Syllabus Recommendations

As we are fully aware, the hybrid class model may be completely new to our students. If we want to avoid confusion and problems in the long term, we should include as much information as possible to assist our students on the front end, in our syllabi, regarding our expectations of their work.

I recommend that our syllabi for this fall contain the following elements:

• The Hybrid/Blended Course Model: A "hybrid" or a "blended" course is slightly different than the traditional courses offered at CU. In a hybrid course, in addition to face-to-face class time, a portion of our contact hours per week will now be conducted online using Desire2Learn and the other online elements that I have designed. The two principle advantages of this model are that we can dedicate more of our time in the classroom to practicing content and that you can learn new material at your own pace from home. I have done my best to set clear due dates for the activities that I intend to be completed online. Please adhere closely to these deadlines to stay on track!
• Netiquette: Keep in mind that operating online requires us to communicate with each other through written text. Therefore, the online environment is missing many of the nuances that we can provide in face-to-face communication (tone of voice, facial expressions, etc). Thus, online, be sure to pay close attention to: tone of voice (is your language possibly strong or offensive?); clearness of communication (did you clearly explain your thoughts?; do excessive typos confuse your message?).

The University of Wisconsin Colleges Online provides a short but comprehensive set of recommendations  for online etiquette based on the books Netiquette, by Virginia Shea and Arlene H. Rinaldi's The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette. 

• The D2L Discussion Board: I also recommend that those of you using discussion boards include a section on your expectations for student posting and commenting as well. This information will depend on the teacher and the course requirements. 

*** I will be out of the country in July, but am happy to troubleshoot via email! *** 

Courtney.Fell [at] colorado.edu

Requesting your D2L Course and Getting to Know D2L

As you all know, one requirement for our fall 2012 hybrid courses is that we use D2L. From my meetings, I see that many of us are new to this course management system. One easy first step in preparing for the fall is to go ahead and submit your request to OIT to have your D2L course created. Then, you can start uploading course content and familiarizing yourself with the system.

- To submit a request to create your D2L course, you will need to go through MyCUInfo. Log in at MyCUInfo, then follow these steps linked to here.

** If you do NOT see your fall course within your Faculty Tool Kit, be sure that you have selected the correct term (Fall 2012) at the top right. If you have content within CULearn that you would like to migrate into your D2L course, be sure to specify this during your course request. There is currently a delay of up to two business days from when we submit our request and when we can access the course. Once your D2L course is created, you will simply go to https://learn.colorado.edu/ to access it.

- D2L has a lot of functionality. There are two ways for us to practice using D2L on our own: OIT's D2L faculty workshops, schedule available here; and OIT's online tutorials, access instructions available here.

- In past posts, I have elaborated on a few D2L tools that I am using in my own course such as the Checklists and the Discussion board (see below). But there us much more that we can do within D2L.