Day 4

Have been talking with Marcie, Steve, and Susan regarding how to best approach getting in some speaking practice for the students outside the classroom. It looks like the best bet at this point might be having the students use a SmartPen and loading the file into Evermore. I'd like to get everything recorded and uploaded consistently as some students will be more tech savvy than others. Would really like to avoid corrupted files, incompatible software, and having to jump through hoop after hoop to find a file. Still investigating finding a way to do it directly through Blackboard.

In working on the syllabus today, I realized that it's not just a matter of tweaking what I already have. My mindset going in was that I could layer upon what I had from the face-to-face class. Not going to work! I really have to basically throw aside everything that I know about course schedule design and start from scratch. My first draft is divided into weeks and subdivided into face-to-face and online assignments. Steve thinks, and I agree, that it looks too task heavy. I'll mull it over and re-approach it next week.

On a personal note, I am surprised to find that I am a bit intimidated at times about this process. There is a slight temptation to try to avoid the things that stump me completely, as in not even knowing where to begin or what questions to ask. But...the minute I start investigating, I start making progress.

Day 3

              Working on the syllabus and lessons today, I realized that I was still coming at it from the angle of face-to-face meetings. On Monday, we'll do this; on Wednesday, I'll go over this; and this they will do for homework to be checked next Monday. BUT, when the class isn't meeting for two weeks, there is a lot more ground that can be covered on their own, at their own pace! So, what would normally be covered in two weeks can be covered a week or a week and a half.

Also, and I think I knew this intuitively but it just clicked: we have spent a lot of time trying to come at this from the viewpoint of course designers, creating the shell and then the lessons. As teachers, we are ingrained with the thought of lesson first, method of delivery second. So, that is how I am approaching it. I've created the lesson plans I want; now it's on to designing the lessons in formats (handouts, PowerPoints, Lectora interactive pages, etc.) Once that happens (and that should take some time!), I will start thinking about how I want the online shell to look and how I will organize everything. I feel better already!

Getting Started

After two years of a very sporadic stop-and-go approach to building a hybrid course, I was fortunate to be offered two release hours to work on it. This blog will track the progress I make (or don't!) and include all the Aha! moments as well as the Doh! insights.

A couple of years ago, I started teaching Advanced Grammar 1 to EAP students. In the course of the first two semesters, I discovered that there were really no textbooks that addressed the needs of the class. Unlike most grammar courses, Level 5 focuses less on learning structures and more on using structures already studied. The idea was to have students apply what they had studied (and sometimes learned :) ) to academic endeavors, most especially writing. So... I started creating my own materials. At the end of two more terms, I had created an entire course and realized this was a great opportunity to place an EAP course online, or at the very least place it as a hybrid course. Materials in hand, I took off for the Collaboration Studio.

On Day 1, I drafted a plan of attack. I was surprised to discover that just putting together the first two weeks of lesson plans for a hybrid-course semester would take until January. This timeline would include four  phases: 1.) deciding what lessons to include and the method of delivery for each; 2.) creating the lessons for online delivery 3.) designing the online course shell; 4.) having everything peer reviewed and applying changes as needed

Whew. Looked like a lot of time would go into this. On Day 2, I started working with my syllabus, and by the end of the day, I had drawn up a plan for all the lessons for Weeks and 1 and 2. I was two weeks ahead of schedule. Good news.