However...most online courses are nothing like this one. Seriously Laura, you should write the book on how to teach an online class. Most professors or instructors just post slideshows, assign note-taking and reading assignments and require that you post on the discussion board and submit papers. This is not a good plan. You can't just teach an online course like you would in a classroom. The way this class was set up was really amazing. Everything was clear cut, laid out, organized, fully explained. There was opportunity to earn extra credit in ways that applied outside the classroom, like how to navigate popular social media sites and search engines. I really felt like Laura cared about both our education on Indian Epics as well as gaining outside knowledge that could help us in our personal and professional lives. That is why this class is so successful and so many people rave about it!
I would only take more online courses if they were set up like this course! I realize every instructor has their own teaching style, and they could certainly adapt their online course to their own style. But having a basic structure like this class would really improve their students' ability to do well and to class and, more importantly, to enjoy it! Maybe other students had aspects of this course that they didn't like, but it was really spot on for my learning style and I always felt like Laura wanted me to do well and to succeed.
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| Laura, you're awesome! (Source) |
Oh my gosh, Christina, you just made my day!!! I am writing up Reading Guides for the Indian comic books for next year thinking how much fun this is going to be... and then I checked the blog stream and saw your post. It made me feel so good!!! THANK YOU!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, I SO agree with you Christina! I've taken two other online courses as well and in both of them, the professor does not put as much of an effort to make the students interact nor offer as much detail on each assignment as Laura does to help us understand how to do it. One other thing that I absolutely don't like that the other professors lack—especially in an online course—is responding back to students so promptly as well as keeping track of student activity so well and connecting with the students. A+ to Miss Laura Gibbs for being able to do all that (you'll definitely be getting great evaluation from me)! :]
ReplyDeleteAlso, the dog picture—perfect.
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