackboard.
Last semester, we learned about the seven principles of teaching to assist in gaining knowledge of the various instructional concepts. These principles included, encouraging contact between student and faculty, encouraging active learning, developing student reciprocity, giving prompt feedback, emphasizing tasks completed on time, communicating your expectations, and respecting the talent and contributions of others. After familiarizing myself with the seven principles, I plan to use these principles as a guide to structure my online course facilitation. I could also use these principles as a guide to create a cohesive mission statement to be presented at the beginning of class as a leaning agreement contract. These principles would not only help to guide my expectations but also my students’ expectations during my time as the facilitator.
There are multitudes of learning styles. In my opinion every online student is visual first. We as humans take everything in with our eyes first, and then with our hearing. There is so much unique technology for the online student and instructor to incorporate in their course work, that I know it will be difficult to decide what will be the best course of action. On Tuesday, the class will be required to participate in our first live Blackboard Collaborate session to talk about the expectations when it is time to facilitate your class session. I am looking forward to the suggestions of my colleagues and instructor on what it takes to instruct a successful facilitation. I look forward to creating a lesson plan that will be visually appealing and informative. I plan to let my creative juices guide me through to successful first time facilitation. Finally, it will be interesting to use the Blackboard learning management system as an instructor instead of just a student.
Let's get started!
