Join us for the free online class “PubMed for Librarians.” Classes in April, June, and September 2013 are now open for registration.

The PubMed for Librarians class is divided into five segments (90 minutes each). Each segment is a synchronous online session that includes hands-on exercises and is worth 1.5 hours of MLA CE credit. Participants can choose any or all of the 5 segments that interest them.

For details, see the NLM Tech Bull. 2013 Mar-Apr;(391):e2.

The title of the article I’ve linked to here is 5 Great eLearning Boredom Busters, however, I think the suggestions work for in-person presentations as well. I’ve listed the 5 suggestions below. Follow the link to read more and about each item and solutions.

http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/248676/5-great-elearning-boredom-busters

Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google, gave a TED talk about redefining education when he and a colleague offered a freely available online class to the world. 160,000 people signed up and 20,000 completed the class (That’s actually a pretty good completion rate for this type of offering). However, his re-definition actually created “a classroom much more like a traditional class”. Watch the 6 minute video at: http://youtu.be/tYclUdcsdeo

In a recent presentation I attended there was a discussion was about about two groups of students, one undergraduate, the other graduate, who were asked to name the 10 most important qualities of behavior of the teacher during an online course. The top two qualities named they named?

Number one: Communication (that we understand)
Number two: Instructor disposition (we might need help with that)

Teacher disposition can be defined as having empathy, positive view of self, positive view of others, honesty, genuineness, meaningful purpose and vision.

Teacher disposition may lead to better student success with increased learning outcomes.

How do we make sure we are demonstrating the desired disposition during an online course?

Some key qualities:
• Be very present from the start.
• Personalize to each student.
• When a question is asked respond as quickly as possible, if possible immediately.
• Use the person’s name when communicating and if possible write a personal note.
• Provide positive feedback.
• Your tone can and will be detected. Present with positive, high-energy.

Join us for an online class taught from October 8 – November 9, 2012: “Teaching with Technology: Tips, Techniques and Tools”!

In this class, you will learn about using technology tools for teaching distance learning courses. We will discuss options and best practices for asynchronous and synchronous distance classes, as well as “blended” classes that offer both in-person and online options. Adult learning principles will be reviewed. We will examine and discuss examples of software and website tools in teaching.

The class is taught “asynchronously” using the Moodle course management system, so you can complete the classwork at a time convenient for you. Allow approximately 2 hours per week for independent classwork. There are 4 weeks of assignments, readings, and discussions, with the 5th week saved for a “catch-up” week. Upon completion of the class you will receive 8 MLA CE credits.

The class is free and open to residents of the U.S. Class enrollment is limited, so we do ask that you check your schedule to be sure you have time to complete the class.

To register: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/schedule.html

When your course includes online chats it may be beneficial to establish whether or not the online participants have the skills to conduct chats efficiently, integrate the information and ultimately resolve and report on the issues discussed.
It might prove beneficial to provide coaching and feedback before and outside the online course. This coaching would include reviewing the roles and expectations of  Moderator, Recorder and Participants. David S. Stein and Constance E. Wanstreet, two faculty members from The Ohio State University, presented their findings at the 28th Annual Distance Learning and Teaching Conference. Their 2012 preliminary results found that a coached group demonstrated five times more evidence of high-order thinking that the un-coached group.

You’ve carefully prepared for and rehearsed your content for a class and you’re ready to go… but what are some training errors that can “kill” the training regardless of how much you’ve prepared?  In a recent blog post Bob Pike lists four training killers:  1) slow start; 2) a late ending; 3) asking “are there any questions?” and 4) using illegible graphics (the infamous, “you probably can’t see this, but…”).

Read more about those training killers and ways to avoid them:  “Some Training Room Errors are Excusable…“, by Bob Pike, published on May 4, 2012.

Join us for an online class taught from July 23 – August 27, 2012: “Teaching with Technology: Tips, Techniques and Tools”!

In this class, you will learn about using technology tools for teaching distance learning courses. We will discuss options and best practices for asynchronous and synchronous distance classes, as well as “blended” classes that offer both in-person and online options. Adult learning principles will be reviewed. We will examine and discuss examples of software and website tools in teaching.

The class is taught “asynchronously” using the Moodle course management system, so you can complete the classwork at a time convenient for you. Allow approximately 2 hours per week for independent classwork. There are 4 weeks of assignments, readings, and discussions, with the 5th week saved for a “catch-up” week. Upon completion of the class you will receive 8 MLA CE credits.

The class is free and open to residents of the U.S. Class enrollment is limited, so we do ask that you check your schedule to be sure you have time to complete the class.

To register: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/schedule.html

One challenge with online classes is that instructors never know if participants are actually “present.”  It’s easy for participants to “multitask” by checking e-mail or surfing the web during the session.  A simple way to find out if participants are giving the session their full attention is to ask them!  At a recent webinar that I attended, the instructors asked participants at the end of the class to rate “how present you were able to be during this session.”  The results can then be correlated with other evaluation measures.

The Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (C4LPT) has published a list of 100 top tools for learning in 2011. While many of these tools look familiar and are used everyday by trainers, there are others that may be new to you. Use this list to try out a few new tools.

LaDonna Coy from the Learning Chi blog analyzes the tool list in an interesting post: she discusses how the tools focus not just on learning but also on relationships and connections.