Our Featured Faculty Member for LTTO Session #1 was Karen Ford. She began her discussion about discussions by relating what she learned during her sabbatical. She reported that the trends in the literature revealed variations in online program offerings, consistent focus on development of “community of learners", the idea that communication is critical in online teaching, and the identification of pockets of places producing info on online teaching, such as the Sloan Consortium.
Next Karen talked about her professional experiences with discussions in her online courses and referred to the article,
I Know Them Better Than Students in my On-campus Courses”: Exploring a Personalized Approach to Online Instruction.Karen focuses on the critical nature of communication, using “best practice” findings to drive her online courses. Using information from best practices her discussions fall into the categories of: Interactive & Dynamic, Substantive,and/or Providing Resources. She then gave examples of each category while participants joined in with questions and suggestions. It was a very interesting session that was a good mix of research, best practices, and practical information for online instructors.
Thanks for a great session, Karen!
