Hello and welcome to humanizing online learning.
I know when you get started with a new online class it can be very disorienting because
there isn't that specific ya know, room that you're supposed to show up in every particular
day and time.
So what we're going to do to try to get you off on the right foot is to just spend a few
minutes together here so I can walk you through some of the basics of navigating our course.
Right now, you are on the Start Here page.
So good for you for getting there.
I'm going to navigate away from this page now, which is what you are going to do when
you are done with all the items on this page.
So for our navigation, we're going to rely upon the buttons that you see over in the
left column, right here.
And, again, you are currently on Start Here.
I'm going to click on Home.
This is our course homepage, which is the page you will land on each time you log into
the course.
Beneath my signature, you’ll find a link to email me directly.
And you’re also going to see a series of links on the right side that will point you
to some wonderful resources from Teaching and Learning Innovations at CI that are provide
to keep you on track with growing and developing as an instructor.
Over on the right side of the screen, you’ll see a list of assignments that will be due
in the next several days.
That list will appear under the heading “Coming Up.”
And then if there is any feedback I’ve left for you in the grade book, you’ll see that
noted below.
You’ll be spending most of your time in this class in the Modules area, so let’s
click there next.
And if what you see does not look quite like this, you probably don't have your module
expanded.
So you may see something that looks more like this.
Those arrows next to the dates simply expand the modules.
And when you start the class, you'll only see Module 1.
When we get into the second module, which starts the following Wednesday, you'll see
the next module open up.
To get started with a module, you'll simply click on the very first item which is always
the module overview.
And the overview will appear.
There's a quick, friendly video at the top you can watch, those are really brief.
And then we've got our objectives for the module, which I want all of you to take some
time to take a look at so you know what your goals are for the unit.
And then what you'll do is simply click on the "Next" button in the lower RIGHT corner
to go to the next page in the module.
So it's kind of like flipping a book.
It is multimedia so you will find videos embedded throughout and you'll simply continue.
Now when you get to a page that look like this - it has a due date at the top - that
means you're on an Assignment page.
This particular Assignment is a VoiceThread.
And you're going to learn quickly what VoiceThread is.
Essentially it is a web-based tool for having conversations around media in video or voice.
It's a really great way to bring your presence into an online class as an instructor and
a student.
And it helps us to get to know each other on a more personal level aside from just text-based
interactions.
Now one thing I want to point out, when you log into VoiceThreads in this class, there
are going to be two different options to select.
Um the logging in process will be a little bit different for those of you who are CI
faculty than those of you who are outside of CI.
So please be sure you select the correct link and read some of the information that I have
down below.
After you sign into VoiceThread the first time it's a little bit more streamlined.
But if you have any problems with the sign-in process, I'm the one that you'll reach out
to.
This is what your modules look like, they are packed with all kinds of resources.
And many of them will take you out to resources on external sites.
Those are pages that I strongly encourage you to bookmark so that you have access to
them later on.
Let me show you another option for navigating the modules if you don't want to go through
them in kind of a linear fashion or if there's something you want to come back to later,
you can always just click on Modules again and then kind of loop in to any link that
was helpful to you.
OK, so a couple different ways to get through them.
And next up, there's a button titled Discussions.
All of the discussions in this class are optional.
So, I've set up some forums here that I think would be helpful if I were you taking this
course.
You are also welcome to add your own discussion forum.
So a forum is um, it's like, think about it as a virtual room where a conversation about
a particular topic takes place.
So if your question doesn't fit into any of the forums that I've started here, you can
start your own.
The pinned discussion at the top are really places for you to ask questions about, kind
of, anything of general nature.
If you have something that seems like it is not working or a question you have about the
class in general, put it in the top forum, um if you have a question for your peers about
something that relates to the class, you can put it in that second forum.
And then the bottom forums just have more specific focused topics.
So that's pretty much how we'll be using the discussions in this class.
The Assignments button will take you into um a concise list of all of the assignments
for the modules.
OK?
So, again those are all integrated into the modules, this is just another way to loop
into them and access those assignments.
The VoiceThread page is really a resource page that I've set up.
This is a more direct way to get to all the VoiceThreads for our class -- the same VoiceThreads
that are included in the Modules, just a different view of them.
And then I have some resources down below for faculty and students at CI.
So if you want to use VoiceThread in your class, um these resources will be very valuable
to you not only in this class, but as you move forward.
So be sure to bookmark them.
The tool buffet link will take you to an external page, which is really a fun page.
And it's got all kinds of tools on here that I have selected that, in my opinion, do a
good job of bringing in your personal presence into your online class.
So check those out when you have time.
And then Behaviors and Strategies is kind of a deeper dive into the Tool Buffet, because
what it does is it gives you examples of how the different tools have been used.
So this might be something you'll want to bookmark for later or just kind of dig into
at your leisure when you have time to go a little deeper into some of the tools that
you might be a little intrigued by.
And that about wraps up our course design tour.
I hope that was helpful to you and I look forward to seeing you in the VoiceThreads.