Key Information
It Works for Me, Online!: Shared Tips for Online and Web-Enhanced Teaching, By Hal Blythe & Charlie Sweet
2004 [ISBN: 1-58107-092-6; 104 pages soft cover; 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 inch] $15.95
It Works For Me, Online is designed primarily to aid instructors in two major types of classes: fully online and web-enhanced/hybrid courses. Those who teach fully online classes will find tips on such things as tricks you can use with synchronous chats, how to use blogging in your classroom to replace traditional chat-rooms (talk about your superannuation), and even ways of adapting Blackboard to meet administrative needs. Those who prefer web enhancements to the traditional classroom will find advice to navigate between the virtual and real world. And, truthfully, we are hopeful that even dyed-in-the-wool, card-carrying Luddites will skim through these pages and realize it is possible for old dogs to learn new tricks (we and many of our contributors are either retiring or nearing retirement, yet found the brave new world of technology as exciting as we did our Erector Sets as kids or learning to beat our own kids at Pac-Man).
Use It Works For Me, Online both as a handy desk companion filled with practical strategies and as a springboard for generating your own strategies for making your classes as effective as possible. Like the first two books in this series, It Works For Me and It Works For Me, Too, this handbook runs the gamut from short to long pieces, from very course-specific suggestions to general pieces, from some theoretical applications to down-to-earth tactics.
The Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PREPARATION
Web-Enhanced Courses
>Know the Limitations of Your Technology
>Email Rules
>Create a Listserv
>Develop Partnerships
>Virtual Office Hours
>Always Have Backup
Online Courses
>Using a Textbook as a Course Guide
>Examine and Acknowledge
>Divide and Conquer: Create Small Learning Communities in Your Web-Based >Classrooms
>There Are Some Things You Just Can’t Do Online
>Increase Interaction in Online Courses By Establishing a Community of Online >Learners
>Read
>Break It Down
>Who Are You?
>Course Development
>Making Online Content User-Friendly
>Hardware Versus Software
>Promoting Better Learning Through Online Course Organization
>Find Your Back-Up
>Embedding Copyright Awareness
>Getting Organized, Or How to Avoid Asking, “Where in Cyberspace Is It?”
>Instructional Design Models in Online Environments
>You Can’t Call 911 When the Computer Chokes
>Assist New Online Students By Increasing Their Technological Literacy, As Well As Your Own
>Prepare to Have Fun!
3. PRESENTATION
Web-Enhanced Courses
>I Can See Clearly Now
>Lectures Using the Internet
>Introducing Humor Using the Internet
>Online Music in the Classroom
Online Courses
>Handling the First Week of Classes
>Connection Week
>Your Availability
>Grouping Students
>Lectures on CD
>Computer Literate?
>Formatting the Content for Online Lectures
>3 Then Me
>Limiting Email Access in the Online Classroom
>The Power of Inspirational and Motivational Quotations in Online Teaching
>Be Sensitive, Be Flexible
>Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes: Reorganizing Class Material for Online Teaching
4. DISCUSSION BOARDS
Web-Enhanced Courses
>Student-led Discussion Boards
>What’s on Your Mind? Responding to the Events of September 11th
>Discussion Board As Aid to Effective Reading
Online Courses
>Those Awful “Uh-oh” Moments—Online
>Discussion Board Postings and Assessment
>Organizing Online Discussion
>How to Mentor Teachers Online
>Sex, Politics, Religion—Dealing With Controversial Topics
>Discussion Threads for Improved Style and Grammar
>Chatting About Children’s Literature
>The Missing Link in the Online Classroom
>Midweek Deadlines for Discussions
>Discussion Boards to Improve Student Response to Material
>Suggestions to Facilitate Your Learning
>Timing Is Everything
>Online Isn’t the Only Line
>Reflective Observations and Critiques: Using Discussion Boards As a Tool
5. ASSIGNMENTS AND EXERCISES
Web-Enhanced Courses
>Primary vs. Secondary Sources
>What a Difference One Letter Makes!
>Educational Television
>Activities and Demonstrations Using the Internet
>Debating Online Research
>Group It
>Web-based Surveys
>Preparation for Class
>Speak Out!
>Student Construction of Class Agenda
>The Virtual Scavenger Hunt
>Teaching Technical Document Production Using Microsoft Publisher
>Nine Internet Research Guidelines
Online Courses
>Increasing Learner Involvement By Using Critiques
>Involving Online Students With Assigned Reading
>Integrating Library Resources into Online Courses Using Course Management >Software Packages
>Who’s on First?
>Explain, Explain
>Meet Me Next Week Was Last Week
6. GRADING
Web-Enhanced Courses
>Online Reading Quizzes
>Quiz Grading Problems
Online Courses
>Online Testing Format
>Student-submitted Exam Questions Also Function As a Study Guide
>Grading Online Discussion Forums
>Using Portfolios
>Grading Online Participation—Negotiating Quantity and Quality
7. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Using Blackboard As an Administrative Tool
Avoiding Teacher Overload by Using Web-Based Tools
8. AFTERWORD
Solomon, Paradox, and Web-based Teaching Tool
About the Authors
Hal Blythe, Ph.D., is a Foundation Professor of English at the Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY. He has authored three non-fiction books dealing with writing and over 100 critical scholarly articles. He has ghost-written over 30 Mike Shayne novellas and over 100 short stories in popular magazines to include Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Woman’s World. He also has produced seven television scripts for EKU-TV’s Keys to Communication Series, and over 25 articles in Writer’s Digest dealing with pedagogy.
Charlie Sweet, Ph.D., is a Foundation Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University. He formerly taught at Florida State University.