I have embedded below a video I selected from among four different links of video sites Prof. Rezaei provided to us. The video I chose is “Be Sensitive to Online Students” from Penn State’s World Campus YouTube channel. This YouTube channel contains many videos related to online education; from a cursory scan through a number of them, it appears that their focus is primarily that of online teaching rather than online learning.
In the video, Regina Williams, an online teacher from North
Carolina A&T, states that online teachers should consider students’
schedules when setting due dates and times for assignments. She recommends
having them due at midnight so as not to conflict with students’ other
responsibilities of work, school, family, etc.
She also urges online faculty to have due dates for assignments—at least
the major ones—known before the course begins, so that students can plan their work on these
assignments ahead of time. The idea is
to plan the course so that students can be successful in it.
Although the video focuses on recommendations for the online teacher, the not-so-underlying goal (since it is actually expressed) is for the teacher to do everything possible—when designing and facilitating an online class—to consider and implement guidelines and practices that will eliminate any extraneous, non-content-related barriers to the online student's success in the course.
When I initially selected this video in our group in class, I did so because (1) it relates directly to our course material, (2) it is very short (1:16), and (3) it has closed-captioning. After viewing it and understanding the point that Williams was making, I liked it even more.
In the various face-to-face, hybrid, and online course experiences I've had, I didn't recall noticing whether the logistics were created with student convenience (or at least minimizing student logistical barriers) in mind. After watching this brief video, I see in retrospect how having a midnight deadline in prior CSULB courses was more advantageous than the 11:00 p.m. deadline for this assignment I'm completing right now, because it gave me more flexibility, especially if I was out during the evening. Also, there are many resources that focus on the technical aspects of offering an online course, but the logistical aspects tend to be ones that may end up being overlooked. That's unfortunate, because these factors and policies that are not content-related or content-driven can become barriers or bridges to students, depending on how they are handled by the online teacher.
Over the weekend, I ordered the optional books for this course and am awaiting their arrival in the coming week. Because of the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon.com, I was able to access some of the content in these books, and I was happy to see that the Vai and Sosulski book Essentials of Online Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide (2016)—I bought the 2nd edition rather than the 1st edition that was mentioned in the syllabus—also emphasizes the importance of how online course design affects the learner's ability to succeed in an online class. There is also a companion website http://essentialsofonlinecoursedesign.com .
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