Today is BE NICE TO YOUR PROFESSOR Day

Well not really but it should be :-) 

Classes either started this week or will begin the day after Labor Day. What could your students do to make your day?

I'd be thrilled if my students would read the syllabus and all the directions for discussions and assignments :-)

Profs: COP strategies

What strategies in Creating Communities of Practice did you find that you could use in your classes now (even if classes have already started)? When I first started using these strategies, I added a share/practice/review forum in all the weekly discussions so that students could do peer reviews on their upcoming assignments. They loved it. Since then, I've put that in all my online classes that are pre-designed. In classes that I design, the SPR is incorporated into the unit discussions and it's not a separate forum, just part of the discussion structure. Students are "teaching each other" and polishing critical thinking skills without "formal" instruction in these skills. It's working out quite nicely and at the end of every class, I get comments about how much they enjoy the interactive and engaging discussions. What can you do in your class to enhance these qualities in communication?

How are your classes going?

Are your classes starting up this week? How's the week going? My students are doing introductions - they seem to be a chatty bunch and I love that!! I made several "how to" videos for course navigation, late policy, discussion requirements/grading, etc. Glad I did that and have a list of more "how to" vids to create in the next few weeks. How's your class going?