Laura, I love each of those topics... let's continue to meet, by all means, and do them all!!! PEACE Kerry On Apr 5, 2004, at 3:42 PM, Gibbs, Laura K. wrote: > hi everybody, this is a note to figure out what folks would like to be > doing with the few more weeks we have left now at the end of the > semester. so, there are two basic questions: > > -- do you want to keep meeting? I have the impression that people > would like to keep on meeting even though we are getting to the > end-of-semester crunch. is that right? > > -- what topics would people most like to cover? > > here are some possible topics that people have suggested (I've put the > name next to the item if I remember who had suggested it, but I'm not > very good at remembering all these things, so please remind me if you > had thought of a good topic for us to cover that I've simply left out > here) - are there some of these topics that are of general interest? > > 1) overview of online course "best practices" (Larry) - I've looked at > some very nice "self-assessment" inventories for online course design > that might give us a good basis for that discussion. here's one such > inventory that is very useful and would perhaps be very useful to talk > through together: > http://www.imd.macewan.ca/imd/content.php?contentid=36 > > 2) designing online forms using Dreamweaver (Kerry) - some people have > asked about online forms. this is something you CAN do without special > server technology: the results of the forms are sent to you via email > (in order to collect the data and record it directl in a database > requires special server technology that we don't have acccess to). if > people already know the basics of Dreamweaver, and would like a > workshop in creating such forms, I would be glad to do that. > > 3) what you need to know to have students publish on the web (Larry) - > I do not know if Netscape is installed on the machines in the computer > lab that is available to us, but if people are interested in learning > how to use Netscape Composer as a tool for web publishing (a free tool > that students can use), we could have a workshop on how to teach > students to publish on the web > > 3) general IT procedures, back-ups, coping with problems (Lynn) - > several times we have talked about what to do when things don't work - > it might be useful to brainstorm together about how to prepare in > advance for technology glitches so that they aren't an insurmountable > problem if they do occur. I've got a "computer help" page for my > course that covers at least some of these issues from the students' > perspective, but not from the faculty perspective exactly: > http://www.mythfolklore.net/3043mythfolklore/resources/help.htm > > 4) writing assignments in online courses (Laura) - Marielle's great > CPR presentation showed how you can run an anonymous, randomized > peer-review process using CPR software. there are also other kinds of > online writing assignments that lend themselves to peer input, plus > the whole formal writing versus informal writing assignments issue. > what are the best assignments that can help students improve their > writing without gobbling up teacher time? > > 5) building quality online quizzes/exams (Nevine) - given the kinds of > online quizzes and exams we can create using Blackboard, what are the > best kind of questions for testing student knowledge of the material? > (this is not so much just about online course, but about constructing > good tests or quizzes in general, but with the limitations of what can > be done in Blackboard, and the special "honor code" situations that > come up in an online environment)