This is our second post based on a presentation given by Pamela Trafford last month (read the first post here) on using web tools to deliver content for face-to-race courses. Pamela Trafford is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Management, and seasoned veteran of online teaching.
Strategies for Making it Work
Using SPARK in ways that will improve the experience without becoming a distration from the course is critical. Trafford shared many valuable suggestions for how to keep things running smoothly.
How to make it work for your students:
- Offer a tour of your SPARK course to students who seem uncertain of using the tool. Most students have prior experience, but some may be nervous.
- Providing a link to OIT handouts will also be helpful.
- Be clear in your syllabus about your expectations for the students and how you will use the online tools.
- Talk to other instructors. Everyone does things differently and everyone is learning new ways to do these things.
How to make it easy for you:
- Keep your files organized. The more content you have the easier it is to misplace things. If you are not organized, inevitably you will lose time searching for what you need.
- Be willing to redesign and rework things each semester.
Technology tips for delivering content online:
- Use PDF and HTML formatted files to increase ease of student access.
- Provide links to any special software students might need.
- Use WebDAV for easy upload and organization of files. WebDAV takes a little bit of time to setup but it make things significantly easier and saves you time down the road.
Check out the tools you might not be aware of:
- If you are using many assignments and assessments, date rollover allows you to change multiple deadlines from one screen.
- Selective release can be important for controlling access to a file, particularly if you are using one SPARK course for multiple sections of a class.