Student Perspective

Our time to post to this blog has come to an end. For my final post, I would like to talk about the student perspective. These are things I have learned on my own, and some I have read about.

Do you find that after teaching a few years it is hard to see the student perspective? What I mean is looking at our assignments with “fresh eyes”. We know the subject and our students do not, or they have a partial understanding of the subject. I try to look at how the student sees this subject when viewing it for the first time. I know with my computer programs I have to constantly be aware of the first time user and what they see.

I ask myself questions from the new person perspective. I can tell you this is a challenge. I do some private tutoring and can see when a person’s eyes glaze over. I cannot see that in an online class.

Remembering at all times, that most of our students are seeing this for the first time, helps a lot. Many are also new to online classes, which makes it even harder. I have known people that were a whiz with one program but clueless where they saved their work. They did not know the basics.

As we move into our fall classes, let us all look with “fresh eyes” at our courses. Happy fall! Mary

Reflections

As we begin the fall semester I have a few reflections.

First of all I would like to thank Ralph Newby for recommending me for the Faculty Voices blog. Now that I am in the habit of blogging, I will keep up with other blogs. It has been an enriching experience!

This past summer was a tough one. I had lots of students with lots of issues. Many wanted special exceptions to the rules, while others questioned the rules. Upon reflection, there were the same percentage of students that completed their work on time and without complaint, just like past semesters. I realize summer was not that unusual it just seemed so due to the sheer number of students and the short schedule.

We begin anew for fall; raring to go for the new influx of students. Who will be brilliant? Who will turn in files that I say “Wow”? Who will do the minimum required?

I think the downturn in the economy has benefited society in that people are realizing the importance of a higher education as we continue in this century. Competition with other countries is fierce and we need to be “on top of our game”. Hopefully our students will be able to get meaningful jobs with their new skills. We certainly will do everything we can to help them.

Webinars using Elluminate

CCConline offers us many educational opportunities through their Webinars. I attended one this summer on using the Grades tool in D2L. Some features I didn’t know were available to even ask about. I learned so much more than if I just studied the Wiki. Thank you Amy and everyone else that presents these Webinars.

I have thought about how to include a Webinar in my classes using Elluminate. It requires that the students and I are online at the same time. Most of my students work full-time, so trying to find a good day/evening/time of the week would be difficult. However, if I could get at least a few, perhaps that would be worth the effort. One of the benefits is that it can be archived and viewed later if someone cannot attend.

It requires time to create a presentation, so I need to explore that as well. Has anyone used Elluminate in their classes, and if so, did you get a good response from the students?

New Technologies

I was commenting recently on new ways of teaching, here is link to an article how the military is being trained these days.

Military Training

Like Second Life and video games, what is reality and what is not? SL (Second Life) refers to anything outside of its virtual world as RL (real life).
My 12 year old grandson plays Wii constantly. He says when it is broken that is when he goes outside to play.

Children (and adults) see movies where people are blown up, shot with machine guns, and other violence. How do they distinguish what is real and what is on T.V.?

I guess I am old, but all this scares me just a little. I am all for new technologies, but I plan to pick and choose which ones.

Students of 2014

How will we teach the freshman coming in 2014? This article gives us a clue about what students of 2014 might be like.

Students of 2014

No e-mail? Never a wristwatch? Never used a phone with a cord? What will we need to do in our classes to reach these students in a meaningful way?

I posted a blog recently about using the Second Life Avatar program. Perhaps incorporating this program or using it in part of a class, might be a way to go.
Right now, a pre-medical student can dissect a frog with an online program. That saves a lot of frog killing and is a good way to accomplish that particular task. However, we would want our physician to have worked on a real human, before diagnosing our problem. Someone researching a plant for a wonderful new drug could do a lot of research on the Internet. They also would need hands on experimentation.

Interactive videos are available now and I use them quite a bit in my computer application classes. The students still need the hands on work or they will not be able to use these programs. A question I ask myself is if I should make it so they can work from their IPod, IPad, or other electronic device, rather than a computer. I do not have an answer. In fact, I mostly have questions.

My opinion is that the subject matter should drive what technologies are used. Anyone that wants to chime in, please do.

Best (worst) file excuse

I decided to go back and make a list of the late file excuses I received this past summer. Some were legitimate reasons for late work, but most were not.

Here is an original excuse I would like to share. Class began on June 7th; this e-mail was received on June 28th. No discussions or quizzes had been completed before this date.

“My husband and I just got our textbook last night because our car died and we had to run out a buy a new one and we were not able to purchase our book until last night. We spent all day trying to get completely caught up and my husband got his files submitted to the dropbox, but unfortunately in between the time when I attached the files and hit send, the clock struck 11:59. I was just wondering if there was any way that I can still submit them. Please let me know how I can solve this and I appreciate your time”

I responded that work that was over one week late would not be accepted, per the syllabus. Neither the husband or wife responded back to my e-mail. Notice also the 11:59 p.m. time. If you were a student, would you wait until the clock struck the last minute to upload your work?

This summer session has been very frustrating, however, I learned from these students. My fall classes will have many changes that should make my life easier.

P.C. vs Mac

One of our challenges with teaching computer programs is having students using both a P.C. and a MacIntosh for classes. I do not own a Mac, but have become familiar enough with the platform to address issues that come up. I believe we need to accommodate both platforms. Many industries dealing with graphic design use Macs instead of P.C.s. Just watch a trailer on how Avatar was created and you will see they all use Macs.

Mac users are defensive when it comes to their computers. They think Macs are the best and why would a person use a P.C.? I try to stay out of this discussion as everyone is entitled to their opinion. The books I choose address the difference between these two platforms. I also have notes to show how to use each; even though there are some that never read my notes.

It would be helpful sometimes in answering some questions that arise if I had both types of computers. Fortunately, I have friends with Macs that can help me out sometimes, as well as some of my students. I have no problem asking student’s for an answer. It makes them feel important and why not?