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alexandra m. pickett

Does Class Size Matter? - Distance Education Report Article - 1 views

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    Does class size matter? http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/distance-education-report/270/Does-Class-Size-Matter-13523-1.html This article originally appeared in Distance Education Report. I've been the director of online education at my institution since 2007. One question I've been asked many times over the years is "What is the optimal number of students to have in an online class?" My usual response is to pretend I didn't hear the question and walk away as quickly as possible. Well, that's not totally true. But as you can imagine, this is not an easy question to answer, as there are many variables that come into play--the topic of the class, the overall course design, the academic rank of students in the class, the experience of the instructor teaching the class, etc. I've had many interesting discussions with students, staff and administrators over the years about enrollments in online courses. When I first started teaching online, my courses would fill almost immediately, sometimes within minutes. Inevitably, students would contact me and request an override for the course - not just one or two students, but dozens upon dozens of students. They were usually surprised when I said no. These frustrated students would often reply with a comment such as, "But it's an online class, so you can take unlimited numbers of students and it won't be any additional work for you." Surprisingly, I've heard this kind of comment from some faculty, staff and administrators as well. I usually view these interactions as opportunities to offer a bit of education about online learning. So I might say, for example, that if I had seven graded assignments in my online course, and 25 students, I would end up grading 175 assignments--with the emphasis on "I." However, if I doubled the number of students in my class and graded seven assignments for 50 students, that would be 350 assignments to grade. There were also 22 quizzes, two exams and multiple
alexandra m. pickett

FERPA and Social Media - Faculty Focus | Faculty Focus - 0 views

  • “FERPA cannot be interpreted as building a total and complete wall between the school and the community. We would have really bad schools if that happened and very disengaged students.
  • FERPA was never intended to place students into the box of a physical or online classroom to prevent them from learning from the public. Rather, FERPA requires schools to maintain control over certain student records (Fryer, 2009). These records include medical information, social security numbers, and grades.
  • Some people think that students cannot release any personally identifiable student information, but this is also not true.
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  • FERPA applies only to information in the possession of the institution.
  • check with your own institution regarding FERPA policy guidelines
  • FERPA does not forbid instructors from using social media in the classroom, but common sense guidelines should be used to ensure the protection of students.
alexandra m. pickett

Leading Blog: A Leadership Blog: 12 Leadership Guidelines for Leading through Learning ... - 0 views

  • Understand that we will never get back to normal: While it is comfortable to want to seek the status quo, “normal” in times of a crisis is constantly changing. Leaders need to move on to seek better ways of doing things, letting these new ways become the new normal. Take care of one another: Listening reduces anxiety. Provide regular updates on what is happening across the organization and expand inclusivity. React…pause…respond: The right response will be made once information gathering, integrity, an open heart, and seeking to understand have been considered. Talk—even when you don’t believe there is much to say: Overcommunication is essential during turbulent times. Consistent and continuous messaging prevents rumors from spreading and demonstrates the leaders’ approachability and transparency. Be visible—now is not the time to play hide-and-seek: People become fearful when the leader goes into hiding. As a leader, be present, inform comfort, and provide strength for others. Maintain integrity and high value morals: Current circumstances should not influence or distort your definition of integrity and other core values. Optimize costs, with retention in mind: Make cost optimization decisions keeping employee retention in mind. This allows leaders to assess risk and make more informed decisions. Be a brand ambassador: The organization needs people who are brand ambassadors. As brand ambassadors, you are responsible for representing the organization both internally and externally in a positive manner. This means you must refrain from making statements that might cause further turbulence. Assess and rebuild trust: Rebuilding an injured organization requires making difficult decisions that not everyone will understand. For this reason, you and other leaders must continuously asses and rebuild trust. Remember, leaders are human, too: Though there will be difficult times during a crisis, as leader, it is important to remain composed. Think like a child: Try to live “in the moment,” not allowing business to consume every moment. Work/life balance can exist, even in a crisis. Take care of your emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being: Don’t put any aspect of your well-being on hold. While change and uncertainty at work are draining, you cannot allow them to take over your life.
alexandra m. pickett

Online and blended communities of inquiry: Exploring the developmental and perceptional... - 1 views

  • The CoI framework, with its emphasis on critical thinking and collaboration, provides a well-structured model and a set of guidelines to create effective learning communities in online and blended learning environments (Garrison & Anderson, 2003; Garrison & Vaughan, 2008).
alexandra m. pickett

ETAP640amp2014: How am I doing it in this course? And how are you doing it? - 0 views

  • an instructor can encourage this by providing guidelines (such as a rubric) for discussions that emphasize components such as using outside resources and peer reviews.  By doing so the instructor has created a class community of peers who provide teaching presence themselves, in addition to the instructor.
  • While I do not expect many students would do this on their own,
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