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Spinning Up Online Classrooms

Earlier this month, I presented “Spinning Up Online Classrooms” at a regional conference for community college educators. In this post, I summarize my presentation. For a number of reasons, educators are often in the position where they must quickly prepare an online classroom. Certainly, the pandemic caused this, but there are other situations as well. Read More

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Reflections on Online Higher Education

Educators who surf the World Wide Web frequently encounter advertisements for online universities. The sales pitches are enticing for busy adults who seek a graduate degree; “learn on your own schedule,” “save costs,” finish quickly through accelerated schedules.” The advertisements come from diverse providers, including for-profit universities which have been in the news for unflattering Read More

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Naming Chunks and Items: Thinking About High-Quality Virtual Classrooms #4

The names given to chunks can contribute to the ease of navigating your online classroom. By giving chunks meaningful and descriptive names, instructors both make it easier to find materials and introduce organizing themes to the course. Consider these names that could be applied to a course in which students are learning to use various Read More

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Aligning Chunks: Thinking About High-Quality Virtual Classrooms #3

Backwards design is intended to both support the organization of course chunks and also to ensure the chunks are aligned. Alignment refers to the connection between the goals, the assignments by which students will demonstrate new learning, and the lessons by which they will learn what they are expected. The fundamental assumption of education is Read More