University of North Alabama

Distance Learning Best Practices Conference

Presentations for Best Practices Conference

1. Don’t Kill the Message: The Importance of Writing Clear and Effective Instructions in Your Distance Courses

Presenter: Leah Thompson
Room Facilitator: Leigh Thompson
9:00 a.m., Raburn 104

Writing clear instructions is vital for the student’s successful completion of tasks in a course. It does not matter if the instructor has created the most wonderful assignment; without clear instructions on how to complete the assignment, the student will flounder, will become frustrated, and will not succeed. Clear and thorough instructions establish a lifeline for the student from the instructor. If a student becomes puzzled and is unable to contact an instructor, he or she can return to the instructions for guidance until contact can be made. Clear and thorough instructions allow the instructor to establish a presence of guidance for the students, and they also provide a chance for the instructor to add some personal touch to a sometimes impersonal learning environment.

2. Survey says?: Using Student Response Systems in the Classroom

Presenter: Jeffrey Bibbee
Room Facilitator: Mark Puckett
9:00 a.m., Raburn 109

UNA has recently purchased and begun using Turning Point, a student response system for the classroom. With Turning Point software and hardware, students can input answers to prepared objective questions using a keypad system. Turning Point can provide instant feedback to the instructor and the class. This presentation will highlight the uses of the software and outline a range of applications in the general studies classroom.

3. Use of the Testing Facility

Presenter: Paulette Alexander
9:00 a.m., Raburn 206 (this session repeats at 11:00 a.m.)

This session will focus on the practical aspects of scheduling and using the testing facilities available in Raburn, with references to testing integrity/proctoring.

4. Angel Overview

Presenter: John McGee
Room Facilitator: Linda Lewis
10:00 a.m., Raburn 104

This session will offer an overview of many of the tools available in the Angel Learning Management System. A recent demonstration introduced Angel to the faculty on campus, but the time allotted for the demonstration didn’t cover some of the features of the LMS. There will be time for questions and answers.

5. Managing Student Discussion Boards in Large Online Classes

Presenters: Dan Hallock, Jerome Gafford
10:00 a.m., Raburn 206

As more and more students jump into the realm of online learning, the importance of student engagement via discussion boards becomes critical to the success of an online class. A mandate in the College of Business is to show in all online courses active engagement between students and faculty, and also between students and students throughout the semester. Faculty use of discussion boards is on the rise and much discussion has taken place regarding “best practices” for using discussion boards to improve quality in an online course.

In the Department of Management and Marketing, several online courses routinely enroll between 80 and 120 students each semester. This presentation will discuss advantages and disadvantages of using multiple discussion boards by randomly assigning students to a discussion board. For example, in a class of 100 students, this means four discussion boards of 25 students each on the same topic. The authors will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of rotating the students for each discussion board throughout the semester to allow students to essentially have the opportunity to interact with every student in the course at some time during the semester. Among other topics addressed in the presentation will be the number of discussion board topics used and the use of correct grammar and complete sentences on discussion board posts.

6. Using Team Projects

Presenter: Dennis Balch
Room Facilitator: Larry Adams
11:00 a.m., Raburn 104

A year ago, based on the volume of student complaints, I was prepared to abandon team projects in the MG 498 course. Student feedback on an end of semester survey changed my mind. In response to open-ended questions, the majority (!) of students identified the team experience as the most valuable element of the course, despite the difficulties they encountered. I retained the team projects and refocused my approach to teach a team formation process as part of the course projects.

This session will:

• Present the anecdotal experience
• Provide the survey data for the initial survey and subsequent surveys
• Present the concept and the assignments for teaching the team process as an integral part of the capstone course
• Describe the relevance to program-level learning objectives
  
  
  

7. Utilizing Digital Archives and Databases in World History

Presenter: Jeffrey Bibbee
Room Facilitator: Chris Maynard
11:00 a.m., Raburn 109

Recent funding from governmental and foundational sources has allowed for an explosion of major archival information to be digitized and organized for researchers and students. With this new information available online, archival materials once only accessible in dusty libraries to European travelers is now available to a range of scholars globally. This new information is allowing advanced undergraduates and graduate students to complete primary source based research from their home institutions and allowing a greater range of resource materials to be available to instructors in their classrooms. This presentation will identify some newly developed databases and collections and outline a range of projects applicable to introductory, advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses.

8. Use of the Testing Facility

Presenter: Paulette Alexander
11:00 a.m., Raburn 206 (this session is a repeat of a session at 9:00 a.m.)

This session will focus on the practical aspects of scheduling and using the testing facilities available in Raburn, with references to testing integrity/proctoring.

9. Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching Hybrid Classes

Presenters: Kerry Gatlin, Melissa Clark, Dan Hallock
1:00 p.m., Raburn 104

The College of Business (COB) at the University of North Alabama (UNA) is currently offering two hybrid courses, MG 330 taught by Dan Hallock and MK 360 taught by Melissa Clark.

Beginning in the Fall of 2009 the COB will offer over 50 hybrid courses due in large part to the renovation of Keller Hall. The need to quickly get a handle on some “best practices” in teaching hybrid courses and come up with a fairly consistent approach is a must for the COB. Dr. Hallock and Dr. Clark are using two different approaches in their hybrid classes with the intent of developing some best practices that work in the COB.

A primary concern is the need for all faculty scheduled to teach hybrid classes in the fall to fully understand what they are getting themselves into. For example, the one day a week lectures must be well-organized and on target; there is no time to waste during class. Compressing three hours of lecture into half the time is not an easy task. Faculty must also be able to use Blackboard, Tegrity and other available teaching technology tools that may be useful to assist the students and make each class a true value-added learning experience.

This presentation will discuss some of the results of our current practices along with an overview of some potential pedagogical models that the COB is considering utilizing. The COB intends to have a basic model which all faculty will use as a guide in order to establish a consistent approach to use in hybrid classes.

10. Business Simulation Game in Capstone Course

Presenter: Dennis Balch
1:00 p.m., Raburn 109

In summer 2008, I integrated a business simulation game into the MG 498 capstone course. Based on the experience in the first six sections of instruction, I propose to present the following topics:

• Costs
  • Learning overhead for instructor and students
  • Tradeoffs against other valuable course activities
• Benefits
  • Student engagement
  • The target-rich teaching environment
  • “Pleasant” practice
  • Verisimilitude
  • Benchmarking against a nationwide population

Please note: In addition to the above sessions, there will be sponsor exhibits in Keller Room 102 all day, and several vendor presentations (live and webcast) offered throughout the day in Raburn 110. Sponsors include Wimba, Elluminate, Cengage, Wiley, Pearson, Tegrity, McGraw Hill, eCollege, Angel, and Howard Technology Solutions.