COURSE ORIENTATION

The most any course can give you is knowledge about various topics. Knowing How takes putting knowledge into practice. Hopefully, you will find knowledge that makes a difference in your teaching and your students' learning from this course. You will need to probe deeply into links, going several layers deep to discover what interests you and what you can make your own. This is the unique advantage of online learning, voices of many who have gone before you in teaching, and choices among many options to adapt to your teaching personality and situation. Take full advantage of this!

Each link on this page has links to other pages—with those often having further links. This is the nature of the Internet. In working on this course, I suggest that in each section/essential question, you “survey” links and “bookmark” ones you think you want to read closely. Then go back and review your selections to decide what to reprint and highlight/annotate for your Portfolio. This will combine scope and depth, and enable you to compile a Portfolio of most use to you.

  • What am I supposed to do with all these links in the course? What are the expectations?
    The course is designed for adult style learning. If you are teaching, this means you are looking for material related to your job--your curriculum and students. The links add many voices from a variety of sources. They give you choices among a lot of resources. As you go through these, your interests and teaching situation should provide the best guidance.

    In effect, you are creating your own text of reprinted web articles and units. By highlighting (underlining) and annotating (writing brief commentary in selected marginal points) you indicate something of the value you found in the article or resource. Your final Table of Contents also reflects this personal valuing and selection.

    A file folder or notebook of highlighted, annotated reprints and written answers to course posed questions will be the material you submit when ready to complete the credit portion of this experience.

    Hopefully you will find this on-line course a resource you will want to return to and continue using as you teach. This is another reason to use the course to reviw and highlight material that interests you and fits your teaching situation, even if your present time and situation do not allow depth in all areas.