As I’ve listened too many of former students and advisee’s, there are instructors and professors that just assign readings, lectures, or articles in their classes and leave it up to the students to decide who to go about understanding the info. I’ve taught a couple classes online and find myself from time to time doing this. I need to be better about about making sure to explain how the material applies to class if perhaps through video or through an assignment or through an activity. This needs to be a goal for me every week about also to make sure that the in-class time is appropriate to the material online and thoroughly connected. I’ve taught hybrid before and this was my biggest issue. I felt as an instructor that I had a issue with the students not connecting enough with material and making sense of it. I need to find activities/assignments that can be started online but completed in class to make that connection. That ability to keep the material present and engaged will make better for me to connect the dots for the audience!! This is going to challenging at times but the payoff will be worth it at the end.
I’ve also been thinking about integrating online and class activities. I just did some experimentation with this notion for a couple sessions. I broke the online presentation into 10-minutes segments. After viewing each segment, the learners have an online assignment which gives them the opportunity to apply the concepts in real-time on real-issues.
When we meet for the next class session, we will use the learner’s online work as a springboard for the in-class activities. Essentially, we’ll use class time for troubleshooting, experimenting with application ideas, peer consultation and deepening the learning.
I was explicit in the online instructions about the tie between the online and classroom activities and the necessity for online to be completed in order to participate effectively in class.
I think that this will be my biggest challenge, particularly with a required sophomore-level course. Getting the students to actually participate online, and then in class can take some work. I like the idea of linking online and in-class. I also use clickers in class, both to give students a feel for what exam questions may look like, and to encourage them to work on the exercises we do in class. I can see linking the online an inclass work with clickers. It will take some coordination to ensure everything flowes well.