Best teacher and worst teacher (week 0)

I guess I will have to talk about my graduate work experience. My best teacher in graduate school was on a class called colloidal science. My worst teacher in the same setting was my instructor on a class called Separation processes in chemical engineering.

I think the most memorable moments in that colloidal science class was the fact that the class was conducted in a very informal matter. By informal I mean that the subject of the day was mostly presented by the instructor but he will devote the rest of the class asking us questions about the material and how to apply what we just learned. The course did have a structure and we were handed out a syllabus at the beginning of the semester. He always started the class with a picture or video that would convey the subject of the day. This facilitated the learning process because we saw a real world application of what we learned today.

Based on this, I have elaborated a list for four DOs:

1. Use external resources that help students understand the subject being exposed,
2. Ask questions to students, call on them and ask for their opinion so that you can assess how much they know,
3. Conduct the class in a way that students feel relaxed in your class,
4. Prepare a final project that requires student collaboration and encourages discussion.

What I think are four DON'Ts

1. Be too rigid in class just because you have a Ph.D. and you look down on your students,
2. You talk must of the time, make students participate,
3. Present only text material with no media that helps understand concepts,
4. Rely too much on an assistant to keep in touch with students.

I am planning on using these two lists when I design online courses by developing material that is engaging by adding activities where the students are asked to comment on something or make an analysis on the subject being presented. I also plan on treating students as colleagues and not as pupils, conveying that respect during the live interactions planned for these courses. Even though it is difficult to create that "human touch" in an online environment, something that is easy to accomplish in a classroom, I will set up discussion forums, chat sessions, and live video sessions that include personalized messages so that the student would not feel as another number in the enrollment.

About myself (Week 0)

My name is Julio Castro and I am an instructional designer at the University of Florida. I learned about this course from one of those alerts that I have set up in Google Alerts. I am ready to start developing an online class on how to teach online, and I want to see how this one has been set up. Although this is not the approach I will be using in my course, I found the method very interesting. It also happens to be that I have never taken an online class (I am a Gen X guy, all my formation happened in the classroom), and I thought this one would be the one I would choose to be the first one.

To me, the most important issue in teaching online is how to create engaging content that can keep the students interested in your course. I think another issue is the technology we want to use in our courses. How much is too much? Creating games is still expensive and time consuming, but there must other ways to design games that teach something and would not require that much money and time. Another issue I find fascinating, the fact the nowadays anybody can publish an online course. The technology is already here and it can be done cheaply and fast. I think online or e-learning will eventually go through the same process that books and music (and movies) went through: the self-publishing movement.

I think I can contribute from my experience designing online courses. But I also need to take the next step to becoming and online teacher or instructor. I love developing content for online courses, I have done that in the past when I taught courses at UF in a classroom setting. I also have a technology background since I have used web programming and computer programming for a long time. I am also trained in the use of development tools (software) extensively used in instructional design.

I think I would like to develop strong relationships with others in this course, learn more about them and maybe continue the chat and sharing of information beyond this class, maybe through other social media tools. I see this community morphing into a collaborative group in the future.

I don't consider this fear but mostly a lack of grit on my side. I am intended on overcoming this by catching up with the class and keeping up by taking small steps everyday to complete the activities and attend the live or recorded sessions when I can't attend. The feedback from others once my content is out there is what is going to be a challenge to me since I will not have the chance of meeting my fellow classmates personally, but I plan on following on any feedback received, make an analysis and identify the merits to the suggestions provided.

My presentation at the FDLA Annual Conference 2013

I am again at the office and I have decided to share with you what I learned at this conference. I found great interest on the subject I presented. I was dreading the moment when I was finally going to face my public because to tell you the truth, I though I was going to preach to the room walls. I saw some presentations that had only one person present, that was not a good sign. The attrition rate was high in this conference. A lot of people showed up the first day but by the third day there were only a handful of people around, but the last presentations did have great attendance (even though there were a few around only). I was ecstatic that people were genuinely interested in what I have to say. I received lost of questions and I even received a couple of requests for my information for later contact. If you have the interest of seeing the slides from my presentation, please send me a message through this blog.

Join me at the FDLA Annual Conference in Orlando

FDLA Conference Presentation

Come join me at the FDLA Conference in Orlando from September 11 - 13 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in 4955 Kyngs Heath Road Kissimmee, FL 34746.
I will be presenting on Friday September 13 at 11:00 AM the talk titled "How to build your own online course on a budget". I am attaching the abstract below, see you there!

Abstract

Many professionals, who are experts in a particular subject, are looking for ways to develop and sell online courses. When exploring options on how to actually design and produce the course, one can find many choices that have a wide range of quality and price. In many cases the course does not justify a large investment in content production (like high definition videos, games, activities that require computer or web programming) or hiring freelancers to produce the material (there is a wide range of prices on instructional designers for hire). There are currently online tools that professionals can use to develop adequate content for online settings. This is just the first part of the process. The final step is selecting a LMS (learning management system) that will host the course. This is needed because in many cases the course has to grant a certificate at the end, the instructor runs the course synchronously, a gradebook is required, assignments need to be delivered, and assessments are offered during the course, and other required activities for the course. Here too, many options can be found out there. One option, which requires an investment of less than $500.00, is using a site run by a CMS (content management system) , which can be converted into a LMS by using available tools that most of time are downloaded for free. In this presentation we will show how to use a WordPress™ site (a CMS) as a LMS by using plugins and other tools available for free or at a low cost.

My blog for the "How to teach online" MOOC

My stab at Second Life

My work using WordPress