How do you get students to track progress throughout your course?

Online/Resident Students ‘in tune’ with their Progress
Sandy Berry-Lowe, Assistant Professor, Biology

How do you reduce the dropout rate in an online course? Sandy has two suggestions:

1. the weekly quiz
2. a discussion (primarily ethical/genetic questions).

Both the quizzes and the discussion are open Monday morning until Sat. night. I get the grades up for the discussion on Monday...quizzes go in automatically.

The weeks that we have tests, there is no quiz or discussion assigned but they do have a 'reading' due. This is an essay. I am not strict with the deadline, except for the last one, but I like to read them at one or two sittings so I can grade them consistently. Overall, it's up to them to see if they can get it done.

I do have mini-lectures uploaded (about 50 now) and I have heard that these help a lot. I upload a 'due dates' page and tell them to print it out and check it off...

How do you get students to track progress throughout your course?

Using eCompanion Gradebook
Mary Bethe Neely, Instructor, Chemistry

My CHEM 101/102 students can view their homework scores and correct answers and explanations the day after each deadline. The scores are automatically posted into their gradebook. I also post their quiz and exam scores as soon as I have them graded (generally the same or next day). However, the gradebook cannot be used for the students to calculate their actual grade since I drop their lowest homework and quiz scores at the end of the semester, and their lab grade (which is not on eCompanion) counts as 25% of their overall grade. So I download the grades from eCompanion into my own excel spreadsheet which actually calculates the students final grades.

How do you create a community of learners?

Nina Ellis, Assistant Director, Freshman Seminar

The Freshman Seminar Junior Teaching Assistants (JTA) take ID 409 during the summer/fall interim. Every year, part of our challenge is how to create JTA teams in only a few days with them prior to the launch of Freshman Seminar. This year, we asked the JTAs to complete the bulk of the coursework prior to the beginning of our three-day classroom session. We used a combination of case studies, blogs, threaded discussions, video clips, online lectures, and podcasts to present the content. By presenting the content online, we were able to devote more classroom time to role plays, student group presentations, and discussion groups.

To create more cohesive JTA teams, we assigned all the JTAs assigned to a particular topic to the same group. Then, the majority of the coursework was completed in groups. The culminating assignment was a 60-minute presentation that each group presented during our classroom sessions. In order to accomplish this task, each group was assigned a “Virtual Café” (the Chat room feature) where they could meet virtually. Here, groups brainstormed using the whiteboard, shared presentation files using application sharing, and practiced the presentation using microphones. All of the planning occurred before the students actually met. Having the ability to meet virtually was crucial, because several of the JTAs were out-of-state until the day before the classroom portion began.

How do you create a community of learners?

Bill Ayen, Senior Instructor, College of Business

I use eCompanion to post objectives, a lesson overview, slides, and assignments for each lesson. When students are having difficulty, I can post more resources about that concept, I can provide more direction to students about the course and keep the students connect when they are absent. eCompanion allows me to provide a more structured environment while allow students more time to reflect and get their questions answered.

How do you create a community of learners?

Janice Thorpe, Instructor, Communication Department, Com 250 - Research Methods

Theoretically, students listen to the Flash (Presentation with audio) before coming to class. This frees class time for them to participate more fully in higher level discussion. Historically students come to lecture collectively, then go home to complete the homework individually. This model reverses that process so that learning becomes more collaborative and occurs at greater depth.
I use the threaded discussion to encourage participation and Clickers to assess learning and identify concepts which need further clarification. I am continuing to develop course assignments and assessment tools to measure individual learning in this collective environment. It is still a work in progress . . .

How do you create a community of learners?

Rebecca Laroche, Chair/Associate Professor, English Department

I had 1-2 students per week read a scholarly essay on the play we were discussing in Renaissance Drama and write a 1-2 page summary of the article. They were to submit it before 5 o'clock the evening before class, and the other students in the class were to get online sometime that night or the following morning and read the summaries. This allowed for one student to come into the classroom having established a certain kind of expertise and for all to be able to refer to these articles as shared material.

How do you create a community of learners?

Linda Weaver, Clinical Instructor & Lecturer, Nursing Beth-el

There are several strategies that I use repeatedly. The first is a weekly threaded discussion based on the unit assignment. Students post a minimum one original submission and a minimum of one substantive commentary on other students. In my RN-to-BSN classes the discussions are very lively and the students get to know one another very well---without having met in person. Another tool I use with these students is a place I call the "Nurses' Locker Room" where the students can exchange ideas or just chat about their day. It is their area and I don't monitor it so they have some privacy.

In my traditional classes I use e-Companion to post lectures for the students to listen to AFTER class. Many of them have told me they listen and then come together to study, compare notes and write questions for clarification. I take those questions; post them with my response so the entire class has access to the answers. I also administer my exams and many of my quizzes on line---but that is NOT a 'community' project. What it does for me is provide some additional time in the classroom for content.