FA 08: October
Moodle Mania Quick Bytes
A Faculty Based Communication
October 2008
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Best Practices
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A few faculty members have asked how to deal with making changes in the course expectations and structure after the course has begun. Similar question: Does everything in the entire course need to be established prior to the course start date?
An online course website is a little bit like a wedding, in that you do a lot of planning in advance and then once the event starts you don't have many chances to change things, other than minor adjustments. Whatever students have access to when the course opens, they will check out, and they want to feel confident that they know what will be expected of them and when. If this material changes, it makes them nervous, uncomfortable and frustrated. Although in a face-to-face course it's fairly easy to make a class announcement and ensure that all students are informed of changes, in online courses it's a little trickier. Posting something on a website is not a guarantee that everyone will see it, and neither is sending out e-mails (as students are unreliable readers of their Alliant e-mails).
So what are some ways to handle making changes to a course or teaching a course you are still developing? See the How To! section below.
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How To!
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When the course opens:
Hide anything that you are not certain about or still in the process of developing. Moodle allows you to hide any part of the course from the users' view. So you can post just one or two week's material and assignments at a time. The downside is that you might forget to "un-hide" it.
Alternatively, you can utilize labels in your courses to show what material is permanent and what is subject to change. In lieu of hiding modules that are still under development, indicate next to the Module title "Not yet updated" or “Under Construction.” This will help you remember which areas you need to work on and alleviate the issue of forgetting to "un-hide" things.
Students require a fairly good idea of when exams and assignments are due so if your course website is still under construction make sure they have that information:
Create a clear timeline in your syllabus and post it as soon as possible, even if you have not yet finalized the content of the assignments or all the modules or learning units for the course.
Describe in your syllabus and in the course what aspects of the course can be expected to change as the course continues. Examples of changes: you may wish to alter subsequent assignments based on students' learning needs as shown on prior assignments; or you may find a new articles or Internet resources after the class has begun.
Establish a single place in the website where substantive changes will be indicated, and use that reliably. Such as:
Post changes in a prominent place near the top of the site. Use a colorful image to bring attention to the area.
Establish a forum for instructor notes and force all students to be subscribed (this can be done within the options for creating a new forum). Don’t over use this feature or students stop attending to the e-mails.
If you absolutely need to know that all students have read the message, you can set up a forum and require students to respond that they have read it.
Special Thanks to Diane Zelman for this month’s Moodle Mania Best Practices and How To!
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Keep the discussion going
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If you have questions about Moodle you would like discussed please e-mail Siobhan [email protected] and we will research the answers.
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About Moodle Mania Quick Bytes
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Welcome to Moodle Mania Quick Bytes, an ad hoc e-news brief published once a month for the Alliant faculty community by the Alliant faculty community to discuss some of the ways Moodle can be used to improve your course delivery. This briefing is distributed to Alliant faculty and administrators and is a product of the Learning and Education Technology Committee of the Faculty Senate.
