Welcome to the Wyenblog!
This first post will comprise my initial thoughts about the BOLT-101 course and specifically the first module. If I had to summarize my first impressions so far, I would broadly make 3 observations:
1. Joe did an excellent job laying out the sequence of tasks for this first module. It was very clear even for this newbie. Nice job, Joe.
2. Online learning is a whole different animal and my mind is starting to be blown about the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead with online teaching.
3. Dave Mulder has some sick sound effects in that TPACK video! Hats off to you, Dave.
To flesh out the bullet point that is not just an obligatory instructor salute, my mind was really opened to the possibilities and challenges of this new medium while working through this module. I hadn't thought deeply about even simple technical challenges of teaching online (such as being available, but not too available, for students; or that students may work at a different pace; or that the work of the instructor is shifted forward, such that much more time is spent on preparing prior to the class starting; etc.), nor the true benefits of online learning. Take for example the peer-to-peer communication of students. I noticed several ways that the discussion boards method is qualitatively different from the traditional in class discussion:
1. You can force everyone to participate - this is great!
2. The quality of the discussion is likely improved because initial comments and replies can be well thought out by the students, as opposed to a classroom setting where answers are off-the-cuff.
3. The students are not afraid to open their mouths for fear of being wrong
4. The back-and-forth of face-to-face discussion is probably more suited to solving problems with constant rework (eg "design" type problems)... maybe there is a good way to have "active discussion" on an online course, where you require everyone to be online at the same time? I haven't seen this yet.
That's all I had to share today. I think I went way over the 200+/-50 word count.
