Post 72: How do you remember your students profiles and interests?

Post 72: How do you remember your students' profiles and interests?

It is a new semester. You look at the class roster and see 35 students in the class. You have to teach several sections with 35 students in each class. How in the world are you going to remember each students' hobbies, interests, or careers so that you can adapt your lessons to fit each student? How are you going to remember them all?

Some of my colleagues make an Excel Spreadsheet and on that Excel Spreadsheet, they write down each students' interests, hobbies, and career goals and class goals.

"The tricks of the memory trade work online as well as the physical face-to-face settings. The best strategy is linking something personal, unique and unusual about the learner to the learners name, personal goals or something else. Learners can be encouraged to post something that will help you individualized them by asking them something that will likely result in a memorable posting. Here are a few suggestions for questions to include in the getting acquainted postings:

• What do you think it's particularly unique about how you think?
• What is your most memorable ha ha learning moment?
• What is your highest priority for the class, And why?
• What's your best kept secret for being a successful online learner?
• What do you have in common with at least one other learner in the course?" (Conrad, 142)

"The concept of Cognitive Presence is often described as the extent to which the professor and the students are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained discourse in a Community of Inquiry. Reading a student's postings on how he/ she thinks provides baseline information for the faculty mentor. This information helps faculty provide teaching direction based on what students have already in their heads." (Conrad, 143)

Post 71: Anatomy of a Great DQ Question

Post 71: Anatomy of a Great DQ Question

 Avoid factual questions that just has ONE answer.  If you ask only factual questions in your forum, students can just google the answer. This does not make for interesting forum discussion. Save factual questions for auto-quizzes.

Avoid giving writing prompts that ask for one answer in the DQ forums. Make sure you use open ended exploratory questions that require students to have several perspectives or several interpretations of the same question. "Open ended questions require learners to apply integrate information from multiple sources, including their own work or life experience. Questions to be posted early in the course may focus on how core concepts can be discerned within one's particular work or life experiences. Good discussion questions are open ended and exploratory. They require learners to 'inquire within' about what they currently believe and then to provide evidence to support their beliefs." (Conrad, 149)


Problem Solving Questions


Have students get together in the forum to solve a common problem.


Use What if questions

What if Martin Luther King had lived, what kind of President would he be?


Analysis Questions

Which world leader is more like a Confucian leader who leads by moral example? Which world leader is more like Machiavelli who leads by divide and conquer?  Is it better to lead by love and morals like Confucius?  Or is it better to lead by fear and strength?  

Post 70: Constructivism

Post 70: How do learners construct knowledge?

Learners construct knowledge brick by brick. They add on new information to existing knowledge. The more a learner can identify the new information to old experiences, the faster a student will learn.

"In developing discussion forum questions, keep in mind the core foundational assumption of the construction of this educational philosophy that we know the world through our existing mental framework and bring in, transform, and interpret new information as it fits into this framework. This assumption highlights how important it is for students to think deeply about what we know what believe we know because new knowledge is integrated with what is already in our heads. "153

Post 69: Use LMS to Monitor Student Progress

Post 69: Use LMS To Monitor Student Progress

"Learning Management Systems provide a sophisticated set of tools for tracking student engagement in course activities. Getting a quick look at how your students are progressing in case you needed information quickly  can help you determine whether any adaptive action might be in order. This tip describe some of the features of LMS  that can be used to track and evaluate student progress...  Time spent exploring and using these systems help develop good practices. These monitoring systems can provide at a glance statistics about student access, grades, and discussion board participation. Early warning tools allow you to set rules for expected performance and to monitor students based on these rules." (Conrad, 177)


The LMS has features that help you answer the following questions:

• Have all my students access to my class?
• Who has been participating a lot in the discussion boards and who has been discussing participating very little in the discussion boards?
• Who is the first time students and who is a repeat student?
• How is the class progressing as a whole? What is the total grade average of the entire class? (Conrad, 178)

I ordinarily used my LMS to see when students have or have not accessed my classroom.  I would look to see how often students have been to the forums or have done their assignments. The LMS allows me to monitor student progress. If I have a student who has not accessed the class since Week 1, then I would report that to his student advisor so that they can call the student to ask why he/she has not been in class. I also used the LMS to see if a student is a repeat student of that class or a first time student.

If a student is a repeat student, then I know to give him/her extra help by sending him extra emails asking if he/she is alright, or to send more late reminders if necessary. I would also talk to his/her student advisor to see what else can be done to get the student to participate in class so he/she does not fail the class.

I also like the way the LMS can keep track of the class as a whole. I can see right away the average GPA of the entire class. Some classes do really well at a B average, other classes need more help.  It did take me time to fiddle around with the classroom to find all these extra features. If you don't have time to play with the features of your online classroom, you can always ask Tech Support for advice, and they will be more than happy to acquaint you with the extra features of the LMS to help you better monitor your students!

Post 68: Add a Guest Speaker To Your class

Post 68: Add  A Guest Speaker To Your Class

When you add a Guest speaker or a Guest Lecturer to your class, you add excitement to your class.  The advantages of having a Guest Lecturer is that the Guest Lecturer brings real world insight into the core concepts.

I was a Guest Lecturer when I went back to my alma mater UCLA Applied Linguistics department and I spoke to the graduate students in that department about my career and about how I used my Applied linguistics degree. After all,  those same graduate students were getting the same Applied Linguistics degree that I got many years ago, so when I stood in front of them to talk about my career, those graduate students were all ears.

Giving a guest lecture or having a guest lecture in your class adds excitement to the class because it brings real world perspective to all the theories that students are learning in class and students get to see how those theories play out in the real world.

I talked about what aspects of my Applied Linguistics degree proved to be most useful in the jobs that I held, and I talked about which Applied Linguistics textbooks proved to be most useful in my career.

I taught students how to be more marketable with their degree, and I told students that in order to be more marketable with an Applied Linguistics degree, they need to minor in ESL or in English Composition in order to get writing jobs.

I talk gave them stories about jobs that I had where bosses would tell me that I needed more background in English composition rhetoric if I were to stay in the English department. I also gave tips on how to behave on the job, and I gave tips on useful classes they should take to be more marketable.

Students were fascinated by what I said and grateful that I gave them hints on which textbooks, classes, would prove to be most useful to them in this field. In my case, the Teaching ESL Grammar class I took, and the English Grammar workbook by Marianne Celce Murcia has proven to be the most useful workbook that I  have used in my career. The ESL Writing and reading classes also proved to be invaluable. The classes  on Second Language Acquisition I never used in my career and were not as useful or practical in my career. 

Students appreciated I took the time out of  my day to give them advice about their future and give them advice on how they can improve and not make the same mistakes I made. For instance, I regret not having majored in English Composition or having a BA in English.

After the guest lecture, I received many thank you notes from students who subsequently went on to minor in English composition or ESL just like I instructed them to do. Others said they would never have thought of majoring in English composition if I hadn't told them to do so and they were grateful that I improved their job prospects.

In my online classes, I  taught The Digital Literacy and Library Research class, I had as my guest speaker a librarian who spoke to the students about how the library worked. In addition, she instructed students on where the best research materials were located, and the best hours to contact a librarian for help. The students were very grateful to the Librarian for taking the time out of her day to talk to them in real time in the online classroom.

Before the Librarian did her guest lecture in my online classroom, students had no idea that they could use the librarian  as a resource if they were having trouble finding the correct research materials in the library for the research paper. They did not know that the librarian was on call all the time and that the librarian had office hours, telephone number, and email where she could be reached. She told them that I library and was always on shift 24 hours a day to help students with their research needs.

Having a guest speaker helps break the monotony of a pretty much text based online class and added excitement to the class by having a real life person speaking to the class in real time. And for students who could not make the real time meeting, I had the whole thing recorded on video so that students who were not there would be able to watch the library and speak whenever they wanted to. It is always a good idea to have a guest speaker in your class to bring a fresh perspective on the class.

Post 67: Five Kinds of Interaction in the Online Classroom

Post 67:  Five Kinds of Interaction in the Online Classroom

Faculty to Student Interaction--Adobe Connect--Remedial/ Difficult Student
When you have a struggling student who does not understand what is going on in the class, or you have a student with questions about his/her low grade, then you can schedule a synchronous meeting with the student to meet one-on-one in Adobe Connect. Meeting with the student in real time usually resolves any problem the student is having in the class. I like using the Adobe Connect White Board to explain in real time the mistakes the student has made in his paper. Usually after the one-on-one meeting, the student is satisfied and understands how to fix what he did wrong and then the student does much better the next time he writes a paper.

Also, if I have a difficult student, I would email him privately to talk to him about his difficulties. I once had a student who repeated what other people said in their forums. Other students complained that this difficult student was copying word per word what they were posting without adding any new ideas of his own, thus he was stealing other people's ideas.  I had to email this student privately to talk to him about the other student complaints and to explain to him gently that he could not just cut and paste other people's posts without adding anything of his own. Once that difficult student realized his mistake, he stopped cutting and pasting other people's posts and started posting his own ideas.

Student to Student/Peer to Peer Interaction--Peer Review in Forums

In my writing class, I love to design Peer Review exercises so students can peer review each other's rough drafts. I give them a template of questions that helps students know what to look for such as: Is there a thesis statement in the other students' paper? Is the thesis placed as the last sentence of the first paragraph? Does the essay have a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion paragraph? Do the body paragraphs have matching topic sentences to the thesis statement? Does the conclusion paragraph give the reader closure? Are there places in the essay that need clarifying? Students love to look at each other's feedback and integrate that feedback into their papers.






Faculty to Students Interaction--Email, Announcements, Forums

I use Announcements to give my entire class reminders about assignments, upcoming quizzes, or projects. I also congratulate those with high grades in emails and I reach out to students who are doing poorly offering assistance.   

If one student asks a question, I then post the answer to the rest of the class, because I figure if one student is say for instance, having trouble finding the reading/resources or the quizzes, then other students are probably having the same problem, so I would post in the announcements the solution of where to find alternate links or tell the class that the readings are located in the Reading/Resources tab.


Student to Sources Interaction--Student reading and students doing research for assignments.

Students interact with sources that I give them or students find sources of their own when writing their papers. Sometimes I have students do a webquest so students would interact with sources on the internet. If students are having trouble finding sources in the library, I encourage students to use Google Scholar. However, I discourage students from using Wikipedia because anybody can upload any kind of information to Wikipedia. I teach students how to evaluate credible sources from fake sources and real news from fake news. So students learn digital literacy by interacting with sources.

Post 66: Why use rubrics?

Why use Rubrics?

1. Help clarify fuzzy goals.

2. Help students understand faculty expectations.

3. Help students improve themselves.

4. Use as writing checklist.

5. Makes scoring faster.

6. Makes grading objective.

7. Standardize grading for all teachers teaching the same class.

8. Better feedback for students.

9. Reduce student complaints about grades.

10. Helps other teachers and auditors see how you graded student work. So rubrics look good on job performance review.

Post 65: Why use Audio in your online classroom?

Post 65: Why use Audio in your Online classroom?

1. In an online Public Speaking class, using audio teaches students how to properly speak in public, and helps students get over their fear of public speaking.


2. In an online Foreign language class, audio in the classroom helps students learn that foreign language. I get to hear how my students are pronouncing the French and then I can give audio feedback to teach them how to correctly pronounce the French.

3. In an online writing class, I give audio feedback when I grade student papers in GradeMark in Turnitin so students can hear me explain what grammar or essay structure error they have made on their papers.

4. I also have used audio in my Announcements to remind students of upcoming assignments, tests and readings. In this way, students hear my voice and I enhance my teaching presence in the class. Also, my voice gives students an idea of my teaching persona and teaching personality which helps them bond to the class and create the trust you need in a learning community to promote learning.

How do you make an audio file?

I use my cell phone to make the audio file. And then I send the audio file to my email and from my email, I post it to the classroom.

For the French classroom, I had students use Vocaroo and have the students post their Vocaroo French recording link in the Discussion Forum or in their Assignment portal for me to grade.

You can even use Windows 10 to make a recording of yourself. And in the past, I used to use Audacity to make audio files before I got my cell phone!

However, the newer online LMS have audio and video capacities so ask Tech Support how you can incorporate audio from your LMS (Learning Management System--your online classroom).

Post 64: How To Deal With Difficult Students

Post 64: How To Deal With Difficult Students

When I taught online, I have not had to deal with as many difficult students as when I used to teach face to face. When I was teaching face to face, it was all about classroom management and winning the respect of the students. Once students respected you, liked you, and bought into your lessons, then you would have classroom discipline.  There are many ways for face to face classroom management such as the Social Contract where you and your students create a contract whereby you and your students agree to abide by certain classroom rules that you and your students create. Then you and your students all sign that agreement to abide by those classroom rules.

At the beginning of the school year, the teacher is strict and you make sure all students learn the rules and learn to obey the rules. You have to be consistent in reinforcing the rules. No favorites. No teacher pets. Nobody is above the law, or else you have lose credibility and once the teacher loses credibility then you will have no classroom discipline all year. You have to start out strict to get the students to 'respect' you by 'fearing' you. 

Then by the middle of the year, you can slowly let your hair down and become more informal. This is when you start to bond with your students and develop a learning community of trust. Once this trust is established, then learning occurs.  In a face to face classroom, just like in an online classroom, teaching and learning occurs when you are able to create a safe space for students to learn by creating a positive learning community where students feel a sense of belonging to the class.

In an online class, if you build a positive learning community and build trust among your students, just like in a face to face classroom, you can prevent having difficult students. There are several kinds of difficult students in an online class. 1) You have the student acting out and disrupting the class. 2) You have the student having difficulty understanding what is going on in class. 3) You have the student complaining about his grade. (This happens for high achieving and lower achieving students).

If a student is disrupting the class and you are unable to control him just like in a face to face classroom, you contact the person responsible for classroom discipline in the school. Most of the time, you just take the difficult online student aside and email him privately to ask him what is wrong; listen to what he has to say and then try to hash out the problem and tell him that his behavior is disrupting the class, and then tell him the appropriate behavior for the class. 

For a remedial student who is having trouble in class and getting low grades, you can have a one on one tutoring session with the student in Adobe Connect and go over class material in real time. Usually, once I tutor the student in real time, the D student becomes a A or B student.  I also get to know the student better, and we get to bond as teacher and student. Later, that same trouble student comes back for the next class I teach. For me, nothing is more gratifying than seeing my students succeed, and seeing the same students back in my next class!

Post 63: More on the Importance of Feedback

Post 63: More on the Importance of Feedback

Providing Feedback shows these three qualities in an instructor:

1. Teacher Feedback shows you care about a student's progress.

2. Teacher Feedback conveys to the student relationship support and the sense of you being there.

3. Teacher Feedback guides the student along his journey of learning and mastery of a skill.

4. Teacher Feedback role models for the student the correct way to do something.

5. Teacher Feedback shows off your expertise in that field.

Post 62: How to Use Graphic Overviews in an Online Class

Post 62: How To Use Graphic Overviews in an Online class

1. Graphic Syllabus

Graphic Overviews/Flowcharts/Cognitive Maps "provides a bird-eye's view of your course as a whole. This helps students build a mental framework, a mental model, a mental picture of your course. "(Conrad, 123). When you use a graphic overview or flowchart of the core concepts in your syllabus, students know what core concepts to focus on and to study in the class. Students get a mental picture of what to expect in the next 8 to 16 weeks of the class. The Graphic Overview can also serve as the cognitive map or syllabus structure of your class. In the above flowchart, you have three learning models that will be covered in the class, Bloom's Taxonomy, Memory Process Model and Practical Inquiry Model.

Weeks 1 and 2
Bloom's Taxonomy

Weeks 3 and 4
Practical Inquiry Model

Weeks 5 and 6
Memory Process Model

Weeks 7 and 8
Integration of all three models and compare and contrast all three models and how they are used in teaching--Final Projects about how these models can be used to teaching a class.

2. Graphic Last Forum Exercise

Graphic Overviews can also be used as an end of the class exercise where the teacher highlights the take away lessons of the class and the teacher reinforces the core concepts of the class. The teacher can have students create their own Graphic Overviews of the class to demonstrate what they have learned from the class and how they will apply these learning models to their lives.

3. Graphic Overview in Class Lectures

Every week, I use graphics all the time to illustrate the core concepts of that week. The graphics also helps break up the monotony of plain text. When I write class lectures online, I use a variety of audio, video and graphic overviews to engage student interest and keep students interested in the material. I also provide links to other sources on the web where students can learn more about a certain topic. I love using infographics/flowcharts etc..to illustrate my ideas in class lectures.

4. Graphic Overview as a Forum Exercise

Every week, I could post a Graphic Overview and ask students to discuss what that graphic overview means and how it applies to the overall teaching objective of the class.  Students can discuss how that flowchart applies to the Writing Process if they are writing a paper. I remember in one writing class, I posted a flowchart of the Writing Process and asked students what their writing process was. This was a Week 1 kind of exercise so I could get an idea of how my students write and think and it also makes students aware of the proper way to write as well.

5. Graphic Overview in Accelerated Content Classes

When a teacher condenses a 16 week class into an 8 week class, then the student will not have 16 weeks to read a textbook, so the teacher condenses the material by using a lot more Graphic Overviews to help students organize the core concepts of the class in their heads so students can get to the problem solving scenarios of the class sooner. Normally, for instance, students would start solving problems in an 16 week class by the 8th week, but in an 8 week class, they would have to start solving problems from the start of the class so graphic overviews help accelerate the rate of learning so a 16 week class can be squeezed into an 8 week class.

Post 61: Infographic on Memory Process Model

Post 60: Infographic on The Four Stages of The Practical Inquiry Model

Post 59: Ask for Early Feedback

Ask for informal feedback early in the term

"Course evaluations have been called postmodern evaluations because they are done after the fact. This means nothing can be done to increase satisfaction or facilitate more learning and engagement. Early feedback surveys or informal discussions are effective in getting students to provide feedback on what is working well in a course and solicit suggestions and ideas on what might help them have a better course experience often early feedback and alert you to students having difficulty with something as fixable as access to materials or some minor technology glitch." 52

As I mentioned in a previous post, I always ask my students for feedback. I asked them for feedback earlier in the term, in the middle of the term, and at the end of the term. When I asked students earlier in the term for feedback, I want to get to know my students  and get to know what their needs are. When I asked students for feedback midway in the class, I want to know how the class is running and if they like the course material and the forum topics or if there are any glitches that need to be fixed.   And when I asked students for feedback at the end of class, then I want then I want to know how the class can be improved for future students.

Getting feedback all the time helps with the teaching of the online class in real time rather than just relying on End of Class surveys or Course Evaluations from the boss. Rather than wait after the fact, getting feedback from students while the class is running allows the teacher to make corrections in real time to students right now rather than waiting until later.

Post 58: Professional Development classes when teaching online

Post 58: Professional Development Classes

When I was teaching online, I really loved taking professional development classes. For me, the most fun part of taking the professional development classes was the interaction I had with other teachers. I love the community of learning that we developed when I met other teachers and when I interact with other teachers. We would exchange teaching ideas, and we would exchange great best practices in teaching which resulted in me being energized about teaching.  I would learn from other teachers how they handle difficult students, what what programs they used to speed up grading, what writing props they used for creative writing, or how they kept their forum posts fresh and other teaching tricks. During my time teaching online, there were three kinds of professional development classes I came across, and they were self-paced classes, webinars, and instructor led online classes.

I like the online self-paced class and/or webinar because I was able to work at my own pace and that there were no deadlines. I could work as slow or as fast as I wanted to. There were no deadlines. You can finish the class in a few hours, few weeks, or even in a few months. There was nobody there to bother you with deadlines or reminders about late policy. For me, the self-paced class turned out to be easier and more convenient than the instructor led class.

I like the instructor led online classes because I love interacting in the forums with other instructors. I love to get fresh ideas about teaching and most of all I love to network with other teachers so in the future I could do projects with them or even get a job at their school.  When you have a question, there is an instructor in the class to answer your questions.






So depending on your time and schedule, either a self-paced class or an instructor led online developer a personal development class are both good options for professional development. It depends on your preferences and what you like which class you want to take.

I took one hour webinar classes at Faculty Focus many years ago. I also took many instructor led classes at OLC, Online Learning Consortium.  OLC offers teaching certificates such as the Online Teacher Certificate and I think they offer an Instructional Design Certificate as well. If you are more interested in online class quality, you can take classes at Quality Matters. I enjoyed taking the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric class which taught me how to properly evaluate a well-designed online class and taught me how to design a really good online class. 
What are your favorite professional development classes? How does your school offer professional development classes?

Post 57: What are Core concepts?

Post 57: What are Core Concepts?

A key principle supporting concept learning comes from psychologist, Vygotsky,who noted that concepts are not words but rather organized and intricate knowledge clusters. This simple but profound truth means that while we usually teach in a linear fashion, presenting concepts individually and in small clusters, we need to continually reapply core concepts within different context such as those in case studies, problems, and scenarios. The wealth of research studies on the brain and the mind confirms this practice.



When I was teaching business writing, the core concepts of the course were the Seven C's of Communication. . The Seven C's of communication are Completeness, Concreteness, Courtesy, Correctness, Clarity, Consideration, and Conciseness. These Seven C's  of Communication became the core concepts or core knowledge clusters of this class. In every lesson, these C's were repeated in every scenario and to every lesson. So as a result, in the business writing class, I applied these 7 C's to all the assignments in the class. You need to use the 7 C's in writing an email, a memo, a business letter, a business report, a business proposal, and a business presentation. These 7 C's were the core concepts of that business writing class.

The Seven C's of Communication

Completeness--a message must be complete and clear to the receiver.

Concrete--concrete business communication is about a clear message.

Courtesy--consider the feeling of different points of view in your audience.

Correctness--the correct use of language and writing with no grammar errors.

Clarity--clear or plain language, characterized by explicit, short sentences and concrete words.

Consideration--ability to relate to the target group.

Conciseness--having a premise with clear evidence and support.

Having core concepts that can be applied to all aspects of the class allows students to walk away from the class with a clear idea of what they learned in the class. When students tell their friends about what they learned in the class, they are able to tell their friends about these 7 C's of Communication and students are able to apply these 7 C's of Communication in writing all business correspondence which was the learning outcome of the class, teaching students clear, concise, correct, courteous business writing. These 7 C's are a clear example of what Vygotsky meant by knowledge clusters and how the human brain likes to cluster the knowledge it gains into long term memory.

Post 56: The Use of Graphic Overview/Flowcharts/Content Frames to enhance learning

Post 56: The Use of Graphic Overview/Graphic Framework/Flowcharts/Content Frames to Enhance Learning

Develop and use a content frame for the course

"This best practice involves two steps, designing a content frame for the course, and second developing a habit of using and referring to the cognitive map, while teaching the course. The biggest danger generally faced by students is the feeling of being totally overwhelmed by all the content and as a consequence getting lost in the forest of details and not developing confidence in the really important ideas." (Conrad, 59)

"What is a content frame? Content friends are also called cognitive maps, visual graphics and overviews. We like to use the term content frame because preparing a frame for a course helps learners get a holistic sense of a course. It presents a clear picture of what is to be learned in a course and what can be learned later as interests develop and time permits. Adventurous curious students can always delve more deeply into course content, but they know at what point they can stop and still know what they need to know. Providing a clear overview of the core concepts, key knowledge and types of problems, competent learners should be able to handle provides a focus for the term of the course. Additionally being able to refer back to the content frame regularly and see the content visually helps to construct their own knowledge." (Conrad, 59)

I like to use flowcharts such as the one above in my classes because it gives students a holistic view of what to expect in the class. I used the above flowchart in my ENGL 101 Freshman Composition class because one of the teaching goals of the class was to teach the 5 paragraph essay structure. This flowcharts gives an overview of the 5 paragraph essay. It also shows very clearly the core concepts of the 5 paragraph essay which is a thesis statement as the main idea of the essay and then each of the topic paragraph are the building blocks of the thesis statement. Students see right away that without a good thesis statement, they cannot write a solid essay. This flowchart tells the student to focus on writing a good thesis statement as a way to structure their entire essay. I have many more flowcharts than this one and I use all of them to help students construct their own knowledge by visualizing the core concepts of the learning outcome so students can 'see' in their minds what the concept looks like in their minds.

I actually have flowcharts for 8 different kinds of essays. I remember having a student who relied on my essay flowcharts for all his academic research papers that he had to write for his core classes. When he came across a research paper assignment for which I had not drawn a concept map, he panicked and contacted me on how to do the paper. By this time, he was no longer in my class, but had been in my Freshman Composition class a couple of years previous to his email. He said, "Prof. Ho, I have been using your essay Flowcharts to help me write all my research papers, but I have finally come across a research paper for which I cannot write the essay. Can you help me?"  I said, "Of course, I will give you one of the more advanced flowcharts I did not give you in Freshman Composition," and it was the Proposal/Problem Solving Essay flowchart he was asking for.  Apparently as he was taking more and more advanced classes, he was being asked to write more and more advanced papers so he needed one of my more advanced flowcharts that I had made for another school. Once I gave him my advanced flowchart, he was a happy camper!

This example proves that content frames/graphic overviews help students construct knowledge and teaches the student in this case, how to write different kinds of research papers.  When I write a research paper, I always need to see the paper visually in my mind before I can sit down to write the paper. When I was in college, I used to write a concept map of the paper, then from that concept map, I would write an outline, and then from that outline, I would write my rough draft and my final draft from the rough draft. It used to take me an entire weekend to write a research paper assignment for college. Once I see what the paper will look like in my head, then I am able to write the paper. Content frames help students visually see the paper in their heads before they write the paper.

 In subsequent posts, I will write about how you can use content frames in your syllabus to give the students a bird's eye view of what to focus on in the class and how to use a content frame to teach students take away lessons they should have of the class to use in the future and how they can apply the core concepts of the class in their lives after the class is over.

Post 55: How To Use The Practical Inquiry Model and The Community of Inquiry Presences in Class Design

 Post 55: How To Use The Practical Inquiry Model and The Community of Inquiry Presences  in Class Design

In the beginning of the class as the class members are getting to know each other, you have Social Presence by the teacher as the students are getting to know the teacher, Cognitive Presence as the teacher is getting to know the students and teaching presence as the teacher has to be very active and truly engaged in the class to launch the class and build trust. It takes a lot of work and energy to get a class going. Once the class gets going, the teacher can sit back and let the students do the driving. By the middle of the class, once the students and the teachers know each other better, then it is teaching presence that takes center stage as the teacher guides the students deeper and deeper into class content. Students start to integrate core concepts into their knowledge base and start to learn the new skills and relate these new skills into their lives. Students integrate the new knowledge through classroom interactions and projects. Students start to take charge as they do group projects, do peer review, discuss the class topics and become pumped by what they are learning. The teacher's role shifts into the background as the teacher gently guides the forum discussions on topic, asks challenging Bloom questions to keep the conversation going, provide new sources for students or provide feedback on areas of improvement on papers, assignments and forums.

"In the community of inquiry model developed by Garrison and others, (Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2001), there are three presences--social, teaching and cognitive--all of which have a role to play in each stage of the course.  In the first phase of a course, establishing social presence and teaching presence is a very high priority. Establishing social presence getting to know each other and building trust launches the community; the teaching presence provides the framework for guiding learning and setting out the goals and expectations for the course learning experience. The third presence, is launched with the discussion of learning goals and is less prominent but quickly gains importance. By the middle of the class, the emphasis slips into higher gear as teaching presence and cognitive presence as learners gain deeper engagement and learning of the course content and develop course group cohesion. In the two later phases of the class as the class ends, the teaching presence becomes even more specialized as learners receive direct guidance from the community the instructor and fellow learners on their projects. At the same time, the overall Cognitive presence of the community grows and deepens at the same time this shift in emphasis parallels development of how the faculty role shifts during the latter stages of a class where the faculty goes from being that sage on the stage to the guide by the side." (Conrad, 85)


How do you integrate the Practical Inquiry Model (Triggering event, Exploration, Integration and Resolution) into an 8 week or 16 week class?

Here is an example of how to integrate the Practical Inquiry Model in an 8 week class.


 8 Week class

Triggering Event (First 2 weeks)

Exploration (Next 2 weeks)

Integration (Middle 2 weeks)

Resolution (Last 2 weeks)


"Cognitive presence begins to take center stage following the phases in the process of inquiry; a triggering event, followed by exploration, integration and resolution. In the middle of the course, the exploration phase for once key course project is drawing to a temporary close as the focus on integrating the knowledge into a meaningful structure begins to take shape with a goal of reaching a resolution point by the end of the course." (Conrad, 91)  Here is an example of how I have applied this inquiry theory to my classes.

ENGL 498 Senior Seminar in English Capstone Writing class

Objective: Write a Capstone English Paper (My ENGL 498 Senior Seminar Class)



Triggering Event (First 2 weeks)

Students choose a topic, brainstorm, create a thesis statement. This is the planning stage of the writing process. Students from Day one are asked to choose a topic for their final capstone paper. So for this class, the triggering event is to choose a topic from their English major on which they will write their Capstone paper. Students are asked to look at all their literature papers and to decide on which literature topic they want to write their Capstone Project. Students discuss with each other possible topics. I teach students how to brainstorm topics, how to use a concept map or mind map to map our core concepts for their possible paper to narrow down a topic for their paper.

Exploration (Next 2 weeks)

Once students have figured out a topic, they do research on that topic. They do a Literature Review and have to come up with an Annotated Bibliography. They need to find information that fits their thesis statement and their body paragraphs. By this time, students have a clear idea what they want to research and are discussing with each other how they are doing on their research. If one student is having trouble with research, other students jump in to help, or I guide them in their research. Students make fun discoveries about their topic which results in some students changing or tweaking their thesis statement. 

Integration (Middle 2 weeks)

Students write rough drafts of their paper. They integrate what they have learned about their Capstone paper into a rough draft. There are still typos and mistakes as this is only a rough draft, but now students put everything they have learned together in one paper. Students peer review each others' paper. It is at this stage that students procrastinate the most in posting their rough drafts because they are always unsatisfied with what they have. I tell them to post whatever they have and that it does not have to be perfect. As students peer edit each others' papers, students discover weaknesses and strengths in each others' papers. Students take pleasure in learning about other students' and their own papers. I enjoy reading the rough drafts and pointing out any inconsistencies I see in their papers. I also grade the rough drafts as they post their rough drafts to the assignment board for further teacher feedback.

Resolution (Last 2 weeks)  

Students spend the last 2 weeks of the class revising and proofreading their papers. It is at this stage students are done with research and are putting the final touches to their papers. I teach students the difference between Revision and Proofreading which are the last 2 stages of the Writing Process. I teach students that when they revise their paper, they are correcting essay structure and then once their essay structure is good, then they can correct for typos and grammar errors (proofreading stage). Once students hand in their final draft, they are then officially done with their English major and now have their BA in English. It is at this stage that we celebrate the fact that my students are no longer undergraduates any more, but now are full fledged graduates of the university with a BA in English.  In the very last lesson of this class, I talk about how students with a BA in English can get jobs.

Post 54: The Purpose of Online Synchronous meetings

Post 54: The Purpose of Online Synchronous Meetings

Many online schools are asynchronous so that students who are in different time zones, or who have busy schedules can all have class at different times in an online classroom. I have students who have weekend schedules and who only have time to do homework and classwork on the weekends when they are off from work, while other students want to take weekends off and only have time on weekdays to do their classwork. Some stay at home moms like to do their homework while their kids are off at school so they do their homework on weekday mornings to early afternoons while working parents do classwork on weekday nights. As an online teacher, you have to be able to handle the schedules of all these students.  In order to accommodate all these students' schedules, you may have to hold synchronous meetings on week day during the day, weekday night and on a weekend.  Being an online teacher is not easy!

The advantages of holding real time meetings with students is that students can ask the teacher questions in real time. You get to hear your students' voices and see their faces via webcam. For once, you can use body language to see if your students are understanding what you are teaching. I find that I can teach more effectively when I teach real time. I can also teach much faster basic concepts like the 5 paragraph essay structure in just 10 minutes or so rather than take a whole week when I teach just using online means. I also get the immediate satisfaction of seeing and hearing my students understand the concept and integrate the concept just like when I was teaching face to face. In fact, the hardest thing for me to get used to when I transitioned from face to face teaching to online teaching was the lack of body language in my student audience when I was teaching a concept.

There are many ways you can hold a real time meeting. You can use Skype to meet one on one with a student, or you can use Adobe Connect to meet many students at the same time.  Adobe Connect provides a space for your webcam and the webcam of your students. Adobe Connect allows you to communicate with one student for remedial purposes or hold a class with many students at the same time.  I have used Adobe Connect white board to teach many writing concepts and I find that when I meet my students in real time, it helps us bond as a class and helps us create a learning community of trust faster than when we do it online over a period of days, we can develop that bond over a period of an hour instead.

Real time meetings helps with 3 kinds of interactions crucial to any online class--1) Student to Student interaction.  2) Teacher to Students interaction and 3) Teacher to Student interaction.  Students can peer review and talk with each other in real time about difficulties they are having with an assignment. Students in real time can give each other advice on how to do an assignment, or how to find resources in the classroom.  If I have students from different classes in an Adobe Connect classroom, then students in a more advanced class can tell the students from the less advanced class what to expect later on in the class.  Real time meetings help with Teacher to Students bonding as mentioned above. And lastly, Real time meetings helps Teacher to Student interaction when a particular student is getting a low grade and needs extra help from the teacher on why he made so many mistakes in his paper.

Real time meetings improves Teaching Presence where teachers get to teach on the white board and get to clarify whatever students did not understand from the online lectures and online forums. Real Time meetings helps students see the teacher as a real person which improves Social Presence and most importantly, Real Time meetings helps teachers recognize what weaknesses and difficulties students are having in a class which helps improve a teacher's Cognitive Presence.

Post 53: The Purpose of a Cafeteria Forum

Post 53: The Purpose of a Cafeteria Forum

In your online classroom, you should always create a non-graded forum, I call this the 'Cafeteria Forum' or 'The Hangout' Forum where students can just informally hang out among themselves and form a student community. Students can get to know each other outside the introduction forum. Students can ask each other questions. They can just blow the breeze.  Students can answer each other's questions such as, "Donna, where are the readings?" Then John answers, "I found the readings under the  resources tab."  or  Jane asks, "The reading links don't work."  Then John answers,"I found these alternate links."  If other students cannot answer these questions, then the teacher can intervene if she wants.

The Cafeteria Forum extends the Introduction Forum where as a teacher you can increase your Social and Cognitive Presence. By reading the Cafeteria Forum, you increase your Cognitive Presence by getting to know what makes your students tick and what kinds of problems they may be having in the classroom. If many students for instance are having trouble finding the readings, or the reading links don't work, then the teacher can post the alternate links or alternate readings in the Announcements.  Knowing what makes your students tick helps you target in on what feedback to give them making you a more effective teacher.

Since the content is not graded, students can talk about whatever they want. They can let their hair down.  Now, I have many non-traditional adult students in my class, so normally I usually don't get that many students hanging out as adult students are usually too busy to hangout. And many students only participate in the forum for the grade so they only participate in the graded forums. Still, it is nice to have an ungraded 'Cafeteria' forum for the few students who do like to hang out. In the End of Class surveys, I get student comments like, 'Thanks, Prof. Ho, for hanging out with us in the Hangout Forum'. So, students really do appreciate the 'Cafeteria Forum'.

Post 52: Why use Rubrics for Grading?

Post 52: Why Use Rubrics For Grading?

Here is a holistic rubric I used for grading English Composition papers.


INTRODUCTION: Wrote an engaging opening sentence. (10 Points)

THESIS: Stated your thesis clearly and accurately. (10 Points)

 ORGANIZATION: Organized paper into an introduction, body, and conclusion. (10 Points)

 DEVELOPMENT: Explained your point using one or more of the development strategies appropriate to your purpose in essay of approximately 500-750 words.  (20 points)

COHERENCE: Used clear transitions keyed to the development strategies you used. (10 points)

CONCLUSION: Wrapped up your explanation in a clear concluding sentence or two. (10 points)

RESEARCH: Used two research sources and acknowledged sources using MLA format for in-text citations and a list of works cited. (10 points)

CORRECTNESS: Writing contains no serious in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. (20 points)

Why use rubrics?

Conrad states, "Rubric score and tools that layout of the grading criteria explicitly, often in a matrix using three or four criteria is on a scale of 1 to 3 or four points. Rubrics describe expectations for a forum posting, learning assignment, project or team collaboration so that students understand the characteristics of their grade.". 70

I have always used rubrics for grading because rubrics gives a list of criteria of what students are to expect from their grade.  When I use a rubric, I'm able to fill-in what criteria students are weak in and so if a student gets a low-grade all he has to do is look at his rubric and see what criteria he hasn't done very well in and then he or she would know exactly where he got his 85% or 95%. When I use a rubric in class, I avoid a lot of students asking why they got points taken off their grade.  Another advantage of a rubric is that when you post the rubric in class students know what to expect and what aim for and what the focus for when they do an assignment and so students can use the rubric as a sort of checklist of what is required in that assignment to get a good grade for that assignment.

If you use an  Irubric, then your school can also measure what percentage of students are getting A's what percentage of students are getting B's, and what percentage of students are getting C's and D's and whether or not the department as whole is fulfilling its mission of teaching students how to write a research paper. So for instance, if 95% of students get an A, then that means the department as a whole is fulfilling very well its mission of teaching students how to write a research paper; however, if only 5% of students are getting an A, then that means that the department is not fulfilling its mission very well of teaching students how to write a research paper. The Irubrics are not only useful for telling students what they did wrong on an assignment or what to expect from an assignment to get a good grade but it can also measure how well the department is fulfilling its mission by displaying in percentages and data analysis how well students are doing in the school at large and the department at large.


I believe there should be three different rubrics one for 100 level classes another rubric for 200 level classes and another rubric for 300 and 400 level classes And I believe that the school should use the same standard rubric across all departments and also give the teacher some wiggle room to personalize the rubric to fit her class or to give each department some wiggle room to personalize the rubric to fit that department needs.

I love using rubrics because they are fun and easy and make grading faster and result in fewer questions from students and fewer complaints from students when I gave a low-grade. So I highly recommend the use of rubrics and I also recommend that the LMS have rubrics built into the program so that faculty can just use the rubrics that's already in the LMS.

The Internet has many sample rubrics you can choose from so if you are a course designer and you blank out on how to create a rubric you can look up look up the Internet and see many different sample rubrics to choose from and the I rubric comes with a template you can use as well. Have fun using those rubrics.

Do you use rubrics to grade papers in your class? Are you for or against rubrics? And why?