Event: FTEP "How to Create Community in Online Courses?"

Creating an online community

CU's Faculty Teaching Excellence Program has an upcoming presentation that could be of interest to those of you preoccupied with the task of creating a sense of community in the online environment.

On Thursday, September 27th from 3:30-4:30pm (ATLAS 200), Sam Gill, Professor and Associate Chair of Religious Studies will address a very important question in online teaching: How can online courses be developed and presented so that everyone feels some personal connection? This ‘how to’ presentation will offer a number of examples and techniques that help to create community and even take advantage of the distance among participants. Faculty should bring their own laptops for use during this workshop. MAC laptops will be available for those faculty who would like to borrow one.

For more information: http://www.colorado.edu/ftep/events/eventdocs/presenceinonlinecourses.html

Guest Post: Dr. Dawn Stanley, Sociology "Grading Online Discussions"

Do you have ideas to share
with other teachers?
Contact Courtney

Adding a discussion thread component may seem like an easy way to hybridize your class. And it is. But discussion threads result in additional labor for the professor: you’ll probably want to participate in the discussions and there’s the question of grading.

Until you get the hang of using the D2L discussion grading system and of grading the comments, having a discussion thread component to the class will add extra time to your course prep and work. But with a clear rubric and practice with the system, you will be able to zip through the grading.

I’ll cover 3 possible discussion thread grading models: 2 based on weekly grading and 1 on end of the term grading.

By Dawn Stanley, Ph.D.

stanleyd [at] colorado.edu

Dawn's explanation as well as her discussion board rubrics are available here. 

Dr. Dawn Stanley teaches her Introduction to Sociology course through Continuing Education and has been kind enough to share her insights, grading policies, and rubrics with the rest of us. Thanks!