Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Designing our first online course at AUC
I am ever more excited about progress in Haiti - dispite setbacks and inprobability of sucess. We had our 4th Centra meeting this morning where we continued to hammer out the Information Technology program.
We are in the process of designing the first distance course which I will lead in the fall from Benin. It will be an introduction to computing course designed to teach students important computer literacy skills (email, information searching, word processing, etc) and provide them with an overview of the professional field of information technology.
The course will be held in English, French and Creole. The students have been studying English for the past year and will be ready for some form of English instruction. I believe that this needs to be supplimented with conversation and ability to explore concepts in their native language. As a teaching team, we are really stuggling with making the most use of limited contact hours. How much and what should be taught in English? How much and what should be taught by the distant instructor vs. the local course facilitator? There is a lot to think about.
From other perspectives, important parts of the course are coming together. I am building a strong relationship with the local facilitator of the course who will lead discussion sessions, proctor exams and grade homework. He will be my eyes, ears and "presence." Theoretically, I predicted that the success of this model of distance education rests largely on the relationship between the distant instructor and the local facilitator. I feel confident that by developing the course together, the local facilitator and I will be able to make the course a successful experience for the students. The bigger question becomes, how do I encourage that type of relationship building between other instructors and facilitators in the future? What mechanisms and or resources need to be in place to encourage that relationship?
We are in the process of designing the first distance course which I will lead in the fall from Benin. It will be an introduction to computing course designed to teach students important computer literacy skills (email, information searching, word processing, etc) and provide them with an overview of the professional field of information technology.
The course will be held in English, French and Creole. The students have been studying English for the past year and will be ready for some form of English instruction. I believe that this needs to be supplimented with conversation and ability to explore concepts in their native language. As a teaching team, we are really stuggling with making the most use of limited contact hours. How much and what should be taught in English? How much and what should be taught by the distant instructor vs. the local course facilitator? There is a lot to think about.
From other perspectives, important parts of the course are coming together. I am building a strong relationship with the local facilitator of the course who will lead discussion sessions, proctor exams and grade homework. He will be my eyes, ears and "presence." Theoretically, I predicted that the success of this model of distance education rests largely on the relationship between the distant instructor and the local facilitator. I feel confident that by developing the course together, the local facilitator and I will be able to make the course a successful experience for the students. The bigger question becomes, how do I encourage that type of relationship building between other instructors and facilitators in the future? What mechanisms and or resources need to be in place to encourage that relationship?
// posted by Sara @ 8:43 PM 
