Practicum Week 3: Welcome to the Course

Image Credit: onlinelearningtips.com 

Well, it is the beginning. The course I am using for this practicum started this week. The beginnings of courses are always a busy time and lots of work goes in to helping guide the students through the course and to help students get acquainted with the expectations of the course. There are always challenges to getting students through these first few days. There are always students that are new to online learning and they need extra time and attention to calm their fears and get them settled in. There are veteran online learners as well. They are the learners that like to jump right in and get going, but may jump ahead too fast and not read / listen to all the instructions right away. With the wide array of personalities, it becomes a full time job just helping students get everything together.

Starting the Course

One of the biggest things I learned in this program is the importance of being very specific with instructions and providing a lot of resources to help guide students. I have noticed the more specific and descriptive I am in my courses, the less questions I get asked. Every semester is a chance to fix any issues that cause students to have questions. So, over time, I have learned to get more detailed in everything I do. Here is some of things I do to help students get acquainted with the course...

Announcements  

Image Credit: P. Williams

I have always believed that announcements are important in an online course. Students need to feel connected and need to feel our presence. I think the first step is in providing updates and announcements. While there are a lot of announcements to post in the beginning, I believe it is our job to provide regular announcements and updates on the course. My students were greeted with several announcements on the first day. Some people may ask if this is too many announcements for the first day, but I have found that if I make one announcement that is too long, many students do not read it or watch the video. But, if I break them into several shorter announcements, more students follow through and read them. 

Image credit: P. Williams

I always make sure to provide students with a nice welcome announcement that helps break down how the course is set up and some of requirements the students need to be aware of. I also provide students with a Welcome Video where I provide students a virtual tour of the course with me guiding them through the course from the student's perspective. Other announcements in the beginning are tutorials on how to use the virtual labs, access codes needed for the course, and more information on important dates and course schedules. 

 Getting to Know the Course (and each other)

Image Credit: P. Williams 

One of the biggest things I have learned, both through trial-and-error as well as through this program, is that students need to few days to get settled in to their course before content is started and due. It is essential for the student to have a few days to play around in the course and get a feel for what is expected. It is very challenging for a student to dive right in to the material without having enough time get get acquainted with the course and its expectations. I have provided students with about a week to get just get into the course and get used to the material. We have an orientation quiz requirement at my institution and it must be completed before the census date (10% date) of the course or the student will be dropped. The date for this course is February 1st by 11:59 pm. So, I use this time to allow students to get acquainted. I will note that the content modules actually start on Jan 30th... so they have about a week to do this without having to worry about content. Students have reported (in previous semesters) that they really enjoy the time to get used to the course, to download and sign up for outside sources, and to read and learn about expectations. It also provides students a few extra days to get their textbooks.

During this time, the students have a few things to attend to. They must make an introduction post about themselves in Voice Thread. This is where we get to know each other and work on building community in the first few days. I work really hard to learn about each student through these posts and make sure to respond to all students to make a connection with each student (see image above).

Image Credit: P. Williams 

 They also must complete the orientation quiz by that census date . Most students complete that in the first few days of the course, but it is something that they need to spend a little time on. The quiz covers different aspects of the course exceptions and the students must read the course syllabus, read the announcements, watch the "Welcome to the Course" video, and play around in the course in order to answer the questions. This allows the student to become familiar with the course while requiring them to read things they may choose to skip over if  not assessed. I do allow the students unlimited attempts at the orientation quiz so that they can earn a 100% in the end. The goal of this quiz is not to be punitive, but to encourage each student to seek all the information needed for the course. The quiz is designed as a module that students work through so they can become familiar with sending messages, setting up email, submitting assignments, using blackboard instant messenger, and to access the syllabus and course information.

Reflection on the Week

While the week still has a couple of days left, I feel like I have enough feedback and work throughout the week to post a reflection of my experience. Most of the week has been helping students navigate the course and getting them acquainted with all the day-to-day workings of the course. Many students have already committed on the organization of the course and how they are able to find everything easily. I have only had a few questions where students were confused, but mostly due to these student's not following instructions on reading. The good thing is that these students contacted me and I was able to direct them to the appropriate place. 

Overall, I feel very positive about these first few days. In the introduction posts, I have learned a lot about the students (those that have posted so far) and I have learned a lot about their needs for the course. I was able to calm some fears of a few students who are taking this course as their first online course ever. Science is a hard class to do online, and it makes it even harder when it is your first one. The only negative feeling I have is wishing that more students would log in and start their journey closer to day one. Usually students who wait until the last minute to login to the course, tend to be students who do not do as well in the online course. I just wish students would be more proactive about getting in the course and working. I guess that is a personal trait of mine (being proactive) and some students may not have that particular strength. 

I am looking forward to next week when we begin the content material for the course. Module 1 is one of my favorite modules because it has a lot of history in it... so I get really excited.

Now to finish off this introductory week and get ready for Module 1... 

Practicum Week Two: Course Design

Image Credit: John Hopkins University School of Medicine 

Welcome to the wonderful world of online course design for the sciences.

This has been something that I have been perfecting for years now. Designing online courses for the sciences is quite challenging. The sciences are very structured and have specific requirements that must be completed throughout the course. In the sciences, we must have a strict set of summative assessments to ensure students are making progress. It becomes a design challenge to figure out a way to work in some formative assessments along with exams and labs without overburdening the student. This blog post will focus on some of the things I have developed in order to give my students the best possible experience in Microbiology.

The Learning Curve

As with anything we are learning, we have trial and error and a learning curve to get past. My journey

Image credit: bhwn383 on cartoonstock.com

into online teaching is no exception. While I taught and improved my courses before starting this program in Online Teaching and Instructional Design, it was not until a got into the "nitty-gritty" of instructional design that I really started making real connections between course design and student needs. I knew my students needed material and resources, but I failed to fully understand that connections between course material and course assignments were vital to student success. I also failed to understand the extra time and care that is needed to make these connections in the online environment. There was a disconnect. So, this program has helped guide me to putting ideas together to design them in a way that most benefits the student. I learned that I was not doing anything wrong, I just needed to add more and make better connections with my students. Once I made this realization, I was able to really move forward. Here is where I am now...

Course Design: The Online Microbiology Course

Throughout the semesters I have been teaching online courses and learning about how to teach online courses, I have made many changes that I believe have helped improve my instruction in the online environment. My institution uses blackboard and I am very lucky to have a college that will provide me with almost any technology tool I can ask for. So, as I work to improve my courses, I keep adding more tools to help improve my instruction. 

Structure with Flexibility

A short view of the Online Microbiology Course showing the Module Structures
Image Credit: P. Williams 

One of the big things that I wanted to make sure worked in the design of the course were the structure of the modules and the corresponding due dates. I had colleagues who taught classes online with only one due date: the last day of class. Those students never seemed happy and I could never figure out why an instructor would design a course like that. It had to be a nightmare... for both instructor and student. I have had colleagues that chose to have multiple dues dates with a very short time frame on different days of the week. That did not seem any better. So, I sat down and thought about what to do. I wanted to make sure not to rush students and give them flexibility while also setting hard deadlines to keep students on track and for me to give them appropriate feedback throughout the term. I settled on modules that last two weeks each. All assignments for that module are always due on the last day of that module (Sunday). I felt two-week modules gives students time to learn the material while still keeping it structured. There is some breathing room within that structure, while still be task oriented. After using this structure for many semesters, I have received a lot of positive feedback. Students tell me that it does not overburden them and they feel like they can learn. This has given me confidence in this particular set up.

The online course I am teaching is set up in 7 modules, each lasting two weeks. The course is 14 weeks long (actually... counting holidays and some funny state requirement rules.. it is actually 15 weeks long... so the students will have a week to get their feet wet in the course before they are required to start the modules). The course is a 6 contact hour course and students have a pretty hefty workload for the course. Each module contains material for between 2-4 chapters worth of material, lectures and notes (prepared by me and closed captioned by my college). There are lots of videos and animations for the students to study with as well as games, study guides, and other resources to help students do well. 

Assessments 

Each module also contains different assignments (formative and summative) to ensure students are learning the material and succeeding the best they can. Here are some examples of their assessments....

The Discussion and VoiceThread

During each module, the students (and myself), participate in a discussion. There are seven total discussions in the course. Each discussion relates to a topic we are learning about within the modules. These discussions are more of a formative assessment. Although there is a grade for the discussion, it is more about participation, effort, and gaining knowledge about our course content with real world examples. The discussion is designed to get the students talking about a complex scientific issue. Just as in the course module design, the discussion lasts two weeks in length. Each student posts an initial post on what they learned or found interesting during the first week of the module. The students then respond to at least two fellow classmates (or myself) by the end of the second module.

Image Credit: M Yerger

While I have always had discussion posts since I started teaching online, I learned about the using Voice Thread as a tool in this program. One instructor in our program used it several times and I loved it. I really wanted to use it and inquired about the tool at the college where I teach. My institution then invested in the educational account where we have unlimited access to the tool and all of its features. I decided it would be great to use it as a discussion post tool. There were several advantages to using this for discussion posts. The biggest advantage is that it helps connect the students and me to each other. I require the students to use the video or audio component for their initial post. This help brings the class together into a more connected community. I feel like we get to know each other better and can really put names to faces. The second component is that is is free for the student and even if they do not have video or audio on their computer, they can still post and respond on the phone (which is a great feature). I have had several students use that approach and they give it positive reviews. While last semester was the first time I incorporated it into my online courses, this semester I have made it even more integrated with our course material and offered the students different options on how they would like to respond to the material. For this semester, I have given the students more opportunity to respond to the discussion prompt in different ways. They can discuss the biological concept or the ethical implications of the topic on society or the environment...they can be as creative as they want as long as they provide facts with resources. I hope that this will allow students to learn more about the material and the topic we are covering. I am looking forward to the students impressions once the semester starts. 

One downside I have with the tool is that it is not fully ADA compliant and therefore may not accessible for some students. While this has not been an issue up to this point, it could be in the future. Right now, I load accessible images, texts, and files to the VoiceThread, but the posts that I and students make are not individually accessible. I am currently working to find ways to make this accessible. At this point, my college offered to transcribe all posts on the VoiceThread if there is a student with the disability requiring it. I hope to find a better solution and will continue to work through this issue as much as possible. 

The Labs: It's always a Work in Progress

Finding the most appropriate tools to use for lab is always a challenge... especially when trying to make them fully ADA accessible. This is probably the one area of my course that I worry about with regard to ADA accessibility the most. There is not one single program (at least that I can find) in the online world that has fully accessible virtual labs. Many of them are "partially" accessible, but that is useless with regard to federal law. I am in a constant search for accessible labs and it takes lots of time throughout the semester just to search for them. For now, I am using Late Nite Labs. It is a great tool and offers students the best "hands-on" experience in the virtual world. With this program, students can make mistakes, blow things up, redo lab experiments, and test new tools in as close to the real environment as you can get in the virtual world.

Image Credit: P. Williams

For this particular course, students will be completing labs each module. Most modules contain two labs that help guide them to a culminating lab experience during module 7. This set-up is very similar to what a student does in a face-to-face lab. Students spend a large portion of the semester learning specific techniques on how to identify different types of bacteria. They learning about staining, biochemical techniques, biochemical control, and so on. They then have their culminating lab project for the last lab (the lab final) that asks the student to use all the techniques
they learned throughout the semester and apply them to identify an unknown bacterial sample. This is one of the hardest things students have to do (both face-to-face and online). It takes the students a lot of time to get through and to correctly identify the unknown bacteria.The student's job throughout the term is to learn all the techniques so they can apply them to the final unknown lab. I use the labs in modules 1-6 as more of a formative assessment while the final lab is summative.

My job throughout the lab experience is to guide the student through the process, help then identify where they went wrong in the labs, and guide them to the best lab solutions. This aspect of the course takes a lot of my time and I must work hard throughout the semester to guide the students through the material. In the end, the lab program tends to get good feedback. The only complaints I get is that it has a huge learning curve and the first time a student does a lab, it takes a long time. But, after a couple of labs, the students start getting the hang of it and end up liking the lab program.

Quizzes and Exams

No matter what I do, these are the assessments the students hate the most. These are always summative assessments where the students must demonstrate mastery. Because this course is a gateway course to, not only other courses, but also state administered exams for some students, I must have a controlled and monitored series of exams that ensure students are learning. Throughout the course, the students have 6 quizzes (with 30 multiple choice questions and one essay) and a final exam (with 50 multiple choice questions). Students are timed on the questions that are multiple choice and must use the Respondus Lockdown Browser and a Web Cam Monitor. Students are timed 60 minutes on the quizzes and 90 minutes on the final. The essay portion of the quizzes is not timed and the students can use resources (they are not required to use the Lockdown Browser or Web Cam). This allows the students to research and write an essay responding to the question from their research.

Wrap Up

While this blog post was just a start to begin explaining the course, it has taken a lot of work to get to this point. Designing a course, improving the course, and setting it up to help the students the best it can take a lot of time. I also use some other technology in the course that I have not explained yet (such as SoftChalk) and I will add those technologies to later posts. I have worked hard to make sure the students have as close to a face-to-face experience as possible while still being online and (for the most part) at their own pace.  I hope to gain feedback from both students in the course and fellow classmates and supervisors from this practicum on things I am doing right as well as on things I can improve on for future courses.

Here's looking forward to week three (and a goodbye to week two) of this practicum. This week... my students gain access to the course. I am ready for the challenge. :D Here we go...

BIO-275: Microbiology: A Practicum Description

Image Credit: ebtraining9.com

Throughout my program, I have been thinking of the best way to design my practicum experience. As time moved on, I realized the most challenging thing I can do for my practicum is to teach an online microbiology course and make improvements as I go.

The sciences (and science faculty) are typically the most resistant to the online model, and it has been my goal to try and change perceptions. Many times, faculty tell me that there is no way to teach a laboratory online. It is a challenge that I deal with everyday. Teaching a science course online is not like any other online course. There are aspects of science that must be delicately balanced in the online environment. A lot of students tell me... "online science... isn't face-to-face science challenging enough?". Well yes... it is challenging... but my goal is to make science available to all students, whether they can come to campus or not. So, herein lies my practicum project.

The Practicum: Teach an Online Microbiology Course 

One of the best things a student, who is nearing completion in a program on online teaching and instructional design, can do is to teach a course in their major field of study. I am a Professor of Biology and Biotechnology and teach courses in a variety of formats. Over the years, I have worked to make improvements in all my courses and I believe teaching an online course in Microbiology is a wonderful capstone to round out my educational experience in Online Teaching and Instructional Design.

The particular online Microbiology course I am using as my practicum capstone is a 14 week, 6 contact hour course. The course dates run from January 24th - May 8th 2017. Currently there are 30 students enrolled in this particular course. While I understand that keeping up with 30 students in an online course is a lot, I am sure the hours dedicated to this particular course will more than satisfy the requirements for the practicum.

Because the course is a 6 contact hour course (96 total contact hours) over 14 weeks, this means I will be spending approximately 6.85 hours a week simply teaching the course in the online environment. The course will be delivered through Blackboard with one other website being used for the labs (LateNiteLabs.com).

Image Credit: Pearson

What Will I Be Doing for My Students?

 As one would gather, I will be teaching the course throughout the term. Specifically, I will be providing lectures, videos, labs, discussions, and quizzes for students throughout the semester. My course will be set up in 7 modules with each module lasting 2 weeks in length. Within each module will be recorded lectures and videos, virtual labs, discussions and quizzes.

The textbook I will be using throughout the semester is the 4th edition of Microbiology with Diseases by Body System by Robert Bauman. This is a wonderful textbook that students seem to enjoy. Since many of my students are pre-nursing majors, this text works really well because the text is arranged by body system (which is what they are accustomed to in other courses such as Anatomy and Physiology).

Within the course, the students will be provided lecture notes in Power Point format. These notes have been made ADA compliant and are available for the student to download as they wish. Also, I will be providing a video recorded lecture based on the notes. I use Camtasia to record and edit my lectures throughout the course. This provides the student with a variety of ways to learn the material. I will also be providing shorter videos and animations for the students to gain further knowledge on the material we will be covering in the course. The college captions my lectures so that each recording meets Federal ADA standards. Students are also provided lots of different study materials to help them through the material. I provide MP3 short narratives of the chapter that students can download and listen to in the car (usually about 20 minutes long for each chapter). These MP3's have a text transcript to make them ADA compliant for students who may need them. Students are also provided a variety of study games, virtual note cards, as well as an ADA compliant study guide to help each student study in ways that best benefit their learning style.

Students will also participate in bi-weekly discussions. While it is a student-led discussion, I will be working hard to help guide the students. I will be using Voice-thread to participate in the discussions throughout the term.

Image Credit: Voice Thread

For each of the 7 discussions (one discussion for each module), the students will make an initial post responding to the prompt. The prompt covers a topic that helps the student learn more information about the material in each module. The first discussion post will be about "Nuclear Waste Eating Microbes". Module 1 contains a lot of background and historical information and this discussion post will open them up to the unique world of microorganisms. Students will be required to post an initial post about their thoughts on the prompt and what they learned during the readings and research aspect of the discussion. This initial post is due within the first week of the module. Students will then respond to at least two fellow classmates on their posts, which is due during the second week of the module. I will be responding to posts through each module to help the conversation move forward and to encourage students through their posts.

Image Credit: Late Nite Labs

Another aspect of the course that will help the students learn their information is the laboratory portion of the course. I am currently using a virtual lab program called Late Nite Labs. This program offers virtual labs for a variety of science courses. Since I work for the state college and university system, we have a contract with this company to offer the lab program for $15.00 a year. This is much more cost effective than the $150.00 lab book... so students are usually happy to use this program. Students will have two labs to complete for each module. Each of the labs follow in line with the material we are learning in the lecture portion of the course. I will be providing feedback, guidance, and grading the labs throughout each module. Most of my time teaching in this course is spent working with students in the virtual labs.

Each student will also have virtual, proctored exams through Blackboard. I am utilizing Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor Webcam in BlackBoard to make sure students are following exam rules and are abiding by all course and college policies. The college pays for each student to have this benefit, so it is no extra cost for the student.

What Will I Be Providing as Evidence for My Practicum?

Each week, I will complete a blog post detailing my progress through teaching an online Microbiology course. I have developed this course completely on my own and that development will be part of my practicum. While some of this I have completed over the past few weeks, I will be reporting on that in my next blog post. Here is a breakdown of the things I will be providing as evidence throughout the semester for my practicum.

1) The Development of the Course (Week 2) -

I will create a blog post discussing this aspect of my practicum for my next blog post. I will be posting a blog on this on Sunday, Jan 21st by 11:59 pm. I have spent a lot of time developing this course. Just to get the course ready for delivery, I have already put in more than 30 hours of work. I will discuss the aspects that I have incorporated into the course and how I have utilized feedback over the course of previous semesters to get to where I am now. I will provide evidence in the form of screen shots, links, or documents to demonstrate my work and progress.

2) The Beginning (Week 3) - 

The course officially starts during the 3rd week of this practicum. Students will have access to the course on Jan 24th at 12:01 am. Students will be navigating the course and getting their feet wet. During this time (the first week), the students do not have science assignments due during this time. I have introduction posts and "getting to know the course" activities for the first week. This is a particularly time consuming time for me. I am making videos and helping students navigate through the course. I will be posting a blog on my work and progress through this introduction week by Sunday, Jan 28th by 11:59 pm. I will be using screen shots, documents, or links to demonstrate some of the work I have completed. I will include these within my blog post.

3) The Course Material and Course Improvement (Week 4 - Week 15) - 

This is the part of the course where the students will be dealing with the material and learning what they need from me and the material. I will be teaching the course, grading, providing feedback, guiding students, and providing support where needed. I will have video lectures, as described above, other material, and will be working closely with students. I will be working be providing examples of my feedback and participation with the students during my weekly reflections. I will also provide screen shots, documents, or videos as evidence for my progress. While this is the main portion of my work (to teach an online Microbiology course), I will also be adding some improvements to my course. I want to make a stronger connection to the material and assignments to the course learning outcomes. A part of this portion of the practicum will be adding learning outcomes to each module so better help the student understand what they are supposed to be learning. I will include progress on this aspect of my practicum during my weekly blog posts. Here is the following schedule for the weekly posts during part 3 of the practicum:

Week 4 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 1 - Sunday, Feb 4th by 11:59 pm.
Week 5 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 1 (cont.) - Sunday, Feb 11th by 11:59 pm
*** Complete addition of learning outcomes for Module 1 during this week ***
Week 6 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 2 - Sunday, Feb 18th by 11:59 pm
Week 7 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 2 (cont.) - Sunday, Feb 25th by 11:59 pm
*** Complete addition of learning outcomes for Module 2 during this week ***
Week 8 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 3 - Sunday, March 4th by 11:59 pm
Week 9 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 3 (cont.) - Sunday, Mar 11th by 11:59 pm
*** Complete addition of learning outcomes for Module 3 during this week *** 
Week 10 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 4 - Sunday, March 18th by 11:59 pm
Week 11 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 4 (cont.) - Sunday, Mar 25th by 11:59 pm
 **** Note - this reflection will include results from mid-term course evaluation to gather feedback on how students are doing in the science course. It is developed and given by me to provide me with feedback with the students are doing. ****
*** Complete addition of learning outcomes for Module 4 during this week *** 
Week 12 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 5 - Sunday, Apr 1st by 11:59 pm
Week 13 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 5 (cont.) - Sunday, Apr. 8th by 11:59 pm
*** Complete addition of learning outcomes for Module 5 during this week *** 
Week 14 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 6 - Sunday, Apr 15th by 11:59 pm
Week 15 - Reflective Blog Post with evidence for Module 6 (cont.) - Sunday, Apr 22nd by 11:59 pm
*** Complete addition of learning outcomes for Module 6 and 7 during this week *** 

4) Wrap-Up / Practicum Reflection (Week 16 - Week 17)

During this portion of the practicum, I will be wrapping up the practicum experience with a reflective blog post during the final week and a half (I assume the last blog post will be posted on Sunday, Apr. 29th due to the Spring courses ending on Wednesday, May 5th. My online course does not end until Monday, May 10th, so the course I am using for practicum will end after this practicum ends. I will provide a final reflection on the experience, summarize areas I can improve, and report on the addition of course objectives through the course. While I will be doing this within each module, I will provide a longer reflection on that process in the end.

I will also be submitting my digital portfolio for review. I plan on completing Goal (learning outcome) 2.3 and 4.2 for the digital portfolio required for the program. This will complete my digital portfolio for the Master's of Science in Online Teaching and Instructional Design. I have developed a website for my digital portfolio. I will submit the link for the portfolio at the end of the course by Monday, April 24th at 11:59 pm or earlier. 

Wrap Up

While I think this practicum is a huge undertaking, I believe it gives me more experience in teaching online in my field, provides opportunity to improve my course in smaller "chunks" throughout the semester (the addition of learning outcomes to the learning module and assignments), and a way to reflect on things that I need to improve in my courses for the future. I look forward to this undertaking and hope to gain as much experience as possible while applying this practicum in a real-world setting.

And... so... lets begin...