I’ve been teaching online for four years now both in a hybrid format and fully online. However, taking this course, so far, makes me realize that I still have room for improvement which I plan to do. Unit 1 practically walked me through the course using different activities that allow me to meet the learning objectives, experience firsthand what it's like to be a student in an online language course and use the skills learned to design and/or improve as needed my own online course.
First, I completed the syllabus quiz to discuss the course goals and expectations as well as sharing my own expectations and my goals for the course. I created a video using VoiceThread to introduce myself and commented on the instructors and classmates’ videos. This activity allowed me to build relationships with my fellow classmates and instructors by learning some personal information about them. I did learn how to navigate the course site, access the lesson and complete the activities by watching the videos, sharing my favorite vacation spot on the Chit Chat forum and using the Canvas email to complete the Shirt Color activity. I also completed two surveys related to my readiness to teach online as well as participating in a discussion forum that discusses my experience with Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). In addition, I was constantly communicating and commenting on the work of my small group members. I realized that these activities were built into the course to demonstrate how I can embed engaging activities into my course to help students be an integral part of the learning process and learn by doing. I will definitely use the VoiceThread Introductions and embed the Chit Chat forum into my online course and start the discussion with a topic that enables students to connect and get acquainted with each other on a personal level. I will try the expectations and roles activity as well as a readiness survey for learning online to help students situate and set learning goals for themselves.
Second, the need of Analysis helps me really think about my plan to teach online. It requires a lot of front load strategic planning in order to be successful. I was able to enhance my knowledge of the ADDIE Model and assess my teaching online skills. I took a deeper look at my students’ readiness in terms of their needs and background in achieving in an online course. I drafted a Needs Analysis for a projected course by examining the informationI have on the current Context of my institution, the Delivery Format of the course and my knowledge of the Students as outlined by S. Kurt in the web article ADDIE Model: Instructional Design. Ko & Rossen advised teachers, at that phase of the course design, to assess their current setting based on technology and media support their institution has available to facilitate the online course as well as its ability to provide training and support (p. 24-29). They also underlined the importance of gathering information that will help meet the online learners’ needs in terms of their readiness to learn online and the type of support they will need to be successful in the online class (p.43-49).
Third, I was able to get some constructive feedback from my classmates on my Needs Analysis, provide feedback to my peers and learn from the process. In general, I see peer review as a strategy that allows students to learn from each other and be able to contribute to the learning process. Through the different steps of completing the Needs Analysis activity such as filling out the worksheet to gather information, organizing my thoughts then posting it to the forum in order to get peer feedback, I come to realize that breaking down assignments into small tasks facilitate the completion of the assignment by making it more manageable and increase understanding. Ko & Rossen also highlighted two great benefits that are associated with peer review: the opportunity to really delve into the criteria for the assignment and to get the perspective of another person besides the instructor (p. 206). Nonetheless, they also underlined the need for the instructor to provide specific criteria and high-level of thinking questions to guide the process in order for peer review to be effective. Therefore, peer review does have great benefits for students and should be implemented in online teaching to help students assess their peers and their own work based on clear and concise criteria that can help learners’ meet the learning goals.
Fourth, using the Continuing and Professional Education Rubric to evaluate the TTLO (Transitioning to Teaching Language Online) course design helped me identify basic instructional design steps in creating or improving my own online course. I completed a Jigsaw activity to investigate the issues or challenges related to UDL (Universal Design for Learning) in online language learning and suggested some strategies that help overcome these challenges. I was able to look at my F2F syllabus using the QM K-12 Rubric and identified, based on the standards, some key elements that will help me revise it to meet the criteria of the online course syllabus. All these activities really added to my knowledge in course design and helped me understand better how to see my course from a student perspective.
The Jigsaw Puzzle activity was a hands-on experience that can’t wait to implement into my online course. During the Jigsaw Puzzle, each member of my small group had to investigate one of the design topics: Creating community, Teacher Presence, Student Engagement and interaction, Academic Honesty & Google Translate or Accessibility (UDL) in collaboration with other members of the other small groups that are investigating the same topic. We ended up with five different groups, called Expert Group, which was investigating one of the five topics. The forums set up for each group was set according to learning objectives for the task. The Expert Group gave me the ability to share my research with the group and broaden my knowledge of the topic using the other member's research. We were able to bounce forth ideas and clear as well any misconceptions. At the end, every member of the small groups was able to share their own research in the group to complete the whole puzzle, learn from each other’s final research and have a clear understanding of each topic without having to research all of them. This type of activity breaks down the research in manageable chunks that enables everyone to focus on a specific research topic and be a source of knowledge for the others on that topic. It did reinforce my understanding of the benefits of group work on the learning process and demonstrate how to effectively design it. It also fostered my interaction with the other classmates who were not part of my small group and built relationships within all the groups in the course. However, while it was designed very effectively, I need to keep in mind, in designing an online group work, the time difference between group members, adequately design the group activities to help learners achieve the learning goals and provide support throughout the process. Ko & Rossen advise teachers to create clear learning objectives based on the Bloom’s Taxonomy, to use scaffolding strate the and use the UDL framework to facilitate access and level the learning field for all . Teachers need to embed different types of assessments and create activities that promote learner-content, learner-instructor and learner-learner interactions using different forums and different groupings (Ko & Rossen, pg. 33-91). In sum, the activities of the online course should be designed in a way that fosters engagement using different types of tasks that help students learn in their Zone of Proximal Development, construct meaning through interaction with their classmates as well as sharing responsibility (p. 344-347).
During lesson 1.4, I was able to identify best practices for teaching online language courses by comparing and contrasting the best practice tips from the TTLO course, the Checklist of Competencies for Effective Online Teaching and the Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online and choose some design elements and best practice tips to incorporate in my online course. I found that a Faculty Bio, a Welcome video, a Chit chat/informal chat room and a Mid-Course Feedback are four best practices that my F2F course are lacking and that are essential in the online course because they will help me:
make connections with students (Faculty Bio)
facilitate course LMS navigation and ease the stress associated with first week of the course (Welcome Video)
Increase learner-learner interaction and build relationships (Chit Chat room)
Adjust the course to meet learners’ need and make it accessible for all (Mid-Course Feedback)
As Ko & Rosen mentioned, the aforementioned best practices make the teacher look approachable and anticipate concerns students might have regarding the course (p. 318). In addition, Ko & Rossen gave some clear guidelines on how to approach students’ behavior in the online course (Chapter 12). However, teachers need to set clear guidelines at the beginning of the course to avoid any online behavior issues (p.358).
Whether in F2F or online, Group work is a strategy that fosters learning and encourages students interaction. However, just like in F2F, doing group work online can be overwhelming and cumbersome. Nevertheless, the group work should be an essential part of the online course due to its many benefits. Ko & Rossen stressed on the need for group work to be well-organized and well-paced in order to be effective (p. 69-70). It should include formative and summative assessment as well as opportunities for students to self-assess and assess their peers (p. 74-76). It might be easier to manage in a F2F setting. However, technology offers many ways to overcome some of the challenges in an online setting such as allowing students to work asynchronously and offer choices on how to complete the group work to deal with issues associated with communication issues including delayed response, uneven participation and unfamiliarity with classmates. In addition, teachers can use tools that help monitor students participation and that facilitate the creation and administration of formative and summative assessments.
