Synchronous Online Lesson Checklist

	Y	N	Comments
Instructor introduces himself.
Objectives were clearly stated at the beginning.
Instructor applied multimedia principles
Instructor used multimedia tools to reach different learning styles.
Instructor was well-prepared.
Instructor was knowledgeable about the topic.
Was the synchronous activity or strategy appropriate?
Instructor used class time effectively
Instructor incorporated an assessment tool.
Instructor was knowledgeable in managing the web-conferencing tool.
Instructor had any technical difficulties (e.g. audio, video, etc?
Instructor provided a summary at the end of the lesson.
Students were able to easily access the information.
Students actively participated in the lesson.
Students collaborated during the lesson

Communication Plan

Routine Tasks
Check Monday thru Friday for new post, and questions.
Contact students that has been inactive from the class.
Grade assignments and provide feedback along with grades.
Verify that all links of upcoming module are working, and information is consistent.

Includes at least 5 Discussion Board Strategies with detailed instructions and/or examples.
Instructor will keep discussions informal, but informative and factual.
Instructor will provide encouragement and support

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall of facts to more complex and abstract mental levels. Online educators should use activities that promote higher order skills. Cognitive presence is associated with effectively facilitating and developing reflective thinking, self-directed learning and metacognitive awareness. How can instructor facilitate reflective thinking, self-directed learning, and metacognitive awareness among students in online environments?

1. Post your comment no later than Wednesday
2. Reference at least one journal article and one chapter of your textbook.
3. Response to at least one peer by Sunday; "I liked your post or “I agree” is not enough
4. Use the discussion rubric to assess your comments
5. If you are an educator, please talk about how you promote higher order skills in your classroom.
6. Non-educators, explain how you might implement this with your audience, K-12 or Adult Learners.
7. Keep discussions relevant to topic; use Social Lounge Board for social discussions

Example:
Some of the ways I try to reach these with my online middle school students are through projects. Often when we are finishing up a unit, instead of a unit test or paper I give optional projects. One example was for our Anne Frank Unit, they had the option to write a paper, create a blog or create a dipity timeline. For each option, I scaffolded the directions and provided a rubric. They also had to complete peer assessments, in the form of a discussion board and a self evaluation to reflect on their learning.

Rosenjack (2007) highlight the use of WebQuest to teach higher order skills in nursing students. She states “it was important that nursing students begin using the higher cognitive levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Bloom, 1956) in order to function adequately as they progressed through their coursework”.

Rosenjack, J., et al. (2007). Confronting Challenges in Online Teaching: The WebQuest Solution. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(1). Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no1/burchum.htm

Some strategies would be the following:
1. Provide enough wait-time for students to reflect.
2. Provide authentic tasks involving ill-structured problems to encourage reflective thinking.
3. Prompt students' reflection by asking questions that seek reasons and evidence. Some examples are can you give me an example?, and could you provide evidence to support what are you saying?
a) How Why are you saying that? how does why, how, and what specific decisions are made or why they believe in that, and ask to students for evident that support their particular views or to expand on their point of view.

Includes at least 8 Discussion Board Management Issues with possible solutions for each.

1. Lack of reflection: use questions such as “could you expand on this”, to further reflection from students or model proper responses.
2. Misconceptions: Asked for references for what instructor thinks it's a misconception.
3. Flaming or inappropriate communications: remind netiquettes to all students, and send private communications to students involve to address the situation.
4. Multiple last minutes responses: Set multiple deadlines for discussions.
5. Lack of participation: Have posting requirement written in syllabus
6. Avoid long discussion: limits the discussions to a week
7. Keep discussion relevant to topic: Remind class to keep discussion relevant to topic, and remind student that's is out of focus to remind him to keep discussion relevant to topic.
8. Inactive Students: Contact inactive students via email or phone.
9. Lack of feedback: Instructor would provide constructive feedback during discussion.

Includes one unique and original idea, category, or thought.
1. Disrespectful students will apologize to the whole class for their behaviors.

Rubric

E-learning

The Internet revolution expanded the horizon and capabilities of e-learning. The authors debated whether distance education was better than face-to-face, but concluded that there was not practical difference between one or the other. Research has concluded that is not the delivery medium what cause the learning outcomes; it is the instructional method. Well-designed and implemented courses will produce similar effects in traditional classroom or online environment. Understanding learners characteristic and having clear learning goals are key components to design a good courseware. I believe these two factors are the foundations for developing a good courseware, and they will affect most of the other factors cited by the authors such as the learning environment, level of interactivity, and e-learning architecture. If the designer fails to identify the learner’s characteristic and training goals at the planning stage, he could develop a training course that would not meet the needs of the learners, and can cripple the intended learning outcomes.

Clark, Ruth, & Mayer, Richard. (2010). E-learning and the science of instruction: proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia design, 2nd edition. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer & Co.

Multimedia Principles

Summary Week 3
The authors explain how research finding recommend the use of text and graphic for e-learning courses. The rationale behind it is that multimedia presentation foster active learning; the learner makes a mental connection between the text and the graphic, and eventually integrates this material into their existing knowledge. But multimedia presentation will not always foster active learning. If the text and graphic do not support each other, then the graphic could serve just for decorative purposes. The authors recommend the use of relational, organizational, transformational and interpretive graphics over the use of decorative and representational graphics. In addition, the authors highlight a research that recommends the use of static images and text over animations and text. The author stated that the illustration and text could foster active learning because the learner needs to mentally connect the image and text, and the animation could increase the cognitive load on the learners. An exemption to this rule is when the designer is trying to teach motor skills or to illustrate invisible relationship between two things. For this, research indicates that animations or videos are more effective. Finally, the authors highlighted that the multimedia effect works best for novices, and the same results are not achieved on experts. Experts learn equally well from text alone or multimedia presentation.
On chapter 4, the authors add variable of contiguity to the multimedia effect. Presenting a graphic and text will not necessary enhance learning; they must be placed near each other. The same principle applies to graphic and narrations. The contiguity principle reduces extraneous processing by taking into account the limits of human perception and memory.