A New Semester, A New Opportunity!

I teach in the Behavioral Sciences, and have offered online courses at MCC for the past four years.  So I'm still feel new to all this.  I've been fortunate to have many avenues available for professional development as an online instructor, including a recent sabbatical to explore topics of accessibility, multimedia, Creative Commons licensing, locating online instructional resources, and the instructor development and sharing of ebooks.

 
A screenshot of the ebook version of my Behavioral Statistics Workbook, hosted on Crocodoc.com.
 

This semester I will be including (for the first time) an ebook option for my students.  Importantly, there will be a designated 'online community ebook' that all students have access to, can read, and even add comments (to indicate questions they might have).  I or other students can then reply to the questions raised (directly within the community e-book), using either a text or video response.  Then anyone else reading through the online community ebook can see the questions raised by the class and the responses.  I can opt to be notified via e-mail whenever a student asks a questions about the text.  Why bother?  I am interested in reducing student costs... the e-book option for the students is free (students can either purchase the printed version from the bookstore, or have their own ebook version).  I also wish to make it easier for students to request help with the content in the course.  In my 'Ask A Question' discussion forum on Blackboard, most questions are about course format... even though it is clear students also need help with course content.  Thus making it easier for them to ask questions as they are studying (by posting their question directly within the online community ebook as they read) seems like a worthwhile direction to explore.  Note that students have the option to view their own comments only - or those of the whole class.  I look forward to reporting back on how this online community ebook experiment works. 

I would recommend two blogs.  Having attended Michelle Pacansky-Brock's @One's Building Online Community with Emerging Tools, I would recommend her blog MPB Reflections for those interested in recent developments in online education.  Having benefited many times from the insights shared, I'd recommend Lisa's (Online) Teaching Blog by our own Lisa M. Lane.

My appreciation to Jim Sullivan and Pilar Hernandez for working with Lisa Lane to make this Program for Online Teaching Certificate pathway available.  I am looking forward to journeying with everyone on this certificate path - which is great for the first time and the returning online instructor.  Having the opportunity to continue to learn from my colleages, which is at the heart of this certificate program, is a wonderful gift.  Looking forward to learning from everyone's posts!

Robert

Comments

[Jim Sullivan]

Hi Robert!

Thanks for returning to share you great insights into technology and teaching. I ad not visited MPB Reflections before. I think it offers lots of cool ideas and resources. Could you go ahead and add it to our group Diigo (you can find a link at the top of this blog).

Thanks again, I look forward to learning more from you this semester.

[mbrewster]

Hi Robert,
I'd like to learn more about how you found and implemented the e-book solution. I've never been completely satisfied with any textbook. An e-book that allows for student and teacher input is interactive and collaborative. What more can we ask for in an online or hybrid setting?

Michele Brewster