8 secrets for being successful in Croghan's class

Online classes can be challenging, yet the flexibility they allow can be worth the effort for many students. However, in my experience, I feel that many students are not ready or equipped to succeed in online learning. Learning Spanish is a challenge in an on-ground class. And now you want to do it online? That doubles (or more) the challenges for some people. But it can be done and I have had many students who actually enjoy my online Spanish courses! I think it takes a special learner-type to excel in online classes. So I want to share some of the secrets of successful students with you. If you already innately have these things, chances are good that no matter your ability, you will pass my course!

In no particular order, here are the 8 secrets:

1. Have concern. I don't want you to be fearful, I just want you to take the class seriously and be active, interested and engaged in what you're doing. For example, if you have technical difficulties on a test and email me, please check back frequently for my response. Often, if I have to reset a test, I will only give you a day or two to complete it. If you don't check back with me for the rest of the week, that doesn't show that you care to get the work done. Another example of concern: Do more than what is expected of you. If I require 10 discussion posts, do 12-15. If I ask for 200 words, write 250. If I ask for 5 sentences, write at least 7. Or do your assignments well before deadline. If the test is due Saturday, do it Thursday or Friday. We can't predict what life has in store for us, so it's always better to overachieve and be proactive. This shows concern!

2. Make this class a priority. This goes along with having concern. I expect you to be committed for the full term. If you have other things coming up that will take away from your commitment to the class, it may be better to take the course during a different term. For example, if you are planning a vacation, I will expect you to have internet access while there and adhere to the course deadlines. Vacation is certainly a lot more fun and enticing than doing coursework, but it does not trump my class, no matter how long you've had your trip planned.

3. Know the due dates. Just because this is an online class, it doesn't mean you can work at your own pace. With so much work to be done, that would be unwise and a sure failure for many students. I set the pace for you. You can always work ahead but never behind. As an instructor, I am a "no late work" policy person. I grade all of a certain assignment at one sitting. So if I grade the chapter 2 test, and then I allow students to complete it late, I might be in a different or unfamiliar frame of mind from when I was grading the first round. In other words, I might grade it differently than I had graded the others. This is a fairness issue.

4. Don't miss assignments, then at the end when you're desperate ask me for extra credit. This is a pet peeve. I am NOT an extra credit fan when it is requested as a plea to help you earn a certain grade. Some courses, I have (or the course developer has) built in some extra credit. In other classes, I drop low scores in some categories. But a desperate sense of "I missed some assignments, now what can I do to make up for them???" ...um, you should have done the assignments! All of my classes offer several opportunities to earn points. This is not a course where you will have two tests and two papers and that's it. So you do the work I've assigned, and I will assess that.

5. Be patient with yourself and the time you need for this course. I often hear that my class takes up way more time than other classes on a student's courseload. There are several possible reasons for this:

• In general, (contrary to popular belief) online classes take more time. If you think about it, this makes sense. Something that takes an instructor 10 minutes to say in an on-ground course may take double- or triple-time for you to read and absorb on your own in the online format.



• It's a skill-based course. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop a skill.



• How many credits is it worth? Most of my classes are 4- or 5-credit classes. Compared to a 3-credit class, that right there tells you a bit about the time expectation.



• How easily are you absorbing the material? If you're breezing through the content, it will take you less time. If you're struggling or just need to work slowly through it, that will also be a time-soaker.

6. Know your limits/Don't overload yourself. Please make sure you block off a good amount of time to work on this course every week.  It is not unreasonable to need around 10-15 hours per week, maybe more.  Enrolling in a college course takes time and commitment.  If you have too much on your plate, maybe you should try this course again when you don't have as much going on.  We must recognize that there are human limitations, know what our own limits are and set priorities.

7. Read the syllabus and announcements. Here is another pet peeve. I make every effort to provide you with every piece of information you could possibly need in the course. It is all there for you, it's just a matter of you taking the time to know the course and know where to look. One example, the most common request at the beginning of the semester is for those classes that require an access code to log on to another site. I promise you, it's there in the course. But I always have an overwhelming number of emails requesting the code. Now, I don't want to seem like I don't like to answer your questions, I certainly do. But I just ask you to check (1) the announcements, (2) the discussion boards and (3) your messages before you ask me a question. Chances are good I've already answered it somewhere! :)

8. Communicate early and often! This is a big one for me. I am much more willing to work with you if your need for more time on something is for a valid reason (i.e. not vacation) and is requested well in advance of the deadline.

If your academic personality is in line with these 8 traits, I think you will get along very well in my course! If not, you can learn along the way how to be successful.  This class can be a very rich and rewarding experience for you. And I wish you the very best in this endeavor!

-Profe Krista Croghan

Plagiarism, yuck!

Try this small experiment. Copy this passage, and then paste it into a Google search:


Spain's population density, lower than that of most European countries, is roughly equivalent to New England's. In recent years, following a longstanding pattern in the rest of Europe, rural populations are moving to cities. Urban areas are also experiencing a significant increase in immigrant populations, chiefly from North Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe.


What happened when you did that? If you did it correctly, it should have returned results of the original source of that passage. It came from the U.S. Department of State website (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2878.htm).

I do that periodically, when I suspect a student's writing is not his or her own. And that is a quick and easy way to confirm that suspicion. But it is not fun for me to make this revelation. In fact, I'm actually quite relieved when my suspicion is proven wrong.

I am going to tell an honest and embarrassing story. When I was a college freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I was taking Psychology 101 in a very large lecture hall, probably about 300 students. It was intimidating. We had an assignment to write a book review. We were warned about the importance of using our own words and ideas, to not plagiarize. I had heard of plagiarism before, but didn't think I was an offender. So I wasn't all that worried.

A few weeks after we had turned in our papers, the professor made an announcement that some students had plagiarized. If they were willing to come forward to him (privately), he would offer a redo. I remember thinking, "Could he be talking about me? Surely not." I was insecure and unsure, but too scared to approach him. I let it go.

The next week, when we got our papers back, I was aghast. Not only had I been caught plagiarizing, thereby failing the assignment, I also was to fail the course. I was mortified.

I remember the next day, going to the professor's office in Burnett Hall. Dr. Ross Thompson. I don't remember all of my professors' names from undergraduate, but I certainly will never forget his. I was ready to go my knees and beg him in his office for a redo. He was polite about it, but short with me. There was to be no redo. I pled ignorance. I thought attaching a list of Works Cited was all I needed, even though I used the book's exact language without direct quotations. I appealed and took it as high in the university judicial system as I could. My university handled my case with poise and professionalism, but the decision stood. I failed Psychology 101. It was a hard lesson to learn, but it was a lesson learned nonetheless.

Here is what I know now that I didn't know then:

1. Plagiarism is illegal. It is punishable by failure of the assignment, failure of the course or even expulsion from the institution. After all, you are stealing somone's property.

2. Using the thoughts or ideas of others, even in your own words, is plagiarism if you don't cite it.

3. Using the exact words (even just a couple of words) without using direct quotations and proper citation is plagiarism.

4. Directly quoting several sentences or paragraphs, while not plagiarism, is inappropriate. You must interject your own ideas and thoughts. This is especially true when the assignment length is only a paragraph or two.

To be honest, I am not a huge stickler that proper APA form is meticulously used as you quote your sources. I am not a go-to person for answers about proper APA style. I will not be counting the number of spaces you've used, or watching for periods, commas and appropriate italics. I do, however, expect some attention be given to this matter, and an attempt made at giving credit where credit is due. I think that is more than fair.

So please do not learn the hard way on this, like I did. Hopefully, somebody can learn from my mistakes before they make them for themselves. If I can help one person, then I guess it was worth the experience. Yeah, maybe not.

Ser or Estar?

Estudiantes... I am posting this information, reaped from other sources, in the hopes that it will be a helpful pool of resources for you. The notion of "ser vs. estar" is one of the trickiest concepts for beginning students of Spanish. So I hope you find some or all of the following very helpful. I do not take credit for any of it. The websites have been included for citation purposes, so you may like to bookmark the sites.

General Ser Rule

Ser is used to classify and identify permanent or lasting attributes. If the general rule isn´t specific enough for you, think of the acronym DOCTOR, which stands for Description,Occupation, Characteristic, Time, Origin, and Relationship

General Estar Rule

Estar is used to indicate temporary states and locations. If the general rule doesn´t suffice, think of the acronym PLACE, which stands for Position, Location, Action, Condition, and Emotion.

Here is the link if you would like to see more (including examples).

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100040/ser-and-estar

Also, the following information comes from http://www.studyspanish.com/. For more information, check out this site. It's a wonderful site because it first explains the grammar concept in English and then in Spanish.


http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/serest1.htm
http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/serest1.htm
http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/serest3.htm
http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/serest4.htm

When a noun follows the verb, use ser
When an adjective follows the verb, decide between "essence" and "condition"
To tell where something is from, use ser
To tell where something is located right now, use estar
To tell where an event is taking place, use ser


And for audiovisual you folks, here is some YouTube you might enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPRWnL2kGok&feature=related

Like anything that is difficult, this is going to take some time and practice. And even then, it may be awhile before you feel comfortable distinguishing between the two verbs.

"I am struggling with word order in Spanish sentences."

At the beginning level, a large number of questions students have concern knowing how to put everything together to construct grammatically correct sentences. I assure you, many other students have this exact same concern. So do not feel alone! I understand it feels like a completely different ballgame than the structure of your first language. However, you will find this process becomes easier and easier, the more years you study Spanish. Yes, I said years. Try not to get in a hurry, but just learn it as it comes. It will take effort.



In this blog, I will attempt to point out some tips that you can use as a general guide. Do not follow them religiously, as there are always exceptions to the rules. But hopefully this will help, overall.


In case I start using "parts of speech" vocabulary that you could really use a refresher on before beginning, refer to: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm



A few simple rules:

• A sentence that is a declaration or statement (not a question) will typically follow the same structural order as English: Subject + Verb

She walks. Ella camina.

You add objects right after the verb.

She walks the dog. Ella camina el perro.

• A sentence that is a question will now have some changes: Verb + Subject

Does she walk? ¿Camina ella?

And when you start adding objects, or recipients of the action, you start to have a little more flexibility or possible change in the word order:

Does she walk the dog? ¿Camina ella el perro? OR ¿Camina el perro ella?

In the first example, the subject is right after the verb. In the second example, the subject now comes after the object. That can seem confusing that it works more than one way, but the important thing to remember is that, in either case, the subject comes AFTER the verb. So aim for that.

• Adjectives Adding adjectives to a sentence complicates your life slightly. But it shouldn't be too bad. Generally speaking, when you have a noun and adjective right together, use this order: Noun + Adjective

the fat dog = el perro gordo

If the noun and adjective are separated by a verb, those would follow the word order from the first posted rule: Subject + Verb + Adjective

The dog is fat. El perro es gordo.

Of course, just as soon as you learn this rule of "noun before adjective," you will see it broken. This rule is generally used for more descriptive adjectives. There are other adjectives, that provide different purposes:

this hat = este sombrero

three hats = tres sombreros

(both the words "this" and "three" are adjectives)

Here is a helpful link that goes into much more detail about adjectives and word order:

http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/whereadjective.htm

While this is not a complete synopsis on Spanish sentence structure, it does provide a start in the process for beginning students. If you didn't get enough detail in this blog, or just want some reinforcement, here are a couple of other sites, including a wiki and another blog, that can help:

http://easiestspanish.blogspot.com/2007/08/bienvenidos-using-visualization-tricks.html

http://www.lingolex.com/spanishbasic.htm

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish/Word_Order

http://spanish.about.com/library/beginning/bl-beg-sentences-word_order.htm

"How do I get started? I am overwhelmed!"

Your questions about where to go, where to begin, how to start... I will attempt to answer all of that here, as all of my courses are generally designed in the same fashion. Let me start with some definitions:

• CMS Course Management System--This is the school-hosted platform where you will find the primary instructions, due dates, discussion boards, etc. (i.e. Blackboard, D2L, eLearn, eCollege)
• eText Online textbook and resource materials-- This is where you will find grammar tutorials (text and video format), practice and graded exercises. This constitutes the real bulk of material to be learned. (AKA Quia site, Supersite, etc.)

1. In all cases, the syllabus is where you need to start. It is displayed prominently in the CMS, but if you can't locate it, post a question in the discussion forum. Read it at the start of class and refer to it often.
2. I then would make sure you have accessed the assignment due dates sheet, or course calendar and get those into your own personal calendar. They will not change (unless I have made an error, in which case I would send out an announcement).
3. Get enrolled in the eText site. You get your code(s) through the purchase of your texbook (so don't throw away ANY of the packaging until your code(s) are accounted for and you've enrolled in the eText site).
4. There also is a teacher code posted prominently in the CMS. You will also need this to get enrolled in my course on the eText site. A common issue I see is students who enter the codes that come with their textbooks, but don't enter my teacher code. You need to do this to appear on my roster and get credit for your work.
5. From there, I would then spend some time getting to know the CMS. Do not try to pass up this self-orientation time, and do not rush the experience. During this stage, I would also get to know the eText site as well as you can before you start working on the assignments.
6. Once you have spent some time in both the eText and CMS, you should go ahead and begin in your first lesson or chapter. You naturally may feel hesitant or doubtful if you are completing everything I have assigned. I would be glad to check on something for you to confirm completion. Just send me a note about it.
7. Chapter or Lesson 2 will get easier! It will be essentially the same routine for each of the 6 chapters.

If, after following all 7 steps, you still have questions or feel lost in some aspect, please let me know!

"There is so much work in this course!"

Yes, I know. I am very aware that if you have a full load of classes, home and family responsibilities, a job or anything else going on in your life, you probably feel overwhelmed by this class. If you really have all that much going on, something just may have to give.

Let me present some objective thinking. It's a 4 credit class. [NOTE: You may be enrolled in a 3 credit class. In this case, please adjust the math accordingly.] This means 4 hours you spend each week should be considered "in-class" time. Then, the commonly accepted recommendation for college-level courses is to spend 2-3 hours outside of class for EVERY hour in class. That would be 8-12 hours [for a 4 credit class]. Add it all up, and you should be spending at least 12 hours each week. I encourage you to keep a watch to monitor this at least once. When you hit the 4-hour mark, just consider that "in-class" time. Beyond that, it's "out-of-class" studytime.

Learning a second language is going to be a more labor-intensive subject to learn because you are trying to attain a skill. This is going to take lots of practice and repetition. So, several assignments and/or assessments are required in this class to provide as much opportunity as possible to acquire the new language.

If you think about it from a practical standpoint... how long did it take you to learn your first language? Are you even finished with that process yet? Granted, learning Spanish cannot naturally happen the same way, but just think about it from the standpoint of time-on-task. It took lots of time, lots of practice, and lots of mistakes to get to where you are today in your first language. And even now as an adult, you probably are still learning new and complicated vocabulary words in your first language. We are all still learning... this is a lifelong process! So certainly, it is going to take comparable amounts of time to devote to learning a second, third, or fourth language.

My advice? Do your best to embrace the process. Try to not get frustrated if time is not being your friend. The best way to do that is to divide up the work. Spend time on your work every single day. Certainly do not cram it all in the day before it is due! Depending on what it is, you may or may not finish.

Before you consider giving up altogether, consider the following:

• Does something have to give? Rank your responsibilities, and if Spanish class ends up at the bottom, perhaps it's better to throw in the towel and try again some other time.
• If a major life event or tragedy happens, contact me ASAP. With proper communication and requested documentation, I am a very understanding instructor willing to extend due dates. I only ask you to discuss this with me BEFORE the due date. After the fact, I usually feel it's too late unless it was impossible for you to communicate with me beforehand.
• Even if life is a little uncomfortable, this class does have an end date. Ask yourself if you can just put up with it for the short term to successfully finish the course. And then breathe a huge sigh of relief! The pain is temporary.

Hopefully this has answered the "why so much work?" question. Like it or not, in my courses I really want you to be able to speak some Spanish. :)

¡Te mando mucha suerte!

What is appropriate help for written compositions?

Mis queridos estudiantes...


I want to set clear expectations about what is fair and allowable when you are completing written compositions or syntheses in Spanish class. Please read the following very thoughtfully:

All written compositions should be considered asessments. Another word for "assessments" COULD be "tests." These are ways for me to assess your progress in class. What this means is that I expect you to do the work yourself, with minimal assistance from tutors, translators (online or otherwise), bilingual friends/family members, or whatever other means out there.

I prefer you only use your textbook and supplementary class materials as resources for all written assignments. It is very hard for me to come across an assignment that, clearly, not all of it came from your own brain. In past experiences, students have frustratedly said to me, "but in my other classes, my professors actually prefer that we have our writing proofread or peer-edited before turning it in." That logic makes complete sense to me... in a course that is more research-based. But this class IS grammar, punctuation and spelling. So to have someone else do that for you (what is essentially happening when you have someone edit your work, or run it through a translator) is not demonstrating academic honesty.

Now, I understand you need resources when writing. So I would prefer that you only refer to your textbook, or the online textbook resources, to aid you in your writing. If you haven't learned how to say it yet (whether that's a grammar construction or a sentence full of unfamiliar vocabulary) I prefer you leave it out.

So do not write your whole assignment in English and then translate. I think this is a very common approach, but that is also how you can get into trouble. In this way, you are not really consciously considering what you CAN say in the second language. You are only focusing on English. Instead, I suggest that you go through the lesson chapters we've already covered, looking for constructions and vocabulary that we have actually learned in this course, that are applicable to the writing prompt. You may have a word here or there that you really want to include, in which case, you can look it up in a dictionary. I have no problem with that.

In short, I do not want you to use the help of a tutor, a bilingual friend or family member, or an online translator (unless it is just for a word here and there) on writing assignments. I know this really limits what you can write about. But it is the only way I can assess you for what you were supposed to learn from this semester. I am not grading you on what you haven't yet learned. There is A LOT out there that you haven't learned yet.

There is a policy outlined in your syllabus regarding how I will approach suspicions of academic dishonesty. If you have doubts about what is acceptable assistance, please email me ASAP. If a major percentage of your work appears to be beyond your means, please be prepared to demonstrate your current levels of capability so I can determine if the work appears to be yours or not.

Thanks for reading this far through the blog post. It is really important to me, and I take this very seriously. Good luck and happy writing!


Profe Croghan

Social Networking for Spanish

I continue to experiment in other areas of teaching Spanish online. This includes social networking, primarily through Facebook.

This has evolved somewhat. When I taught my first online courses just a year ago, I made it a requirement for all of my students to keep up a Facebook page in Spanish. They received a grade for updating their profile, status and comments in Spanish. Great idea in theory, but very hard to put into practice and keep up with it while still having a personal life. There were two main problems with this: (1) the upkeep on my end and (2) many students not favoring such an assignment.

1. As I was designing the courses, I was also creating the assignments for what I expected of them on Facebook. When students learned to say their names and where they are from, I had them linked to their classmates so they could post introductions to each other. Likewise, when students learned how to express a few likes and dislikes, I would then have them post this on their profile. What I didn't consider at the time, was, how am I going to monitor all of this? Since the assignments are intermingling work between their own wall, my wall and those of their students, how was I supposed to track everything, for all 30 students per class? Nightmare! I came up with a Facebook Tracking page, where they would just copy and paste everything they posted. They submitted that, and I graded their work from this. This freed up more time for me to actually spend time on their pages networking with them. It still was a lot of work, though.

2. Since the majority of my students are non-traditional learners (i.e. adults), several of them were not familiar at all with Facebook, and there was a high learning curve just in that regard. Even though I tried to assure students that I would help them through it, there was a lot of anxiety, which became frustration because they were spending a lot of time trying to learn Facebook instead of Spanish. I did not want this. I did a survey at mid-term and found there was a lot of resentment about the Facebook requirement. One student stated that social networking should not be a requirement for the course, that this is what discussion boards were for. Another student claimed it was a privacy issue. I had told students that they create a virtual reality if they prefered, and didn't have to share any facts with people that they didn't want known. However, this bothered the student that she either had to give up her privacy or become a liar.

Even though there were a number of students who enjoyed the Facebook component, the overall attitude about it was not positive. I was a little saddened, because I love Facebook and I think it's fun and is a beneficial way to learn. But just because I love it doesn't mean I can expect all of my students to love it.

I have since found a compromise that I am content with and students don't feel uncomfortable with. I now make that a voluntary portion of the course. It is solely used as a vehicle for me to relay course reminders, post sites that I would call course "teasers," communicate with students who want to communicate with me there (through chat or private message), and then social networking. I have found that a good number of my students took me up on it, and some remain quiet, but others take full advantage of the offering. I also linked this Facebook account to my Twitter account, and made my Twitter account available to students as well. So, for the course reminders I would tweet those, and they are then available in my Twitter, but they are also copied to my Facebook wall to reach a larger number of students.

I still want more of my students to participate in social networking with me. I considered making it extra credit, but I am concerned with the amount of time I would be spending on that again. To make it extra credit, I would expect them to do more than just become one of my Facebook friends. But I am content with the way I am currently offering it, and am excited to brainstorm other ways I can use it to help my students learn.

Kagan meets Web 2.0

I have been busy, busy, busy getting everything prepared, updated, ready etc. for my fall courses. I am just beginning my second year teaching 100% online courses, and I can honestly say that it's become a professional obsession. I am feeling guilty when my husband "catches me" on the computer, trying to get all of my assignments and directions loaded into ecollege or D2L. It's strange to feel that way about something you get paid for, but there certainly are lines to be crossed between work and home life, even when those take place in the same house.

In addition to my online teaching assignments, I will be teaching one face to face Spanish course at a local community college. I am excited about adding a little more variety to the fall. I am excited to pull out some of my Kagan tricks (Spencer and Laurie Kagan, Kagan Cooperative Learning, 1994) again to get the students communicating and collaborating.

This method of learning came up in my mind again recently for a different reason. I am in the application/interview stage with another online school. This one will be quite a bit different, since I would meet my students once a week live through a web conference. This actually intrigues me to think of Web 2.0 tools and web-based learning with a bit of a new twist. Wow, I will actually have students online together! One of my first thoughts was... "what can I have them do so that they are interdependent and inter-accountable with peers? Cooperative learning! I began thinking of some of my old Kagan standbys in Spanish. Quiz-quiz-trade, where students quiz each other over given topics, then trade topics and move on to a new person to do the same thing. "Find someone who" is known as a great start of the year icebreaker, but in a language class I use it over and over again throughout the year, and just adapt it to the context I need. For example, when studying clothing... find someone who is wearing tennis shoes, find someone who doesn't like to wear skirts, find someone who is not wearing socks, find someone who owns more than 10 ball caps, etc. Of course, all of the language is in Spanish. These two Kagan structures are two of my favorites.

One of the steps in the interview process with this school is to teach a 7-10 minute realistic session of your content. I began thinking through some ideas, when it suddenly hit me that it may be possible to do cooperative learning in an online learning environment, even an asynchronous one. I began thinking about how discussion boards could be utilized as cooperative learning platforms, and how one could use a "Find someone who..." exercise in Spanish in a threaded discussion. I figured there must be more possibilities out there for other structures or cooperative learning techniques, and was interested in researching more. I did find one paper out on the internet that directly correlated specific Kagan structures to asynchronous learning. Absolutely applicable to what I was looking for! However, in searching for that resource again to reference it here, it is not loading for me. I will check back for it another time.

This was a bit of a revelation for me, and it turned into me thinking that if I were to ever pursue my Ph.D, that I would do so in instructional technology with my dissertation focus directly on cooperative learning possibilities in synchronous or asynchronous online learning environments. I almost feel that since I have my topic already chosen, that it is good motivation to one day pursue this further education. I am now extremely motivated to learn and study this, and perhaps synthesize something that can be used in my online Spanish courses. Even better, I would be greatly satisfied if my virtual colleagues out there could benefit from the ideas as well. I guess time will tell!

Speaking in an Online Language Class

I have been spending more time than I hoped, designing one of my courses for a particular school I teach with. I changed textbooks for this school from last semester to this one. I didn't realize that, by doing that, I was also taking away a speaking component that was already built in with the previous text. I want to create voiceboards where, just like a written discussion board, students verbally respond to an oral post, and then comment on the posts of their classmates. Vista Higher Learning's Adelante Supersite provides an actual voiceboard powerd by Wimba. But I've changed to the "En Linea" program for other reasons. But the voiceboards are not present in En Linea. It is nice that there are several assignments in En Linea which have them recording their voices (ideally, they are supposed to find an epartner, but logistically that will be a nightmare so I won't require it.) But I want more authentic communication, hence, a voiceboard. I have recently been alerted to a nice looking program called voicethread.com. It's not exactly what I am envisioning needing for my class, but it provides some of its own really great qualities. I have an idea, which will either be a masterpiece or a disaster. Or I guess it could also fall somewhere in between. I have been using vocaroo.com for awhile now with students who submit their voice recordings to me in an email. My idea is to have them record their voice there, then paste it into the discussion board. Then can then listen and verbally post to each other right there in the discussion board of D2L, hence, my voiceboard. My fear is that the process will be choppy, going back and forth between D2L and Vocaroo. It shouldn't be too bad if students just open up a second browser and go back and forth between the two. So we will see how it goes. But until the course starts on August 30, I will continue to scour the internet for other possible tools to fit my goal!

How do I keep online students engaged?

A few random thoughts...

• Active learners are engaged learners. The very nature of online learning promotes learner-centered learning, as opposed to teacher-centered learning. This makes for an active, or engaged, learner. It is about what the students do, when they are ready to do it. They must take on an active role to completed the required assignments, not a passive role where they take notes during a lecture, not thinking about what they are writing down.
• Weekly email updates from the instructor and teacher participation in discussion boards, giving detailed, constructive feedback, etc. Basically, the teacher putting for the effort helps motivate the students to do their part, thus keeping them engaged.
• Social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter. For some students, these can be motivating factors which can create learner engagement.
• Keeping students knowledgeable of the routine... having clear expectations of what is to come provides clarity and comfort for students. Students who know what to expect from a course and an instructor don't feel sideswiped or overwhelmed by surprises. This helps maintain their engagement in the course.

Is online learning for everyone?

I found this great resource that discusses the myths of online learning. I think it is right on the money, and I am including it in my Welcome Letter for my students this fall:

http://www.educationonline.com/dispel-some-myths-about-online-learning


I am wondering if or when online classes will be deemed as rigorous and demanding as face-to-face ones. After teaching totally online classes for 2 semesters now, the sense I get from a good number of students is that my class is way harder or more demanding than other online courses they have taken. I think the same can be said for face-to-face courses. I mean, very rarely does the majority of my students breeze through my class with little effort. I can't think of one class I have ever taught that I didn't have a good number of students struggling to get through. There are different reasons for this struggling always, but the point is that online or face-to-face, learning a second language is daunting.

I have only taken one online course, and have done some training for one of the new schools I'll be working with online in the fall. I like online learning. I find it relaxing to be able to learn at my own pace, wearing my scrubbie clothes, in the comfort of my rocker recliner with the tv on for background noise. I also like to be able to take my time and re-read the lecture or watch the video again if something has trouble sinking in. I guess that is a reflection of my learning style. I know this is not true of everybody, though. I also am not sure this delivery of learning would have been good for me in high school. I don't think I was ready to hold myself accountable. Even a couple years into college, I'm not sure this type of class would have been for me. But now I think it's a pretty good way to learn, and not feel inhibited in the process. But this is me.

It is my experience as an online instructor that many students cut off their own foot in the process. If you are not coming to a class where you are forced to hear the announcements, then you darn-well better read my weekly announcements I email out. This past spring, I tried a little experiment, just to verify. I was suspicious that many students were not reading the emails I was taking time to write each week. I was getting way too many questions that I had already answered in those emails. So one week, in the middle portion of my weekly email, I inconspicuously placed a sentence "if you are reading this, please send me a reply and I will award you bonus points." I was stunned that only about half of my students did so. I was convinced at that point I'd been sending a lot of wasted emails to people who simply weren't taking the time to read them. Or maybe I shouldn't so harshly call them wasted, after all the other half were reading them. (Glass half full or half empty, right?)

As I finish my thoughts on this post, I'm not sure these struggles are all that different from face-to-face courses anyway. Thinking back to my high school teaching days, there certainly was a high percentage of students who were physically there with me as I was making those ever-important announcements. Though there thoughts were clearly somewhere else, which means they didn't hear my announcements either. No, it feels different, but really it's all just the same! My quest continues to find ways to get through to ALL of my students, no matter the learning platform!

No summer school for me!

I must admit, I am very glad I have the summer off from teaching. I was really hoping for a summer teaching gig, either online or if I could swing an on-ground local position, I would have taken it. As an adjunct, you only get paid while you are actually working. Crazy concept huh? I suppose it sounds strange I even mention it, but a huge perk of being a full-time employee of a public school system is that you get paid year-round even though you only work 10 months.

At any rate, I felt I was needing a serious break. Yes, even from online teaching. The flexibility is great, and I wasn't just aching for the last day of school to get here as I did when working full-time. But the online format presents new challenges. I have found that when students primarily communicate with you via email, they feel brave enough to tell you how they really feel. For example, I offered students an opportunity to redo an assignment, they just needed to request I reset it for them to make that possible. The assignment was due by Tuesday at midnight. I went to bed around 11, which was the time I last checked email. The next morning, I have an email from a student, sent at approximately 11:30, asking me to reset it for him to compelete again. Being that he missed the deadline of midnight, I responded saying that I did not intend to allow it, since the deadline had passed. He emailed back stating he was "disappointed" in me with that response. He claimed he didn't know that the redo also had to be done before the deadline. I guess for a college level course, I didn't feel I needed to spell that out, but perhaps I was wrong on that. He certainly let me know how he felt.

At the time, I was pretty upset about it. Negative emails from students to me means that I have failed them in some way, whether I'm justified or not. But I was just visiting with a fellow adjunct this morning, a friend of mine who is teaching this summer. She told me that one of her students was disgruntled about a decision she had made and therefore went over her head to her supervisor to formally complain. This supervisor took the time to register the complaint, and then overruled the instructor with what he thought was fair for the student. The instructor was not consulted, nor was there any teamwork in this decision. The student complained and the supervisor bent. I am a firm believer in following the proper chain of command. If a student has a problem with an instructor, that should be the first person to contact. If no resolution is made, then let's bring in the supervisor. But not vice versa!

So, I think back to my student from this past spring and it gives me new perspective. I am actually very glad that he chose to express his disappointment with me, to me, not to my supervisor. As far as I know, as an online adjunct instructor, I have not had a student go to my supervisor without first speaking with me. Actually, I don't even think I've had a student go to a supervisor, period. If so, nobody has alerted me about it!

So, being just after the 4th of July, I am beginning the descent of summer... getting ready for fall. I've been doing a lot of planning and making changes in my courses to hopefully improve them. I am getting excited to have students again!!! You have to take the bad communications from students with the good... and there certainly have been a lot of good. So I will take the bad.

Simplification... is that possible for me?

Oh wow. I just have so many thoughts running through my head about how to improve my online Spanish courses. I am frustrated because my students are not embracing the desire to learn another language. (What, they don't love the language as much as I do?) What it feels like they want is a quick in/quick out online class where they don't have to do a whole lot of application. I listened to students last semester as they were incredibly frustrated with the amount of work required on a weekly basis. I had always heard that in an undergraduate college course, a student should expect to spend 2-3 hours outside of class for every credit hour the class is worth. So for my 4-credit class, it shouldn't be unreasonable to spend 8-12 hours per week. And that isn't even including th 4 hours that would also normally be spent in classtime for a face-to-face offering. I started thinking that maybe this time frame was no longer accurate and that perhaps the model had changed. However, I am following a great blog by an online teacher, who re-quoted that exactly: 2-3 hours outside of class for every credit hour.



No, I am feeling validated about the amount of time my course requires for students. I have done my research. Reading that blog was a great find, and I've also polled a couple of the other professors at one of my schools and a fellow adjunct online teacher with my other school. It simply takes a lot of time to learn a language, there really is no way around it. But my goal now is to make sure I continue to offer the best online course I possibly can, with 2 semesters of experience now going to be under my belt.

I did have students voluntarily complete surveys near mid-term, so I can continue improving the course for next term. I have gotten some really good feedback from them that is helping drive my ideas for the future. I currently do not offer a discussion board assignment, well, at least not one that is required. I do offer an extra credit assignment in the form of a discussion board, and honestly, those are my favorite things to grade. But with Spanish, it is a little hard to create an additional assignment that won't eat up a bunch more of their time. Maybe for my level 2 classes, but level 1 would be difficult. One idea I have is to require students to pose weekly questions about course content, and then also go back in and respond to their classmates.

I also ideally want to incorporate more actual verbal communication, if that is even possible. Logistically, it would be a nightmare for me to grade any more than what they already do. But I want to re-vamp my oral assessments, making them more communicative in nature instead of just reading words and sentences from a page. Then, ideally, the grade for this would be more for understanding and less for grammatical correctness. I think I can save the grammar for the other requirements in the class.

These are the main ideas I have in reference to improvements in the classes. But I do have a few more brewing as well!

Online it is!

Well, I think I've made the final decision to NOT return to the full-time world of education. Instead, I will keep doing what I'm doing: online Spanish classes. We have yet to make this verbal between us at home, but this is what both of us are really leaning towards. I am very excited, because I feel like I'm the closest to "professional contentment" that I've ever had. The only thing that could make it better is some commitment from my schools that they will hire me each and every semester. However, that is not how adjuncts work. But, as I watch the posts on Linked In, and probe deeper into websites when I see schools needing adjunct Spanish instructors, also reading that Govenor Heineman is wanting to look into Nebraska virtual high schools... I feel that there will be a lot of opportunity.

Currently, I have nothing scheduled for summer, so that could be a tough few months if nothing comes about. I am waiting to hear from Iowa Western about what they have for me. I believe Northern is passing me up for the summer classes. So it's nice I'm making a decent amount now, because the majority of that needs to go into savings to live off of, but to also upgrade vehicles. I have various leads for fall. I should have my 101 at Northern, and I really hope that opens up 2 sections as it has both last semester and this one.

I'm doing some networking, which is sort of strange for me because I've never needed to do that before. Yet I am finding it kind of fun! With the Director of Extended Studies at Northern leaving, I am keeping good with him and let him know to keep me in mind at his future university. Also, my text book reps... duh! It just came to me tonight that they maybe good folks who know about opportunities out there.

I guess it is a little stressful not knowing when income will head our direction, or how much from one month to the next. But we've made it work for a period of time on just one salary before, I know we can do it again if we have to. I just am too happy doing what I'm doing, and have the flexibility to work when I want to work... it was just hard to not jump on this chance. Although I feel I have some egg on my face after all but verbally committing to Westside, and now essentially taking that back, I felt it was important to make the best possible decision for our family. I feel good that we have done just that!

How can technology improve the learning relationship between teacher and student?

Krista's answer:

Technology provides a relevant environment for the 21st Century learner. The student has the opportunity to actively engage in his own learning. The teacher in a virtual classroom provides the objectives, content, communication and adjustments while figuratively stepping aside to allow the learner to take charge for himself. This fosters a sense of confidence, self-reliance and empowerment in the student. Therefore, the student/teacher relationship is strengthened, due to the individualization of instruction that is possible in an online learning environment.

Teach online from home or back to the brick-and-mortar classroom fulltime? Hmmm...

Would I prefer...

• stable year-round income, or having to pine each term for jobs?
• improved benefits and retirement plan, or keeping our current benefits and creating a budget to save for retirement, investments, and dental/vision appointments?
• to have to work my ass off in all aspects of my life, or maintain a more leisurely pace? (Sadly, this one holds a lot of weight. I'm not proud of it, but I am easily frustrated by small stresses, and often find myself wanting to simplify, simplify, simplify. Full-time would not be simplifying!)
• to view work as most important in a given day or to view my family as top priority?
• to handle students and their parents through conferences, emails and phone calls or just handle students?
• to become a part of a team where I participate to support interdisciplinary efforts, overall school improvement, setting and attaining standards, and aligning curriculum, or just do what I can to teach 6 chapters of Spanish as best I can via internet?
• to have my yearly calendar set for me, or make my own decisions on appointments and vacations?
• paid tuition assistance to advance professionally or instead having to access the Bank of Croghan?

This is actually a pretty hard decision for me, not made any easier by the fact that I've already been in contact with the principal from Westside High School. As far as she knows, my intention is to return to Westside already next fall. But how do I tell her that maybe I need one more year (at least) before returning to a full-time secondary position? The field of online education is only growing. Watching Linked In job postings, also other Technology in Education sites, I wouldn't be surprised if some pretty decent salaried positions opened up where I could work right from my own computer. It is an exciting time for me, as I watch the world of online education exploding in popularity among both teachers and students. Time will tell, and blogging about it hasn't seemed to make the decision any easier to make.

Myngle - Language Learning Platform

Myngle - Language Learning Platform

Nik's Quick Shout: lanuage learning

Nik's Quick Shout: lanuage learning

This is a test blog from my phone. I'm enjoying playing with all of my new technologies with high hopes of learning how to apply them professionally.