Instead, it enhances it by engaging users and helping to build trust and interest in the brand.
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E-Learning Case Studies Creating Online Lessons - SoftChalk - 0 views
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Lesson: Articles on Visual Design - 2 views
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You should direct the user’s eyes through a sequence of steps. For example, you might want your user to go from logo/brand to a primary positioning statement, next to a punchy image (to give the site personality), then to the main body text, with navigation and a sidebar taking a secondary position in the sequence.
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One of my worst habits is making low-contrast text. It looks good but doesn't read so well, unfortunately. Still, I seem to do it with every Web site design I've ever made, tsk tsk tsk.
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There are many things to consider about readability. The thing that stands out for me is that very frequently, simple is better. Fonts might look attractive, but often it is best to stick with tried and true fonts and also tried and true colors. Obviously, if the reader is unable to read your site, they won't see what you want them to.
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When a user comes to your site what are they actually trying to do? List out the different types of tasks people might do on a site, how they will achieve them, and how easy you want to make it for them.
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Keeping your design consistent is about being professional. Inconsistencies in a design are like spelling mistakes in an essay. They just lower the perception of quality. Whatever your design looks like, keeping it consistent will always bring it up a notch. Even if it's a bad design, at least make it a consistent, bad design.
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Hierarchy does not only come from size. Amazon makes the ‘Add to cart’ button more prominent by using color
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In other words, the bigger an object and the closer it is to us, the easier it is to use it.
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The best images follow the rule of thirds: an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.
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I don't know much about photography, but I have heard about the rule of thirds. Again, something I didn't really think this when I considered adding photos to a web site or to a Soft Chalk page. Not all photos automatically ascribe to the rule of thirds, so it might be helpful to know a little bit about photo editing as well. Just one more thing to consider!
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Notice how you could see the dog without focusing on each black spot that the dog consists of?
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Content is more important than the design which supports it.
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Users are rarely on a site to enjoy the design; furthermore, in most cases they are looking for the information despite the design.
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according to Weinberg’s law, a developer is unsuited to test his or her code
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A successful visual design does not take away from the content on the page or function
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Texture refers to how a surface feels or is perceived to feel.
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the user should be led around the screen by the designer. I call this precedence, and it's about how much visual weight different parts of your design have.
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Most users search for something interesting (or useful) and clickable; as soon as some promising candidates are found, users click. If the new page doesn’t meet users’ expectations, the Back button is clicked and the search process is continued.
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web-page should be obvious and self-explanatory.
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It's important for me to remember all of these tools...moving from a face to face environment to an online setting is vastly different, and these tools are what I as a student need, so I need to be incorporating them as well. Without a good position, color that catches my eye and various design elements I've lost interest. If I've lost interest with the lack of tools, then so will my students.
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One of the most frustrating experiences you can have on a Web site is being unable to figure out where to go or where you are
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One of the most frustrating experiences you can have on a Web site is being unable to figure out where to go or where you are
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This is so interesting and I've noticed the importance of this "white space" as I've been looking at Softchalk lessons. It also reminds me how we've learned that when designing our lessons, using shorter paragraphs (separated by white space) is better than traditional paragraphs given on a handout in a face to face classroom.
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Users don’t read, they scan.
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I know this is true of students, but as adults we are the same way! We know what we need to read well and give our full attention and then there are other things that we scan to find what we need. This is an important skill for students to learn, so having an online lesson set up well will be beneficial.
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Web users are impatient and insist on instant gratification.
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This is so true as well and it's important for me to remember as I move forward with my Softchalk lesson - if they can't figure out how to move around, they will become frustrated and give up. It's not that we should not teach them to problem solve, but the training in how to move around the lesson will be important.
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White space is an important part of your layout strategy.
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the first thing you see is the logo
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Buttons to travel around a site should be easy to find - towards the top of the page and easy to identify. They should look like navigation buttons and be well described. The text of a button should be pretty clear as to where it's taking you.
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Buttons or menus across the top of a webpage are very helpful when it comes to navigating a website. One issue I've had is that sometimes my buttons make sense to me, but to the new visitor the language I use to explain where it is taking the visitor doesn't make sense. Take for example, on our website we have something called "Instructor Center". This is the place our instructors who teach PD for us go to get information. To me this makes complete sense. That being said, I know that we consistently get questions about where to find instructor information. The label, "instructor center" doesn't resonate with the visitor. I have seen websites where there is a brief description appears on the screen when you roll over the button, but before you click. I'm not sure if these things help or if they add clutter.
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Occam’s Razor states that the simplest solution is usually best.
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The higher is the cognitive load and the less intuitive is the navigation, the more willing are users to leave the web-site and search for alternatives.
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This makes me think of what I call the "learning curve". If the learning curve is to long, people just move on to find something different that doesn't have this learning curve. Take for example graphic design tools. Over the years, I've downloaded gimp and seashore, but for some reason I've never quite gotten the hang of them. Instead I use a web-based tool called pixlr. It is easy and I've met with some success. That being said, would Gimp or Seashore provide me with more options and features, probably, but the learning curve is steeper so I've chosen to use pixlr. When I think of learners, I wonder how we can scaffold things so that the learning curve isn't so steep.
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Unity has to do with all elements on a page visually or conceptually appearing to belong together. Visual design must strike a balance between unity and variety to avoid a dull or overwhelming design.
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Line Spacing
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back and revise earlier pages to match later ones exactly
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rank elements on your website based on your business objective
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the more choice you give people, the easier it is to choose nothing.
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a maximum of 18 words or 50-80 characters per line of text.
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Dominance focuses on having one element as the focal point and others being subordinate. This is often done through scaling and contrasting based on size, color, position, shape, etc.
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I have a background in graphic design, and have taken many design courses. It always amazes me how the terms in the elements and principles of design change, depending on who is discussing them. This is the first I've heard of "dominance", as I learned this as "emphasis". Regardless, the elements and principles of design are critically important to all educators, because embedded in the Iowa Core ELA standards is the concept of visually literacy skills. I do include parts learning about the elements and principles of design in several of the online courses I teach.
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Typography
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"Typography" -https://diigo.com/08f26r I'm curious about different typography. I was always told to use very readable font and avoid anything fancy.
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People won’t use your web site if they can’t find their way around it.
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White space is good.
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reduce the cognitive load
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golden ratio looks like
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Enough white space makes a website look ‘clean’. While clean design is crucial to communicating a clear message, it doesn’t just mean less content. Clean design means a design that makes the best use of the space it is in. To make a clean design, you have to know how to communicate clearly by using white space wisely.
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Enough white space makes a website look ‘clean’. While clean design is crucial to communicating a clear message, it doesn’t just mean less content. Clean design means a design that makes the best use of the space it is in. To make a clean design, you have to know how to communicate clearly by using white space wisely.
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Moving To Online Teaching: Issues and Resources For Educators | SkilledUp - 0 views
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Lesson: Articles on Visual Design - 5 views
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A successful visual design does not take away from the content on the page or function. Instead, it enhances it by engaging users and helping to build trust and interest in the brand.
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This statement was important to me because I want to make the page interesting but need to be selective to ensure the element enhances rather than "decorates".
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Great point Nancy! I need to keep this in mind as well that the focus needs to be on the content with the design supporting and not distracting.
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White space is used around text and between sections to allow the page to breath
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When navigating a good design, the user should be led around the screen by the designer. I call this precedence, and it's about how much visual weight different parts of your design have.
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List out the different types of tasks people might do on a site, how they will achieve them, and how easy you want to make it for them. This might mean having really common tasks on your homepage (e.g. 'start shopping', 'learn about what we do,' etc.) or it might mean ensuring something like having a search box always easily accessible.
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The more options a user has when using your website, the more difficult it will be to use (or won’t be used at all). So in order to provide a more enjoyable experience, we need to eliminate choices.
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This statement spoke about providing too much choice. I think it also applies to find text about the subject, so I think providing an easy to see and use filter or search box is important. I think about my lessons and if students want to review a specific part of the lesson, I want to make it easy for them to find it.
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Instead users satisfice; they choose the first reasonable option.
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the web-page should be obvious and self-explanatory. When you’re creating a site, your job is to get rid of the question marks
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Buttons to travel around a site should be easy to find - towards the top of the page and easy to identify. They should look like navigation buttons and be well described. The text of a button should be pretty clear as to where it's taking you. Aside from the common sense, it's also important to make navigation usable.
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I think this is important in my lesson as I want the users to be able to navigate around the pages according to where their interests lead them.
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I agree that navigation gives users a chance to move around more freely. It appears within SoftChalk you are limited to the options of top, previous and next. I'm still in the early stages with learning about the tool so still am curious if you are limited too just those three options.
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Consistency means making everything match. Heading sizes, font choices, coloring, button styles, spacing, design elements, illustration styles, photo choices, etc. Everything should be themed to make your design coherent between pages and on the same page.
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Occam’s razor is a principle urging one to select among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect. To put it in the design context, Occam’s Razor states that the simplest solution is usually best.
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Users don’t read, they scan. Analyzing a web-page, users search for some fixed points or anchors which would guide them through the content of the page.
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Users want to have control. Users want to be able to control their browser and rely on the consistent data presentation throughout the site. E.g. they don’t want new windows popping up unexpectedly and they want to be able to get back with a “Back”-button to the site they’ve been before: therefore it’s a good practice to never open links in new browser windows.
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Visual design must strike a balance between unity and variety to avoid a dull or overwhelming design.
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Web design ain't just about pretty pictures. With so much information and interaction to be effected on a Web site, it's important that you, the designer, provide for it all. That means making your Web site design usable.
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Without knowing ANYTHING about these circles, you were easily able to rank them. That’s visual hierarchy.
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Here’s what the golden ratio looks like:
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Conclusion Effective web design and art are not the same. You should design for the user and by having a business objective in mind. Using these web design principles you can get to aesthetically and financially rewarding results.
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6. Strive for simplicity The “keep it simple”-principle (KIS) should be the primary goal of site design. Users are rarely on a site to enjoy the design; furthermore, in most cases they are looking for the information despite the design. Strive for simplicity instead of complexity.
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7. Don’t be afraid of the white space
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The basic elements that combine to create visual designs
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White space is an important part of your layout strategy.
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Dominance focuses on having one element as the focal point and others being subordinate.
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Color contrast
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Empty space seemed wasteful. In fact the opposite is true.
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bread crumb trails,
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Font Choices — Different types of fonts say different things about a design. Some look modern, some look retro. Make sure you are using the right tool for the job.
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if text has an underline, you expect it to be a link
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The best images follow the rule of thirds:
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Hierarchy shows the difference in significance between items
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Web design can be deceptively difficult
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if there is a gigantic arrow pointing at something, guess where the user will look?
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White Space
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Golden ratio
Using Technology To Improve Student Learning: The Flipped Classroom - A free, 3-week, o... - 0 views
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10 Principles Of Effective Web Design - Smashing Magazine - 1 views
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Users appreciate quality and credibility. If a page provides users with high-quality content, they are willing to compromise the content with advertisements and the design of the site. This is the reason why not-that-well-designed websites with high-quality content gain a lot of traffic over years. Content is more important than the design which supports it.
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As I've been reading I've been thinking of my own website habits, and I'm not sure I'm a typical user...I'll read everything, and although I'll only click what I think is pertinent to what I'm looking for, I do it in a very linear fashion. (Well, as linear as web clicking can be, anyway. It's very systematic.)
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Ideally remove all barriers, don’t require subscriptions or registrations first. A user registration alone is enough of an impediment to user navigation to cut down on incoming traffic.
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It definitely is for me - given how I seem to approach web pages (and after reading these I'm thinking I could be a lot more efficient) - registration to even use a site is a deal breaker. I can't think of a signal time that I haven't moved on.
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However, I doubt this applies to SoftChalk in any way shape or form. I'm just sharing my thoughts as I read.
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As the Web is different from print, it’s necessary to adjust the writing style to users’ preferences and browsing habits. Promotional writing won’t be read. Long text blocks without images and keywords marked in bold or italics will be skipped. Exaggerated language will be ignored.
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People won’t use your web site if they can’t find their way around it.
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White space is good.
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I think this is a good idea to remember. I felt so overwhelmed during the power point assignment (having to add an image to every slide) that it was just too much. This idea came up last week - and even in video examples that white space is ok, it is also ok to only have an idea, or a few key words on a slide/page, etc.
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Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web-site. Since the visitor of the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has established as a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. After all, if users can't use a feature, it might as well not exist. We aren't going to discuss the implementation details (e.g. where the search box should be placed) as it has already been done in a number of articles; instead we focus on the main principles, heuristics and approaches for effective web design — approaches which, used properly, can lead to more sophisticated design decisions and simplify the process of perceiving presented information.
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Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web-site. Since the visitor of the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has established as a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. After all, if users can't use a feature, it might as well not exist. We aren't going to discuss the implementation details (e.g. where the search box should be placed) as it has already been done in a number of articles; instead we focus on the main principles, heuristics and approaches for effective web design — approaches which, used properly, can lead to more sophisticated design decisions and simplify the process of perceiving presented information.
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ollie1: Iowa Online Course Standards - 2 views
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(K-12) • Information literacy and communication skills are incorporated and taught as an integral part of the curriculum.
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Communication is key in online classes. I know I have been lost a time or two. I like checklists of requirements for the course.
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Information literacy becomes even more important as more resources are available for our students. They need the tools to be able to filter through all the information out there and search out what is best. Middle school kids seem very willing to believe it if they saw it on the internet.
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I'm 57 years old. My dad, who had an eighth grade education and would be in his 90s were he still alive used to tell us, "Don't believe everything you hear." He would also say, "Don't believe everything you read." My dad was wise. We need to be skeptics. Everyone needs to ask the questions, Who is sharing this information? Why should I believe them? What is their purpose? How old is this information? Can I understand the context in which it's offered? I'm a teacher librarian. I've been working on this for 16 years and love that information literacy is in these standards.
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Communication is the hardest thing I do as a wife, mother, teacher, and friend. When I think I am communicating well, it's obvious that others are not!!!! HA! The hardest job I will every do is communicating.
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• The course design provides opportunities for appropriate instructor-student interaction, including timely and frequent feedback about student progress based on the learning targets.
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It's important to encourage students to feel comfortable to ask questions especially when they are lost. Quick, easy, multiple ways to contact the instructor are important.
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I would agree so many students are too afraid to ask questions in front of a class. They are just satisfied with not knowing rather than risking embarassment.
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I am involved in a grant program that is about blending the online teaching with face-to-face teaching, which will make the instructor-student interaction easier.
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Obviously this is important, but also challenging when you see as many as 150 students per day. It makes things like clickers and online communicaiton that much more important.
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Technology has made instructor-student interaction easier, while also making it difficult for students to not become involved. Students quickly see that they are accountable and instructors can track their participation.
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Students and instructors both need feedback in order to achieve. Progress can only be achieved with an ongoing, positive conversation
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All resources and materials used in the course are appropriately cited and obey copyright and fair use.
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This is something I would like to know more about in the on-line world. I'm not sure on certain issues relating to this and would like to be more clear on my understanding.
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This is one of the greatest concerns I have in planning an online course. I did find a section in the orientation materials for this course that addressed it. It is called "Copyright BriefNotes" and is available from the AEA. I can't tell you exactly where I found it; explored way too many links to be able to retrace my steps and the printout doesn't have a web address. It was a pdf file on a link.
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It is critical that we model appropriate citing, observance of copyright, and fair use for our students. My middle schoolers have difficulty grasping both the significance and the proper methods of these concepts.
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This is one of the most important details! Yes, middle school students struggle with citing. It is only going to be more important as more and more online resources are available.
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I'm pretty clear on rights for print materials, but less sure when the item in question is a graphic, picture, etc. Does it make a difference that our course is only available to students in our classroom and not going out to the world wide web?
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Sufficient learning resources and materials to increase student success are available to students
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This is where I think Moodle or other similar tools will have an advantage. I like that I will be able to group all relevant resources together for students. I have a lot of resources right now but they are all scattered..
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I definitely agree with you about these online tools making resources more available. Like you, I have many resources in many locations. I am gradually moving the resources to my Moodle course pages and plan to expand this to include Diigo. Grouping the resources will provide students with a consistent location while working and provide me with a better method for keeping web pages current.
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Ongoing and frequent assessments
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Instructions to students on how to meet the learning objectives are adequate and stated clearly.
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AS Stiggens said many years ago, students need to know the target before attempting to hit the target. Trying to hit a moving target is frustrating and difficult for everyone!
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How true! It is important that the students clearly know what is expected of them.
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My nine-year old even undertands this! He recently commented, "This assignment would be so much easier if (the teacher) had given us a rubric."
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If our students don't know what to expect, what are we doing? Students need and deserve to know what they are responsible to know.
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I need to get better about making clear daily objectives. That's new to me, but my faculties have their learning goals posted on their walls each day. It's great for everybody. Kathy, I love what your son said. Kevin, you are right on the money!
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I put my lesson objectives on the board when I teach my elementary library classes, it makes it easier for the students to know what I expect.
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What's amazing to me is when I have a student say, "Give me a rubric, and I can easily get an A with less effort." This scares me....to me it's a way of putting forth mediocre work by "beating" the system. Tha'ts why every rubric I build has a perception component of quality when comparing project/discussions/etc with peers.
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Assessment strategies and tools, such as "self-check" or practice assignments, make the student continuously aware of his/her progress in class and mastery of the content beyond letter grades.
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The course instruction includes activities that engage students in active learning
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The course instruction includes activities that engage students in active learning
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Students today live in a different world than the one most of us in this class experienced when we were young. Sitting for 45 minutes with nothing more than an overhead projector or chalkboard to look at and nothing more than a teachers voice to hear is just completely out of touch with the way students experience things outside of the classroom. As educators we need to keep that in mind or we really will have kids bored to death.
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Students are multitaskers and grow bored when not challenged. Active and interactive learning is one way to keep them engaged. I also feel that as teachers we need to change our " tools" and raise the bar for learning.
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In most classes, I think we have about 10 minutes to direct students toward the learning that we hope will happen that day. Then we have to let them get started on their learning and coach them as needed for the rest of the class. If there is confusion or a common thread shows up during the class time, the coach/facilitator/teacher might stop the student work to explain, or to have a student explain the issue, but otherwise, the focus is definitely not on the teacher. It's not about us. ;-)
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• Academic integrity and netiquette (Internet etiquette) expectations regarding lesson activities, discussions, e-mail communications and plagiarism are clearly stated
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This, I believe, is more and more important because our students really struggle with understanding that once something is on the web, it's out there for good. They also struggle with understanding just the basics of appropriateness.
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Do you think that in many cases students do know what is appropriate and what is not? I think that students sometimes push the limits to see if the instructor cares enough to hold them accountable.
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The course goals and objectives are measurable and clearly state what the participants will know or be able to do at the end of the course
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This one is so simple, yet doing this effectively is probably on of the most important things an instructor can do to avoid problems down the road.
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I agree, Bob. I think sometimes we believe students are suppose to be mind readers when it comes to what they will learn or be able to do.
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My school went to putting the learning target on the board everyday. I think it was good, but should be incorporated with a "ticket out the door" activity.
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Instruction provides students with multiple learning paths to master the content, addressing individual student needs, learning styles and preferences
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I really love the idea that we can tailor courses to meet the needs of individual students. I would like to explore ways to have various paths leading to mastery. Once a student has mastered a concept, he or she can move on to the next concept. A student who needs more practice could be redirected to more learning activities on the same concept. One size does not fit all.
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As I learn more about online learning and using Moodle, I am excited about the possibilities for differentiation. I see this as one of the greatest strengths of the format.
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Technologies are chosen that are accessible to students
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Instructions make clear how to get started and where to find various course components
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As students in this course, many of us understand that it may be easy to be overwhelmed when starting out in online learning. We help our students with simple and clear guidance.
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As time goes on, what we consider to be so difficult, becomes easier as time goes on. We must note that while we teach online learners---and naturally, while they teach us too.
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The requirements for student work, including student interaction, are clearly articulated.
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The course provider offers the course teacher, school coordinator assistance with technical support and course management. .
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I feel this is so important. One of my biggest concerns about going 1:1 next year is the lack of tech support. I haven't seen any plan to increase the tech department, and I often have to wait days to get answers currently from the help desk. Students get extremely frustrated when technology doesn't work especially if there is no one there to help them.
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The course provides opportunities for appropriate student interaction with the content to foster mastery and application of the material.
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Rigor and Relevance is the Characteristic of Effective Instruction that comes to mind as I read this. Good instruction is good instruction, regardless of the teaching modality. In a student-centered environment, as this suggests, students are encouraged to collaborate with others as they take their new knowledge and apply it.
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The course accommodates multiple school calendars; e.g., block, 4X4 and traditional schedules
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The course provides opportunities for appropriate instructor-student and student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material and a plan for monitoring that interaction.
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This is one I'm excited about - I'm hoping by mixing online with face to face learning I can have more interaction with quiet students - though I know from taking online classes it can be easy to just do enough to get by if there aren't a lot of opportunities to interact.
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I am hoping that is portion of the "face to face" is built in to help accomodate learning for students who are having trouble mastering the content. My worse fear of online learning is making the material move too quickly for students to keep up, making them frustrated and not positive learners.
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The course structure includes a wide variety of assessment procedures to assess students’ mastery of content.
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This is something I feel like I need to be careful about - I think it's easy to get so excited about new ideas I throw a lot of projects at students at once - I need to think really hard about what I want to assess them on.
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Glad it isn't just me, I find that I also get pumped about something, throw it out to the students to "try" and then I realize at the end that I had no way to measure whether it was really effective or not.
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21st century skills in the course, including: using 21st century skills in the core subjects, 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, ICT literacy, self-directed learning, global awareness
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Courses being online in and of themselves are 21st Century learning skills. However, I believe, online instruction should include more than just being posted on the internet. It should push students to be self-directed and global learners. Fulfilling this standard will take work, but I believe it is one of the most important goals of learning.
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Hardware, web browser and software requirements, as well as prerequisite technology skills are specified.
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Specific and descriptive criteria, including rubrics, are provided for the evaluation of students’ work and participation.
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The course provides opportunities for students to engage in higher-order thinking, critical-reasoning activities and thinking in increasingly complex ways
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instructional materials are aligned with the content
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The course content and assignments are aligned with state’s content standards or nationally accepted content standards
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When Traditional Schools aren't Enough - Finding online Success - 0 views
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9 Essential Principles for Good Web Design - Envato Tuts+ Design & Illustration Tut... - 0 views
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I'm reminded of that episode of the Simpsons where Homer eventually becomes this "gossip" of Springfield online. His first foray into creating a web site was to find all these weird, loud animations and throw them on a site. Then he got disappointed when no one visited the site. I'd hope I wasn't that poor of a designer, but it's so tempting to just use whatever's out there and difficult to discern what will add to the content and what will distract. (I tried to insert a link to the image, but it didn't work - just search Homer Simpson's first web page, if you're curious)
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