So, the spring semester is officially in full swing, and although we’ve only had one class meeting (thanks to the University’s change in schedule and having what would have been our first meeting fall on MLK Jr’s birthday), it seems like it is going to be a million times easier!
I’ve unfortunately never had the opportunity to “start all over again”, because I’ve never been in the same place for more than a year (or in this case semester). It is nice going in, “knowing my stuff” and of course knowing what to expect. Although I ended up having to combine my “Introduction” meeting and “Module 1” meeting all in one, it ended up working out okay. My students seem pretty eager to learn and seem excited about the course, so that also makes it easier! :)
Surprisingly, I have a LOT of non-education majors this semester! I was really shocked and I know that it is definitely going to keep me on my toes trying to keep them engaged. During the first class meeting, I had them tell me why they were taking this course and most of them just said that they were required to take a computer class and this one sounded more interesting than the others (no pressure, right? ;)) One of my non-ed students told me that the reason he was taking my course was that he heard I was sweet, pretty, and smart…I think he’s trying for brownie points ;)
My approach for these non-ed majors is to try and make the material as relevant to them as possible. Since I have so many business students, I asked Alex about about how I could relate some of the education based assignments (like lesson planning) to the business world. We came up with a few ideas, so I’ll definitely blog about how they turn out :)
The changes I made in the course seem to be helpful already. Because I made the directions much more explicit, I’m having less questions. Of course, I know there will never be a time where I don’t have ANY questions, but confusing directions do not help in that matter! :) On top of the changes I made to the course overall, I’ve actually made some changes to my teaching as well that I hope will help:
- I had the students make name tags to sit on the towers next to their computers. I just basically had them create a name tent with their name on the front and the back (so that I could see their names whether I was standing in the front of the room or the back of the room). It bothered me that last semester (especially if I needed to make note if they were not participating, i.e. playing on Facebook in class), I didn’t know all of their names, so I am determined to change that. I’m hanging on to my photo roster, I’ve added their pictures to my Outlook address book, and I’m making them bring their name tags back every week so hopefully I won’t have that problem again :)
- I have created a separate e-mail address/account just for this class. Last semester, I had them e-mail me through eLearning, the University’s course management system. It was great having all the e-mails in one place, however, I had a problem with 1.) them checking eLearning often (since it is not connected to their e-mail and 2.) responding to their messages in a timely manner. Because you can only access eLearning from a computer (as opposed to a mobile device or at least my Blackberry), I found myself constantly tied to the computer answering questions. I do have my eLearning e-mails forwarded to my phone, but the only way to reply is to log in to eLearning on a computer. It never failed that I would go through and answer all of these questions, log off the computer, and get an e-mail. It was frustrating not being able to respond right back to them. Having the specific e-mail account helps me keep all my correspondence together as well as making it MUCH easier to respond to e-mails (especially those “short answer” ones because I can do it from my phone) So far, I’m loving it!
- Since it is easier for me to get in touch with them, I have been better about sending out tailored messages. For example, today I sent out a reminder e-mail only to the students who had not turned in their assignment yet. Having them all in my outlook has been a lifesaver! :)
- I used a Facebook group last semester, but I decided to use a Page instead this semester. This way they can see it in their news feed and I even showed them how to receive updates when I post something there. I don’t like that I can’t send messages, but I think that they will check it more since it is more like a “profile”
- eLearning was a struggle for me to deal with…not necessarily the technology itself, but rather the logistics. Although I teach the same class to two sections, eLearning made me create two separate “classes” on the system. It drove me crazy because every change I made, I had to make it twice. It was also difficult when students sent me a message because I always clicked on the wrong class to reply back. This time, I was able to combine both sections into one “super class” so that I treat both classes as one big class, meaning that I only have to make changes once. It also helps me manage my students because they are a group of 60 (which is more how I treat them) rather than 2 groups of 30. This worked out perfectly, because I kept the due dates/times the same for both classes, so it was really no different. I LOVE it so far!
- I want to start integrating more technology ideas into the class rather than what I the course requires. This semester, I have decided to try what I am calling “Website of the Week” or “WOW” (what can I say? I’m an elementary teacher at heart ;)) Each class meeting I’m going to introduce 1 to 2 (I haven’t decided this yet) websites that I think are useful. This way they are getting a glimpse as to what is out there, and hopefully they will want to explore more :) Since I have so many non-ed majors, I started out trying to pick websites that could be used both in education and outside ed, but I feel like I’m doing my elementary teachers a disservice by not sharing some great websites for elementary students. I think I’m going to do 2 websites a week – one education, and one “hybrid” (as in it could be used in many fields) and have them blog about them including 1.) a short summary of both 2.) how they can be used to meet the NETS standards (which is what this class is based on) 3.) how they can use one or both in their career. Hopefully this will be a good experience for them and allows me to share some of the great resources I’ve been collecting throughout my doc journey :)
- I’m also making each class meeting more like a workshop. One of the “suggestions” from my students in my course evaluations is that we didn’t spend enough time practicing the technology before they actually had to use it for an assignment. I started this “workshop” idea during our class meeting, and I actually walked them through creating a blog, which was one of their assignments. It was so much easier than having to keep sending them back asking for the correct link, so, so far so good.
I think that’s about it! I better get back to grading :) Here’s to an amazing spring semester! :)
MS
