ITC eLearning 11, Day 1

I spent day one following a student retention track.

The morning keynote was Alan Levine of CogDogBlog fame with a presentation on photopgraphy as a metaphor for education.  My take-away was to try to apply the Daily Shoot concept to the developmental math courses I am teaching -- how did each student apply this unit's math concept in their daily live each day.  I think I might ask them to post that (maybe not daily) beginning in unit 3.  

Next presentation was on student risk factors and how to ameliorate them.  #1 was time or registration.  CCCO didn't find any difference in success between students who registered on-time and students who registered the first week of classes, so I am not sure I would cut off registration any earlier than that.  It seems to me that some creative course design could solve any issues there.  #2 was poor/non-existent advising.  Monique has that under control at CMC. :^)  I did think that the idea of cutting students off from online classes when their GPA fell below a certain level was interesting.  I of course disagreed with the thought that students should be required to take F2F courses before they take online courses even if that does positively impact completion rates.

A presentation on 10 tips to increase course retention rates was interesting --

1. Classmate questions (kind of like the intro discussion only continues on into the term)
2. Learn as you go quizzes - group quizzes given before the material is officially covered
3. Weekly notes posted every Friday afternoon, covering the following week's activities.
4. Assignment schedule page. We know I love this one.
5. Two due dates -- Tuesday a quick and easy assignment, Thursday the major assignment.  The Tuesday assignment is also a reminder to begin the Thursday assignment.
6. Consistent Due Dates - Every Tuesday and Thursday, no other days.
7. Variety -- in assignments, learning styles, etc.
8. Survey Students
1. class concepts
2. How assignments work.
3. study habits
4. tie the questions to your learning objectives.
9. Open Book exams with randomized andpooled questions
10. Politeness - lots of please and thank you (kill them with kindness), encourage I messages.

Assignment ideas I need to look up :

1. Tag Galaxy
2. Playlist.com
3. Collagemaker
4. Windows and Mirrors
5. In Plain English on Youtube
6. Free Rice (has more than English)

Last presentation was similar.... 

Also lots of good conversation about implementing Quality Matters.

(Photo credit - Billy V from Flickr.  My hotel is next door to the tall round one. http://www.flickr.com/photos/billyv/1621273470/in/photostream/)