3. DYNAMIC TEACHING

Dynamic Online teaching was a real eye-opening course. I realized that I thrive in courses where instructors share their personal perspectives and provide assignments which promote student engagement. Yet, when I took the time to review my hybrid course, I realized that I was lacking in the areas that I enjoyed most in the online courses that I have taken. I made sure to respond to students in a timely manner and to be present in conversation, but after taking Dynamic Online Teaching, I realize there is much more that can be done to “leverage communication tools to support student success”. According to principle 3 of Principles for Quality Online Teachers, “Effective online teachers respond to students’ needs and use data for continuous course improvement,” and while I did collect some data in my course, I now know that I need to collect more. I also reviewed assignments that I thought were formative; however, realized they needed improvement to truly create a positive learning experience.

I will be teaching Career Planning this upcoming fall, and I have made several dynamic improvements to my course. I have designed formative assessments that allow me to assess student learning and provide timely and dynamic feedback to the class or to individual students. I have modified assignments to incorporate student-generated content which will be utilized within the course for student learning. I have also improved the grading rubrics that I use for assignments.

Looking forward I plan to incorporate more student self- assessments to guide learning opportunities. For example, I plan to incorporate mid-semester evaluations along with the evaluations that I previously had in place, conducted at the beginning and the end of each semester. I also plan to take advantage of Canvas analytics so that I can best serve students. By reviewing how often students are logging-in and working on my course, I can assess and determine when “nudges” or individual contact is needed. In order to make the course more dynamic, I plan to create activities that involve using Padlet and/or creating group assignments utilizing the Canvas Group function. Dynamic Online Teaching solidified that, in order to be a dynamic and student-centered online instructor, I must continue evolving and developing plans to improve my course each time I teach it.