Lesson 1: Introduction to Online Learning
Attention
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able
- better understand their roles as adult learners in this course
- understand their responsibilities in the learning process and recognize the importance of active engagement in learning
- successfully navigate Blackboard and understand the layout of this course
Teaching
Online & Course expectations:
You are responsible for reading and becoming familiar with all materials included in the textbook, handouts, and assigned outside readings.
Youtube.com, ted.com and other internet resources will be used. The texts in the course are:
Facing Death: Images, Insights, and Interventions: A Handbook For Educators, Healthcare Professionals, And Counselors (Series in Death, Dying, and Bereavement) 1st Edition by Sandra L. Bertman (Author)
On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families Paperback – August 12, 2014 by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (Author), M.D. Ira Byock M.D. (Foreword)
As an online student, you will be taking a proactive approach to your learning. The course instructor's role is that of a learning guide, your role is that of the leader in your own learning.
You will be managing your own time so that you can complete the readings, activities and assignments for the course, and you will also be expected to take a more active role in peer learning.
Connect to this course on a regular basis. This is not an independent study course, but a paced online group learning experience. Four to eight hours per week of your time should be spent on the course.
As the instructor, I log into the course daily. I can receive communication from students via the Blackboard messaging system or through KVCC email. Please feel free to contact me, connect if you are concerned, ask questions and engage fully.
If you choose not to take this course, please be sure to contact the registrar as soon as you decide to withdraw. Please, do not just fail to log on or submit assignments. Your success is up to you, we are here to support it.
If you’ve taken an online course at KVCC in the past, it is likely that the format of this course is familiar. Each lesson will have a module that a student must open and read, followed by a variety of assignments. These assignments could be discussions, quizzes, projects, essays or take other forms. On-line attendance is taken by your assignment completion- you will be marked absent if you are late on assignments, so please do not fall behind.
Many of you may have taken online classes before. My expectations may be similar to other teachers, or be unfamiliar to you. PLEASE understand the expectations in this course. Your adult lives may include jobs, families and school. I understand the difficulties of work/life balance. However, your education is your job, at this time. Just as you would not excuse irresponsible behavior in your professional lives, I expect that you do not seek excuse for it in your educational lives.
There is no end to education.
It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.
-- Jiddu Krishnamurti
Course Expectations:
As you can see from the adult learning graphic, adult learners are uniquely equipped to provide a deep and rich learning experience based on their own engagement in life. Motivation may be relevant to external things, but to create lasting learning information must be important to the individual learner. This course addresses core concepts of life and death, and our individual and socio-cultural responses to it. Each student must make these concepts and ideas important, and engage in the material in a pro-active manner in order to succeed.
Discussion board requirements:
Your contributions to the required discussions will NOT be graded on only quantity of responses- your contributions to discussions WILL be graded on whether you:Clearly and consistently link what you are learning in the course to your real life experiences.
Contribute to the online discussions in a collegial fashion, beginning your contributions by addressing your peers and maintaining a kind and collegial and respectful tone.
Contribute your own original ideas to the online discussion in ways that facilitate learning for yourself and for other people.
Demonstrate good "listening" skills and active inquiry skills. This means that you are open to the ideas of others and you offer constructive responses, whether in the form of questions or statements. You might provide your own experiences, challenge ideas of others, or expand an idea further. I will not give credit to a response that fails to continue and improve on the discussion:
Responses should extend an idea raised in the original posting, pose a question, or develop a new (related) idea.
Your Main Post will be worth 50% of your discussion grade and TWO response posts will be worth 25% each. You will not earn full credit unless you are following the discussion requirements above.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life.
A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
— Mark Twain
Assessment
Lesson 1 Quiz
Please review the Bb tutorial below and complete the learning quiz based on this tutorial:
And answer the following questions:
- Identify two ways to communicate with your instructor.
- Identify how many lessons are in your course and indicate the lesson names.
- Provide a summary of the discussion posting requirements.
- Provide a summary of attendance in on-line classes.
- Identify the email address of at least two technical resources available for the course.
Lesson 1 Discussion
Please introduce yourself to the class. Include your program and your year in school. Also, please include why you are taking this course, and what you hope to learn. Don’t forget to respond to two classmates.
Lesson 1 Activity
Review the Course Syllabus and select two sections that you’re most interested in within the course content section. Identify the sections of interest, and explain why they are of interest to you. Locate the course questions section of the discussion board, and post a question about the course.