Oregon State University Ecampus

Summary of the latest survey of undergraduate students about technology expectations. 

Interactive graphs -- data, data, and more data. Very engaging.

Great example of a course syllabus (with excellent list of readings - Want!) about creativity, design, and "hacking". What would a class like this look like in a hybrid format?

A good place to mine for ideas ....

A free downloadable guide on mapping customer experience. I think it would be really interesting to adapt this to a course - especially hybrid or online - for instructors to get a sense of where students hit the "trouble spots," the "low points,' and the "high points."

Overview of distance ed pedagogy

Collection of SketchNotes on a wide variety of topics. An interesting alternative to the traditional outline / long-hand format of note-taking. I've noticed many students don't seem to have a good grasp on taking and organizing class notes. I wonder what introducing this as an option would do for them? More info on SketchNotes: http://summit.worldcat.org/oclc/796754744

A comparison of Netflix "binge viewing" with new models of "binge learning" for online classes. Do students learn better on their own schedule? How to combine both? 

Something to check in on later as they develop ... "The OSP's mission is to build a large-scale online collection of syllabi and to build foundational tools for analyzing it in order to advance scholarly inquiry, promote institutional cooperation, and foster pedagogical diversity. We believe that this critical mass of syllabi will stimulate new research tools, drive policy change, foster best practices, provide new metrics, and aid in the search, discovery, and the development of new course materials."

Lessons from a Texas A&M professor who flipped a 400-student "Introduction to Ancient Rome" course.

I'd love to hear some real world examples that address one point in the article: "Content delivery is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what to do in class that keeps students engaged, and motivated to prepare for class." If anyone in our group knows of some specific tricks teachers usually employ for this, please let me know. (lil' quizzes? Q&A discussions? or something more interesting?) I'm wondering if there are other sorts of multimedia activities I could make that would serve similar function.

Warren, good question! The peer instruction approach of Eric Mazur et al. (see http://mazur.harvard.edu/research/detailspage.php?rowid=8) is a popular in-class technique. Here are some of other methods OSU hybrid faculty use to link online and face-to-face spheres: 1 - A low-stakes weekly quiz online prior to each class meeting. 2 - A discussion that flows from online to face-to-face and back again. 3 - A very short online essay turned in before each class meeting that builds on the online content, and is tied directly to in-class discussion or group work that follows. 4 - An interactive multimedia lesson online that provides a foundation for or extends in-class learning. (Examples: I recommend looking at Simon Driver and Megan McDonald's hybrid EXSS 444--I can connect you.) 5 - Group work online (e.g., formulating a debate position or a solution to real-world problem) that feeds into the next f2f class activity. 6 - A quiz at the start of each class meeting based on the online content. Whatever the method, a key is that the learning activities online channel rather directly into the in-class activities and vice versa. Think of it as a long ping-pong volley between learning activities in the online and f2f spheres from the first day of the term until the final exam or project.