At the end of each week, it is important to create a end of the week post that wraps up and/or summarizes the weekly lesson. The wrap up post creates a closing discussion that sums up key ideas or take away lessons for the week. These wrap up posts help students with overall course review.
Faculty can create an infograph or a chart of core concepts for the class. Wrap up forum posts are a good way for students to study for the final exam by reading the wrap up posts every week. Faculty can also use the core concepts in the wrap up posts to use as questions for the final exam especially if the final exam is cumulative.
In the wrap up posts, you can also integrate comments or observations made by students on the core concepts. Include the students' names in these wrap up posts to thank these students for their active participation in the class and encourage these students to post even more in the future. The teacher can comment on an insight, challenge, relationship, pattern that the student has uncovered or mastered as they engaged in the lesson of the week.
Say for example, 'Charles, you made a great comment on....or John, I like the way you.....Mary, you made very insightful statements about....Juan, thanks for your participation when you.....Draw out the good students and thank them for being such active participants in their own learning. Perhaps these students can act as group leaders or mini-teachers for the next forum topic.
You can also use the wrap up post as a preview for the next week's lesson and to tie together what you did that week to what you will do for next week, so students can see the logical continuity of the class as you move forward and to alert students on what to expect in future assignments or tests.
Wrap up posts helps students visualize the coherence of the entire class and of the syllabus. You can also repeat elements of the wrap up posts in your announcements to help students reinforce core concepts. The more you integrate core concepts throughout your teaching, the more students will be able to eventually integrate core concepts into their own personal knowledge base.
I always wait until the very end of the week after the last student has posted his/her last post so that it is easy for students to find the wrap up post. It is also easy for your evaluator/boss to find your wrap up post so he/she can make sure you have done your job of putting a wrap up post to your weekly forum posts.
What do your wrap up posts look like? Does your online school require you to make online posts at the end of each week?
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