My Dog Ate My Syllabus Homework

Sorry Dave,
I am in the same trap that I'll bet isn't uncommon with online studies.  The project is too big, with too many moving parts for me to face without regrouping a little. The time I needed for that to happen  hasn't been enough, and so I will miss this deadline. Go ahead and give me the F-.  Every week, as new material gets added here, I see things that make me unsure of how to use online for the flipped class approach.  I see some things I want to do, but not how to get it all into syllabus/lesson plan form yet.  I guess I'm unclear on exactly what I'm supposed to be doing since this (as I understand it) is pretty much a practice run. The course I'm working on is a revision/combination of two courses that I taught separately this Fall with no plan going in.  There is no curriculum for any of my courses, I have to make it all up  as I go.  I want to use some of this technology to make more effective assignments, but I'm not completely sure of what the new learning objectives and assignment will even be.  I plan to spend some uninterrupted DAYS working on that in about two more weeks when one of my short classes finishes.  I can get enough evening time to do these posts and the readings, but further work on that class requires more time and help than I can access right now. I'm kind of overwhelmed with all the kinds of different tech usage ideas presented here, and I want to choose the BEST ones for given situations so that it keeps the students' interest.   

Mid Point Reflections

So now that we're half way through the course, I can honestly say it isn't any harder than I thought it would be.  But it is just as hard as I thought it would be, considering my technical ineptness.  I am finding some things throughout that I'd like to use next year in a limited manner, but I'm also finding that I wouldn't make a very good online student myself.  Some of that probably has to do with my learning style, and that makes me wonder how the rest of the participants in the class feel.  Just as in a face to face class, it seems essential to develop online content in a way that reaches several learning styles in hopes of it being accessible to everyone enrolled.  I do really like some of the ideas presented though, and many of them are just good techniques to use no matter what means of delivery you choose.   

There's a first time for everything and this is it...

Ok, let's get a few things straight.  I was perfectly fine with turning the crank handle to roll down the car window or pushing the button down to lock the door.  I was fine using a phone to talk to people, but can agree they're handy for picture taking.  I drove a truck for 20 years without having Siri tell me where to turn.  I got a smart phone when I couldn't find a decent flip phone anymore.  And I'm the  dinosaur in my house that doesn't use (or want to use) facebook.  That pretty much sums up my technical aptitude for all things modern.  I don't know why I'm not interested like everybody else but I'll admit that it's holding me back in some areas of life, namely all of them.  Somebody HELP ME PLEASE!!!  It took my daughter's assistance to even create this blog page, and then more assistance because I couldn't figure out how to post something on it.  I guess that's progress though, I should look at the bright side.  Anyway, unlike most of you, I've never taken an online course.  In fact, I made it all the way through 5 years of college on an IBM Selectric and never had to take a computer class.  I don't bring that up because I feel less than adequate as a person, but it's a challenge for me to understand how to use the technology to teach when I was never on the using end of it to learn.  I use a laptop daily, accessing info on the internet like most everyone else, but using Canvas is stretching me quite a bit. I think I'd like to get most of my out of class work posted there, as it seems to be a good accountability tool for the students.  At the same time, I want to maintain the face to face learning as well.  I think that's more like the flipped classroom approach I've read about.