Session 3: Online Instruction Evaluation

 I am choosing a class I took at UCR Extension to finish my Clear Credential in Social Science, Advanced English Language Development. This class was a very unsatisfactory experience for a variety of reasons, but I will try to explain in terms of the CSU Chico rubric why this was so.

Learner Support and Resources

The instructor in this course used Moodle, which I found hard to navigate, especially since he hadn't bothered to update the session information and due dates from his previous session, or give us any information on how to use Moodle itself. No course-specific resources were offered. I would rate this as below Baseline.

 

Instructional Design and Delivery

The course goals were vague, and the activities to help students develop critical thinking were non-existent. The course was presented to us as basically a weekly exercise in reading a lot and writing a lot, and at the end, teaching some ELD lessons in a real classroom, should we be able to do that. There were no visual or audio enhancements to liven things up.

 

Innovative Teaching with Technology

What technology?  No multimedia elements, no MP3's, no links.  We were are our own. As for new teaching elements, the instructor handled this class as if he had done it a hundred times before, and wasn't going to change now. He reminded me of some older classroom teachers who have their courses "down pat" the way they like it, and they will continue to be that way forever. The only technology was the email we used to send him our work. He did use the announcement feature of Moodle to occasionally let us know our work so far was "great, but a lot of us were behind, so hurry up!" (my words)

 

Online Organization and Design

As I mentioned earlier, the syllabus had old dates on it, and they were never updated until the week had passed, almost as an afterthought. Our weekly work consisted of reading at least three chapters from our textbook, and answering 7 to 9 questions about them, all of which took expository writing of some kind (translate: hours of work). Although we had a list of others in the class and he encouraged us to "get to know each other and collaborate! (sic) ", no one did, I think because he was not very friendly to begin with, and we were all too busy. There were no design elements to speak of; this was very akin to just sticking a syllabus on a site.

 

Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning

There really were no stated learning objectives. Feedback from him was sporadic. I spent one whole weekend catching up on a week's assignment to make things current, and he only acknowleged my email to up date my completion log after 3 tries on my part. (I still believe that he probably lost the work, which would not be surprising, since he made us cut and paste our weekly submissions onto our e-mail, so he could print them all out to be read, something I probably should have mentioned under course design and innovative use of technology.)

 

Faculty Use of Student Feedback

There was no soliciting of feedback from us, period. Since all of us either needed this class to get our clear or advance in teaching, we were a captive audience of students, and he knew it. He didn't want or need any feedback from us.

 

I think the one basic thing I would make sure I had in my class would be engagement and personability, something that our CSUSB professors accomplish very well, as do the student designers in this class.  This goes a long way as far as I am concerned. Ongoing feedback, usually by e-mail that is returned by me in a maximum of two business days, as Dr. Newberry does. Then I would make sure that at least the design has some boredom relief, either though mp3 or visual aids. My PowerPoint for example has sound effects when you get a right answer, and a link for further information. I don't think you need to be a whiz on the computer to effect good design. I know my class design could benefit from some good tinkering right now.

I also abhor the idea that you have a captive audience.  As stated in my syllabus, my Political Science class would be a cognate class for non-majors, and a beginning class for new majors. While I don't want the virtual classroom to resemble a frat party, I do think that it is a bad idea to assume your students "need this class" so you have no obligation to explain things or solicit feedback to make the class more user friendly.

I would be happy to take any of the classes offered, in the planning stage or not, from my fellow students, all of whom have taken the time necessary to make all the positive things work. Thank you for your effort, because it could be a lot worse!

Comments

[Sally1adams.wordpress.com]

Hi Bob,
Sounds like the course you took was mostly a waste of your(the students) time. That is a bummer - especially in a required course for your credential. At least it was a great example of what not to do - I'm sure it will make your course better.

[Bob]

Thanks Sally, I admit this example seems to be extreme, but I have exaggerated none of it. I have been spoiled by the quality of classes we take here at CSUSB, and by the quality of the courses created by my fellow students. Bob M.

[Etec648shea.wordpress.com]

Bob, I hate to say it, but it sounds like this instructor just put his F2F materials on-line and sees this as a way of doing less work because he doesn't have to go to class. It is unfortunate that happens, but it happens less frequently than it used to. The ETEC instructors are wonderful models for effective on-line teaching and learning. I guess that is to be expected since that IS what they are about.

[Etec648.wordpress.com]

Hi Bob,

Great sound off! I understand how you feel about being a captive audience. I think that some instructors who are not trained in Instructional Systems Design, think that they can just slap together a course adapted from their F2F course and put it online! This makes me really value all the training and preparation that we get here at CSUSB in the eLearning /STEM program. I have interviewed with one particular potential employer who specifically looks for CSUSB trained IT people; they are aware of the quality produced here.

But because of this experience you will be a better designer and be understanding of the situation of your students.

Good insight!

McKinley