General Feedback for Module One

I haven't got everything graded, but I did finish enough to provide some general feedback to the class. First, I'd like to give all of the groups a pat on the back for some excellent group discussion essays. They were all good, and each made at least one unique point. Well done! It's hard to say much about the group project discussions yet, as there's not much there, but the ideas that are forming up look fascinating. I'm really looking forward to seeing these develop in the next two modules. Discussion was good as well! Normally, the first module is fairly poor discussion-wise, but I've got to hand it to the class: With almost 50 people engaging in simultaneous discussions, you managed to ask, explore, and answer questions wonderfully. Keep up the good work!

That said, a few students didn't seem to completely understand the discussion requirements, but again, that's normal. It takes a while to figure out where to post and what sort of expectations each instructor has, and that's OK. To make sure that you get a fair start in the class, I will be adding two points to your M1 individual discussion grades (up to 8, max). I'll leave the existing grades up so you can see how you did and adjust accordingly, but when I grade Module Two I'll add up to two points each.

Also, I think some clarification about the different forums in the course is in order. Usually, we'd spread these out over different online technologies, but when you put them all together it gets a bit hard to follow. So, here goes:

• The general discussion forum is for general topics that don't fit into the various assignments. Normally, I start posting some questions in the beginning of Module Two, but I've noticed that the questions and topics the class are asking and discussing are quite excellent. If that continues, I'm happy to let students drive the general discussion forum and will not need to add significantly to the topics. No matter who starts the conversation, you should engage in some of the discussions there. They are quite good. (Note: I opened a new general discussion forum in order to relieve congestion on the first one. You can still use both forums, but please start new topics on the new M2 general discussion forum.)
  
• Assigned group discussion question forums are for posting and discussion your responses to the group discussion questions in each module. Each group constructs their own answers, submits and essay, and then we all read and discuss. Ideally, we will be able to identify some themes that emerge across groups.
• Assigned group instructional design project forums are for posting drafts of your group's project for review by your peers.
• The individual group forums (i.e., Texas Four Step) are there simply to help the groups communicate and share. In a longer semester, I would have required them to find their own place to do this outside of Bb, but in the short summer session I felt your time was better spent otherwise. These forums are not graded at all. Drafts of group work for review should be placed in the module GIDP forums. These individual group forums are just for ease of communication.
• The Help! and Faculty Lounge forums seem to be well understood. Nice work on helping each other out with your tech (and gardening) problems.
  

About grading, please note that your individual discussion grade for each module combines discussion from several places: The general discussion forum, the Help! forum, and peer review/discussion activities on the assigned group forums. Your group discussion question grade comes solely from the essay that your group creates, and your group ID project grade comes from the work that you submit for those assignments. The individual discussion grade comes entirely from individual discussion - it is the only part of the grade in this class that is not tied to your group work.

You may have noticed that I haven't provided a whole lot of instructions on exactly how your final project should look, nor have I given you a template to follow or an example from a previous class. I have not provided instruction re: the form that your projects take because you don't need it! Teaching is a creative process: More often than not, you won't have any models (no good ones, anyhow) to follow when you're trying to create a lesson, a program, etc. Use the technologies at your disposal to design a unit of instruction and you'll be well prepared to do so with your students in the future. Of couse, if you have some questions about how to put things together, feel free to contact me. I'm sure your peers will also provide some excellent advice in their feedback to you as well.

Again, 5263, nice job!

Grading

I am commencing with grading of Module One. With over 1500 discussion posts, this is going to take some time. I will get it done this week, but please don't panic if you see some low numbers in the gradebook over the next few days! After I finish, I'll also provide some general feedback to the class here. For those who are worried -for whatever reason- know that I tend to be somewhat relaxed about grading the first modules/timelines in online courses. Everybody needs time to learn what each instructor expects and I understand that. :)

Reliability Testing with Online Survey Administration Software

Who wants to help me test the reliability of a short survey instrument? Your help would be greatly appreciated, but is not required. If you don't mind spending a little time to help, keep reading. If you don't wish to participate, that's OK, too. I'll make your time worthwhile by explaining what I'm doing as we go. We'll be using online survey software that is a fantastic educational technology for collecting information from your students. Some of you may even want to use this survey software to collect feedback for evaluating your project. 

Test-Retest Reliability 

Reliability refers to the ability of an instrument to consistently measure what it is supposed to measure. One classic method of establishing reliability involves administering an instrument  to the same group of people twice - and then comparing the results of the first responses set with the results of the second response set. If respondents tend to answer similarly both the first and the second times (as determined by a statistical test), then we can say that the instrument reliably measures what it is measuring. Figuring out exactly what it is measuring comes later, for now we have to determine whether it is measuring anything consistently. 

To help, you'll need to fill out two surveys, each with 21 items and some demographic questions. Please note that on one of the items you are asked to create a nickname. This nickname can be anything you want: An address, a phone number, your favorite name, a string of numbers, anything. However, it should be unique and it should be easy to remember, because you will have to include it on the second survey as well. The purpose of asking for this nickname is to allow us to link the first instrument with the second instrument and compare responses without asking for identifying information. I'll discuss more about online survey software (free, for limited usage, by the way!) in a future post. This is an educational technology that is extremely useful for the contemporary nurse educator. 

Without further ado, here is the link to the first survey: https://www.psychdata.com/s.asp?SID=130338

I'll put the second survey up after leaving this one up for a while. Thanks!

Netspeak

People who spend a lot of time chatting and/or using discussion forums have come up with some excellent ways to shorten the amount of time and space required to say things and provide context (i.e., a wink can let people know you're joking, etc). In this class, I'd like to officially make these communication shortcuts fair game for students who would like to use them. If you don't want to, that's OK, but print this out and keep it handy for those who do. To some degree, convention suggests that the extent of abbreviation used be based upon the form of communication. In chat, for example, where you have to be able to get your ideas across quickly, anything goes, whereas on discussion forums people typically use these a bit less.

Now before I go any further, this is important: Abbreviations and emoticons are frowned on by many instructors who feel that they are unprofessional. So, don't use them elsewhere, just in this specific class, unless your instructors say its OK. One thing that's worth noting is that your students will be likely to use these pretty frequently. To me, the emoticons are absolutely vital for online discussion, as they tend to suggest meaning that is not inherent within the verbal message. Abbreviations simply save time and space (important for text messages, where you are limited to 160 characters). Below are some common examples of each, which I intend to use in my chat/discussion as I see fit. There are many, many more - let's stick with these for the time being so as to prevent mass confusion. If you need to use another, give us a little lesson on what it means at the bottom of your post.

:) - Smile (happy, not used to mock or indicate sarcasm)

;) - Wink (used as a wink would be used, or to indicate sarcasm)

:/ - Straight face (usually disappointment or irony)

:( - Frown (sad, or unfortunate)

:o - Surprise

o.O - Raised eyebrow (many uses - I typically use to indicate that I find something to be odd)

AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AFK - Away From Keyboard
ASAP - As Soon As Possible
BRB - Be Right Back
BTW - By The Way
CU - see you
F2F - Face to Face
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FWIW - For What It’s Worth
FYI - For Your Information
IIRC - If I Remember Correctly
JK - Just Kidding
IMO - In My Opinion
IOW - In Other Words
IRL - In Real Life
LOL - Laughing Out Loud
OMG - Oh My Gosh!
OTOH - On The Other Hand
ROFL - Rolling On the Floor Laughing
ROFLMAO - Rolling On the Floor Laughing My A** Off (perhaps inappropriate for some, but very common)
THX - Thanks
TIA - Thanks In Advance
TTYL - Talk To You Later

Welcome to the NURS 5263 course blog!

Well, I removed the requirement for blogging for students in the class... but after just one week I feel awfully detached from everyone. With so many students in a class, it's hard to even read all the posts, let alone require you to fish around on the discussion board for information I've posted. It's only now I realize that, over the last few years, I've grown very accustomed to being able to use blogs to talk to the class: So, here it is, the NURS 5263 Su09 course blog! This blog is not required reading, nor will it contain information that is intended to be used on any assignments. This is just a place for me to mention things that I think might be useful to the class, or in some cases just a place to describe my own perspective on things ed-techy. So, welcome to the blog. If you decide you'd like to create one of your own, let me know the address and I'll link to it from this blog as well.

PS - If you don't like the colors, please forgive, but I'm a fool for those old monochrome computer displays. :)