ETAP687

I didn’t submit a blog last week as I was really involved with reviewing my course and preparing the last of my documents to post to the course. 

I feel pretty good about my course design.  I am very near completion, have tested the areas, printed some pages and checked to make sure that the links work the way that they should.  However, I have forgotten to place an area into the course for the non-online clinical practicum portion of the course.  I will need to create a place for forms and documents that students can use while on clinical rotations. 

I think that I have learned a new way to teach or at least changed my approach so that it will work in an online capacity.  First, I have realized how I can create an online environment that will help continue the community developed while my students are in FTF classes.  Because of this course I realized how the students must feel leaving their close community setting and enter into an isolated and new environment.  I have tried to create a couple of areas within the course like the coffee house and the blog entries as ways that students can share their experiences.  I hope that this area will materialize into something more than just a reflection area but will generate discussions that help students make connections between their different clinical rotation environments.

Second, I think that I have borrowed a couple of different ideas from the exemplar course and this course that will help tap into the cognitive or thinking presence.   Through group activities I hope that the students will be able to help each other learn about new laboratory areas and compare their findings to see the variations that exist in the work force.  It is one thing to understand the theory, laws and procedures but it is another level when they will make connections between the theory to their actual clinical site.  Another activity that I have created is a way for students’ t o help each other review assigned cytology topics in preparation for their board exams.  Letting the students decide which questions to ask will give them the choice on what areas they want to focus or increase their knowledge while helping their classmates understand their subject material.  This is the one part of the course that worries me the most, however as I am not sure how this will work in the online environment.  I want each student to answer the post questions without seeing other student’s answers until they have posted their responses.  I am not sure how much discussion the questions and answers will generate but I am hoping that at least a couple of discussions will begin on confusing areas.

Lastly, there are areas throughout the course that allow me to demonstrate a teaching presence much like I do in my FTF classes.  Through reassuring students in their reflection blogs to clearing up confusion in the question and answer review sessions, I should be able to keep up the same teaching presence that I have provided the entire year in the FTF class. 

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