tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292226213544690351.post5914902254849659134..comments2024-03-28T02:26:24.912-07:00Comments on Adventures in Blended Learning: Orienting Online StudentsJen Ebbelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18213763781527781548noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292226213544690351.post-64105433397150356532015-05-11T07:42:12.573-07:002015-05-11T07:42:12.573-07:00As you note, the other major goal of the orientati...As you note, the other major goal of the orientation piece in an online class is creating a connection with the students, establishing that ever-important virtual presence. I'll be writing about that in a later post. But one part of the orientation module is a video introduction from the course instructor as well as (at a minimum) a page with the bios of the rest of the teaching team. It is very important that, from the beginning, the students have a clear image of the instructor in their minds. Otherwise, it's just a disembodied voice on the page that they never really connect to. I'm still not entirely happy with the social learning element of the class but hope that, as it evolves under my direction, I might be able to work on that.Jen Ebbelerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18213763781527781548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292226213544690351.post-52808957343864593572015-05-10T21:28:23.089-07:002015-05-10T21:28:23.089-07:00SO TRUE about the Orientation. Although it's m...SO TRUE about the Orientation. Although it's morphed over the years, I always spent the first week on Orientation, for all the reasons you mentioned! And I am still foolishly optimistic enough to hope that online courses will offer a diversity of learning activities that vary tremendously from class to class, far beyond the diversity that was ever possible in the classroom (just think of all the different online tools available once you break free of the LMS for example!)... all those tools AND all those things you can do with those tools. For that reason, I hope online/blended classes are not going to be as predictable as classroom-based classes (mostly) were, which means they will always need some kind of orientation. For my classes, building up online presence and connecting with other students is incredibly important in that first week... right now, students still arrive with very little online presence related to school: they haven't blogged for a class before, they haven't created a website for a class before. If/when my students all start showing up with basic blogging and web publishing skills, so much the better: I will then be able to up the ante in the Orientation week to work with more/different tools that we can use to explore/build the online space together. Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.com