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Increasingly, faculty who teach an online course may not be the ones who actually designed the course. Thus, current measurements, especially those that focus on course design and innovation, are not appropriate tools for assessing these faculty members. Instead, the authors assert: "We must look at the actions performed by the instructors within the course." The objective of the authors' study was "to identify a set of criteria that would yield objective data easily examined by supervisors and peers during an online course observation and serve as a balance to the more subjective data gathered from student surveys." The authors identified six questions to be used as a starting point for evaluating online instructors. These questions are copied below verbatim: Has the instructor logged in at least an average of every other day? Has the instructor posted a biography of at least a paragraph, in addition to contact info? Has the instructor posted announcements at least weekly? Is there evidence that the instructor answers student inquiries in two days or less? Does the instructor participate in discussion forums where appropriate? Does the instructor provide feedback on assignments? This article is an excellent resource because it clearly delineates between design and instruction. It also provides the six very concrete questions to use when evaluating instructors.

Hybrid Pedagogy is an incredible resource for digital pedagogy, higher ed, and teaching and learning in the 21st century. I responded to this post; I agree with some, but not all of it. A good read.

Another great post by Jackie Gerstein on what it really means to design tasks that really engage with the three Cs of Education 3.0-  connectors, creators, constructivists. 

The readings this week have begun to make me think about the role of the teacher as a curator and collector of resources and "teachable moments" for inclusion into the blended classroom. I thought that I might post this as a resource for others. I have personally used a number of these, but Storify is a personal favorite for putting together resources for a lesson plan.

Awesome resource for checklists (pre, during and post course) from Simmons College.

Tony Bates' blog commenting on the UBC case study mentioned in my previous bookmark post.

Since I hadn't taken time to actually figure out how Diigo works and how it might be useful, I figured now was the time. I found this site that that helps get you started. I found the two videos posted in the Resources at the bottom of the page quite useful.

"How Sedaris Writes Great First Sentences I don't know David personally, so the following tricks are pure speculation. But I have no doubt he would agree-or at least say I was close. 1. Find the hook. What draws people? Sex. Violence. Strange circumstances. Bizarre people. Surprising statements. Controversial positions. Of course you won't know the hook until you've written the first draft, which brings me to the next point. 2. Get rid of the first paragraph. Or two. Often, just to get started, we will throw everything on the table in the first couple of sentences. This is a tendency from school to explain what you are about to tell the reader. Break this habit if you want to seduce a reader with a first sentence. 3. Read lots of Sedaris. Or Truman Capote. Hemingway. Any great writer of fiction or non-fiction. 4. Type out a list of great first lines. Make this a long list. This will get you to concentrate and absorb the elements of the sentence. But it will do something else. See next point. 5. Review your list every time you write a first sentence. Need I say more? Your Turn"

Working on the DIY task on formulating assignments, I was looking for some writing tips that could be helpful for students. Here are four from Hemingway.

Onother list from content marketing... Ask yourself 5 questions when you create valuable content: : Is it ... - Findable - Readable - Understandable - Actionable - Shareable Link the checklist (pdf-file): http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/leibtag_content_checklist.pdf

Tony Bates is a leading Canadian researcher and writes in the online learning field. I highly recommend subscribing to his Blog for weekly insights. He is currently writing a new text that will be open and online. Tony writes about online learning in general, however, he also writes regular posts on blended learning, see for example: http://www.tonybates.ca/2014/04/20/synergies-between-online-learning-on-campus-teaching-and-flexible-learning/

A video from Stephen Downes about differences between LMS vs PLE. This is a post for week 02, interactions. The point here is that interactions in a LMS are different than those in a PLE. Of course, interactions are richer in a PLE, not discarding LMS as part of PLE.

In support of my blog post at http://learning-technologically.blogspot.com/2014/05/consistency-for-blended-learning-but.html

Great article - thanks for sharing. In health sciences education, especially in the professional degree programs at my institution, true blended learning is in it's infancy.

This is a great article that I will use in my work creating my class for my BlendKit Certificate. Thanks for posting!

Looks at learning theories and how they relate to design for online learning - behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism Also liked the section on deeper learning principles

This link provided clear and organized information that we can use to organize the content and types of our course activities. It added another layer of information to what was already provided by the course. It seems to prove that when you read about the same topic but coming from different sources, the learning process is facilitated. Obviously, it takes more time but unless I'm sure of what I'm doing I like to prepare myself before jumping in to our own activities. Are you guys experiencing difficulties getting started on the DIY activities? I am taking forever...! But, in the end, I know that the acquired knowledge acquired by doing the project will prove to be more satisfactory and productive than just reading about it...Thanks to everyone who posted these links!