comm-before

= Communication: Before the Course =

Begin communicating with your students early, I would suggest a month before the course begins. This will mean checking your course roll regularly, as new students are added on a frequent basis. You want to make sure they get plenty of communication from you before they start so they know how to get started on the right foot, but also to make sure they know how to access those initial course materials. For example:

//Hello everyone and welcome to IT6230. While the semester, and thus the course, doesn't officially begin until Monday, 11 January 2010, I wanted to let you know that the Blackboard area for this course is available and you can access the syllabus, welcome presentations and the Unit 1 content. On Monday, officially our first day, I will send out a weekly overview message - which I will do at the beginning of each and every week.//

Once the course begins, make sure the students start the first day with a detailed message that outlines all of the initial expectations. For example:

//Hello everyone and welcome to the first day of IT6230. As this is the first day it begins Unit 1. Unit 1 is a one week getting started unit.

Before I get into the details of Unit 1, let me discuss the course timing first. As this course starts on a Monday, the weekly tasks run from Monday to 11:59pm on Sunday. As such, tasks that need to be completed and assignments that need to be submitted at the end of a week must be done/submitted by 11:59pm on Sunday.

As we get started, if you have not read the introductory message that I sent out on on Friday, 08 January. This is particularly important for any undergraduate students who may still be registered for IT6230 (as you are not eligible to receive credit for IT6230 because it is a graduate course only).

After reading that message, make sure to view the read the SYLLABUS and view the WELCOME PRESENTATIONS from myself and Jason Siko. Jason is a doctoral student in Instructional Technology and he will be co-teaching the course with me. Co-teaching means that he will be assisting me with teaching the course and taking the lead on some of the activities. He will not be responsible for assigning grades on any assignment. As the instructor of record that is my responsibility. Note that we will also have a graduate student who is completing her Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching practicum with us (Audra Butler), and she may also be involved in some of the activities throughout the course.

Once you have reviewed the// //SYLLABUS// //and the two// //WELCOME PRESENTATIONS////, make sure you work your way through the material in the COURSE INFORMATION section - particularly if this is your first online course from the Instructional Technology program.

After you have completed all of these items (and this should be completed in the first day or two), it is time to move to the UNIT 1 content. In Blackboard, if you click on the CONTENT link on the left-hand menu you will see the folders for each of the four units (although as Units 2-4 aren't released yet they may be hidden or you may not be able to click on them even if you can see them). In each of the Units, you want to begin by viewing the INTRODUCTION presentation. Then you will work your way through each week's content. When you are finished the unit you should view the INSTRUCTOR'S COMMENTS presentation.

Unit 1 is a little different than the other units, as it is mainly focused on getting your started with the tools you will need right away and throughout the course. In fact, there are four things that you need to set-up this week:

Google Calendar - you need to create a Google account and then post your username in the appropriate discussion forum in Blackboard so that I can add you to the Google Calendar for this course - I will add students on a daily basis to the calendar, so if a full 24 hours has passed since you have posted your information in the discussion forum and you still can't access the Google Calendar for IT6230, please e-mail me

Blogging - you need to create an Edublogs account and the create a blog - you will post the full address for your blog in the appropriate discussion forum in Blackboard - you should add the first entry to you blog in response to the prompt that I have posted on the IT6230 - Internet in the Classroom (Winter 2010) blog (essentially an "Introduce Yourself" post)

RSS Reader - login to your Google account and click on the "Reader" option in the top left-hand corner - add all of the blogs that are posted in the "Blog Listing" discussion forum

Skype - download and install Skype on your computer - create a Skype account - post your username in the appropriate discussion forum in Blackboard - add all of the Skype users listed in the "Skype Accounts" discussion forum

Note that this is simply a listing of the activities that you need to complete. In the WEEK 1 content folder there is a separate folder for each of these items. Each of these folders contains instructional materials and how to videos that should provide you with the information on what these things are and how to go about setting them up. However, if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at any time or call me as outlined in the Welcome Presentation.

Finally, in addition to setting up these tools, you are also asked to read the NOVEMBER (1998) conference proceeding. This reading will provide a context for the course as a whole.

That's about all for this weekly update. I will generally send one or two of these updates each week to try and keep you on task and informed on what is required of you for this week and any modifications that have been necessary. As I mentioned earlier, if you have any questions feel free to contact me. E-mail is generally best, although once you have Skype set-up and I have added you this tool will allow for real-time communication anytime you see me online.

Looking forward to a great semester...

MKB//

There are a couple of things to note in this initial message. The first is that all of the things that students need to click on in Blackboard are written in CAPS. The second is that I provide a list of things that the students need to accomplish in this first unit (or in this instance in this first week). Finally, I end with discussing the best ways to get in contact with me.