Quality Time: Do You Accept Late Work?

Karen Kaemmerling, Social Science Division Chair, is guest speaker this week.  Please feel free to join the conversation in the companion Community thread!

Each semester this is a question that we are all likely to get from a student.  Early on I decided the personal decision for me would be “yes,” because I wasn’t comfortable hearing all the life issues that come up for students.  I did not want to be responsible for deciding between a family facing a sick child in the hospital crisis and a dying parent and whether a student should get an extension. 

For me, I accept all written assignments up to one week late with no questions or explanations needed.  This takes care of all technical issues, personal problems, and “stuff” that our adult learners face.  After the one week, each assignment loses a certain number of points for lateness, but I still accept all work up to the final day of class.

However, I do lock discussions on the close date and bar any additional participation.  To me these are participation grades and essential for the collaboration/communication piece between students with each other and me about the content of the course.

While I’ve had this policy for my classes in place for numerous semesters, last spring I received a lot of feedback from a variety of students who commented things like “Even though I didn’t take advantage of the late assignment grace period, it was a relief knowing I could be a day late if my child didn’t get better.” Or “I really appreciated the grace period and feel it helped me ultimately be successful in this course and learn what I was supposed to.”

In some cumulative courses like Math, a late policy like this could be very troublesome.  However, each CCCOnline instructor might have a slight variation to what I’ve described, and no matter what your policy is, it should be outlined in the syllabus and advertised especially at the beginning of the course with students.  In the Cultivating Excellence Discussion in the CCCOnline Community, please share your late policy, how it works for you, and what your experiences with late work and students have been, and any other ideas you have on this topic.

-Karen Kaemmerling

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Quality Time: Evaluating Sources

Mary Cash, CCCOnline Librarian, is back this week!  Please feel free to join the library and information literacy conversations in the companion Community threads!

Do you have discussion or other assignments where you ask your students to find web sites that are relevant to what they are learning for a particular unit?  Are you frustrated with the quality of the sources they find? Taking time to teach your students to evaluate sources will not only improve the quality of sources your students use for assignments, but you will also be helping your students develop the important life-long learning skill of becoming a good consumer of information.

I teach ENG 122 – the research paper – and it’s important for my students to learn good research skills.  When I first got my class, there was a discussion on academic integrity, and another on source credibility.  But most of my students weren’t very discerning when it came to choosing sources for their research paper.  They didn’t seem to understand why choosing an article about using the herb St. John’s Wort from a website designed to sell herbs might not be the best source for their argumentative research paper.  Likewise, some students who were against animal testing didn’t think twice about quoting heavily from the PETA website.

I decided my students needed to learn to think more critically about the sources (all of them) they were reading and planning to use in their research papers, so I put on my librarian hat and went to research what other instructors and librarians did to help students learn to be better consumers of information. What I finally opted to do was add in an additional short essay to the unit that has the discussion on sources. The short essay – called the Source Evaluation – requires that students watch a tutorial on evaluating sources (Evaluating Information Interactive Tutorial).  Then students need to go locate a website and an article (preferably from an online article database) related to their topic. The Source Evaluation assignment asks the students to evaluate each source on the basis of the following criteria: Authority, Objectivity, Accuracy and Scope. In their essay, students need to explain why, or why not, each source meets the 4 criteria and to offer explanation and examples to illustrate this, and they need to state if the source will be a good one for their research paper, and again, why or why not.

In addition to adding the Source Evaluation Essay, I revised the source credibility discussion to ask the students to consider what they learned about source credibility from their Source Evaluation assignment.  Over and over, students state that they didn’t realize they couldn’t believe everything they read on the Web. Websites and articles they originally thought of as great sources for their papers turned out to be biased, unsupported, from a questionable authority and don’t meet their research needs. Doing the source evaluation made students realize they shouldn’t take information at face value and that they needed to be looking for higher quality sources.  And this was what I was aiming for. I want my students to leave ENG 122 with better research skills and to be better consumers of the information that constantly bombards them.

If you want to learn more about Evaluating Sources or if you want your students to learn about this, we have quite a bit of information available on the Student Wiki under the CCCOnline Library Resources and the Help with Research section of the Research Writing Toolkit.  Here are the links:

·         Learn about Evaluating Sources from the CCCOnline Library Resources on the Student Wiki

·         Evaluating Sources from the Research and Writing Toolkit on the Student Wiki
-Mary Cash

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Quality Time: Teaching Students to Fish

“Do we give students the fish, or do we teach them to fish?” often asks Donna Hall, Design Team Coordinator, regarding assignment design. In our classes, the answer may vary based on the course and the type of assignment, but as part of our overall goal to develop students with skills in information literacy, research, and writing, we want to teach our students to fish.

One type of assignment I like to employ in my classes is student-generated content. History is a very broad subject and rather than dictating every detail they are expected to learn in long lectures, I guide students to select topics that fall within certain parameters but interest them. They share their final product with classmates in a discussion or other tool. The students not only learn content from each other’s projects but get to compare their assignments to the work of others in a conscious or unconscious self-evaluation.

One example is a research and writing project that requires students to locate primary and secondary sources on a historical term. In a discussion, they post a brief description of the term, their cited sources, and what we will find useful at each source. Additionally, while working on the discussion, students may ask the instructor or each other questions about sources, citation, or content, building a sense of community. What I have noticed is that by doing the project openly and seeing each others’ examples of how they put research and writing together, the quality of the individual student’s work greatly improves and they become self motivated to be experts on their piece of content.

Want to learn more on student-generated content? Here are two web resources to get you started: http://senerlearning.com/projects/student-generated-content
http://senerlearning.com/category/blog-topics/student-generated-content
Please share with us student-generated content assignments you employ in your courses in the CCCOnline Community Cultivating Excellence discussion.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Quality Time: Fostering Information Literacy

Do your students tend to rely on Wikipedia or Google for scholarly research? If so, and if this concerns you, you’re certainly not alone. As we face vast amounts of information so instantly, easily accessible, our encouraging students to examine how they locate and use that information becomes increasingly important – if increasingly difficult at times.

Our CCCOnline Librarian, Mary Cash, defines information literacy as “the set of abilities that allow a person to recognize a need for information, to search for and find the necessary information, and to best know how to use that information.” The Association of College and Research Libraries stresses information literacy’s worth as forming “the basis for lifelong learning” and empowering learners with “greater control over their own learning” (read more at the source here). In addition, information literacy has garnered a fair amount of recent attention from educators at all levels.

Our question to you: how do you address information literacy in your courses? If you have found particular activities or assignments to be effective, please share with colleagues. Post your comments in the appropriate discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Online Discussion Management: In Search of Best Practices

While conducting discussions in our online courses, we occasionally may find student comments that detract from learning or strain the classroom environment. Such comments, veering off topic or swerving into inappropriateness, create a dilemma for the instructor: how to mediate such discussions, and when, in certain circumstances, it might be appropriate to delete student posts.

While CCCOnline instructors might start with the general Mutual Respect Policy in their syllabi, they may wish to elaborate upon this in their own classes. Thus, the below is intended as practical advice for instructors, who might consider one of two approaches to communicate discussion expectations to students. The first is a syllabus-bound piece on discussion content that would specifically clarify expectations and guide instructor action in this arena. The second is a course lesson that would engage students in the subject of appropriate discussion practices.

While all this advice is intended to help keep discussions productive and to deter problems, should you face a post that is a candidate for deletion, here are some important notes to keep in mind: 1) Before removing a student’s post, you should talk with your Program Chair (unless the post is so problematic that it calls for an emergency delete). 2) Keep careful records if you do remove any posts: at the Dean’s request, you must either copy and paste the posts in question to a document you can save in the course, or copy and paste the post into another discussion topic closed to students.

Approach One: Discussion Content Management in the Syllabus
The ebb and flow of even the most closely guided discussions naturally depends upon individual personalities and group dynamics; this is clear to instructors with face-to-face classroom experience. Moving beyond the official classroom in an effort to understand discussion management, we might consider a very large, active world of discussions on the web: the blogosphere. As reader-generated posts are vital there, and controversial topics abound, it seems relevant to check “best practices” in that world. After reviewing content policies of two prominent blog providers in light of the unique nature of the online classroom, we suggest the following could be useful to faculty.

A general piece on Discussion Content for online classroom discussions could include a request for polite, professional conversation with a warning that posts may be deleted, at the instructor’s discretion, if they are
-Profane or vulgar,
-Violent or threatening, abusive or personally insulting,
-Advocating illegal activity or spreading spam or viruses,
…and on the more innocuous side,
-Duplicate posts,
-Off-topic, or more fitting for another forum, or
-Containing sensitive information (questions about individual student grades or performance).

Works Consulted
“Blogger Content Policy.” Blogger. Google. 8 Sept. 2010.
“Terms of Service.” WordPress.com. Automattic. 8 Sept. 2010.

Notes on sources:
1. Blogger.com has a Content Policy governing blogs; their “Content Boundaries” include child safety, hate speech, crude content, threats, illegal activities, and spam. They also include an interesting caveat: “Please note that when applying the policies…, we may make exceptions based on artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific considerations or where there are other substantial benefits to the public from not taking action on the content.”
2. WordPress.com lists contributors’ responsibilities, defining “contributor” as one who “operate[s]…, comment[s], post[s] material…or links on the Website.” It goes on to explain that content in question must not be unethical, “unwanted commercial,” “pornographic, libelous or defamatory,” threatening or violent.

Approach Two: Invite Students to Engage the Subject
Another approach to managing online discussions is to invite students to consider the subject themselves. Northern Arizona University’s e-learning Center demonstrates an example lesson (1) in which the instructor asks students to take self-assessments about communicating online (2) and, afterwards, discuss what they think are the “unwritten rules for communicating online.”
An instructor might summarize students’ remarks in a concluding post and would likely end up with a good workable Discussion Content piece for the syllabus.

Works Cited
“Quality Checklist.” e-Learning Center. Northern Arizona University. 8 Sept. 2010.
Watson, Julie. “Study Skills for University.” Materials Bank: a collection of teaching materials. Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies at The Higher Education Academy, University of Southampton, UK. 8 Sept. 2010.

Notes on sources:
1. e-learning Center at NAU: See 1.3.2 on “Quality Checklist” for a screen shot of the lesson mentioned above.
2. The self-assessments mentioned above (titled “Communicating online”) and referenced on NAU’s example lesson are found here.
3. “Study Skills for University”: The full page of lessons (including “Communicating online”) in one click is here.

What do you think? We invite you to post your comments in the appropriate discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Quality Time: Goal Post # 3 (Establish Community)

We don’t want our students to feel as alone in the stands as this fan does. We need to establish early a shared goal for their successful completion of the course.

Goal: Establish a sense of Community.
Question: How do you encourage your class to feel like a “team” or community of learners?

Possible solutions:
*Encourage students to add a profile picture. It doesn’t have to be a picture of themselves but rather something representative of them. Don’t forget to use one for yourself!
*Identify common interests, career paths, and goals among students in the introduction and provide a space for them to “huddle,” like a Student Lounge.
*Ask veteran online learners, in the introduction discussion, to coach “rookie” online students with tips about how to be successful in an online class. This might include providing technology tips or study hints.
*Provide “study hall” discussions where students might peer review assignments, post their assignments as student generated content, or collaborate on a group project. (Be sure to mark such discussions as student-led.)

What do you do in your classes to encourage a sense of team camaraderie? Please share your icebreakers and other community–building methods in the CCCOnline Community.

Do you have other goals that you try to achieve the first week of class? What are they and how do you achieve them? Please post your ideas in the appropriate discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Quality Time: Goal Post # 2 (Opening Lines of Communication with Students)

As we “take the field” the first day of class, we want to communicate with our students that we are available to answer questions, provide more detailed directions, and help them be successful in our courses.

Goal: Open lines of communication with students should be established early in the term.

Question: As you kick off the new semester with your students, how do you open the lines of communication so to avoid “sacks” and “fumbles” during the term?

Possible solutions:
QA Requirements
1. Send a welcome letter internally in D2L and externally using student roster
2. Post welcome News Announcement
3. Introduce yourself in your Introduction discussion AND respond thoughtfully to each student’s initial introduction post

Other Ideas:
*Share some tips of your own for success in your course and include open ended questions in the introduction discussion about the syllabus, course layout, or e-book. One tool students might find useful is this time calculator from Virginia Tech.
*Create an audio/video of yourself welcoming students to class and giving them some initial instructions about how to maneuver in the course.
*Conduct an Elluminate session the first week of class to answer students’ questions and provide a tour of your course.
*Provide discussions that encourage students to communicate regularly with you and each other about the course and assignments. Some options are:
1. Coffee Shop where students might post technology questions and course content questions.
2. A midway discussion that asks “How’s it going?” The instructor and students can provide each other tips about how to be successful with the course and assignments. This helps identify areas of miscommunication and “dropped balls” before the end of the game.
3. A wrap up, debrief, or “post-game show” discussion that asks students for feedback about the course layout, assignments, and technology incorporated. Be positive and ask for more detail from students who post negatively.

We are eager to hear your ideas and suggestions on this topic. Please post your comments in the appropriate discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Quality Time: Goal Post # 1 (Students and the Syllabus)

For the next two Wednesdays, we will include at this location a “Goal Post.” This little series is intended to provide suggestions and encourage conversation about how to start your semester smoothly.

Our first topic is about familiarizing students with your course policies and procedures.

In this arena, we observed some noteworthy practices in your summer courses; a few of them are included below under “Possible Solutions.”

Goal: Students, as they "warm up" for the course, need to read and understand the syllabus.
Question: How do we coach our students on the significance of the syllabus?
Possible solutions:
*A syllabus quiz
*A syllabus or “scavenger hunt” assignment to be submitted to the dropbox
*A short video or audio file reinforcing key points of the syllabus
*A series of syllabus or course policy questions in the Student Introduction Discussion
*A special discussion topic to verify that students have done the introductory housekeeping. This topic could require students to post that they have indeed read the D2L Quick Start Guide, participated in the Introduction Discussion, and sent you a test e-mail or test dropbox assignment. The topic may also be a place for you to highlight certain critical course policies or course tools.

What do you think? We welcome your ideas and encourage you to contribute to our related discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.