Dr. Sam Cotton
Department of Industry and Technology
Ball State University
Overview for online education classes taught by Dr. Sam Cotton
A variety of experiences are typical of these online courses.
Weekly activities normally begin at 8:00 am EST (not daylight savings) each Monday. Most activities span a one week period with some larger activities spanning two to four weeks (usually one per course). The larger activities will always overlap with other regular activities. Some weeks may involve more than one activity. Note that summer classes are 15 week courses condensed into 5 weeks, so participants are discouraged (but not prevented) from taking multiple classes at one time if also working during the same period. There will normally be multiple activities each week (2 to 4) during summer sessions.
Discussion forums are often used for activities either as a supplemental part of a written submitted assignment or as the primary activity. Some discussions will be smaller groups discussion while others will be whole class discussions. Some forums are required and assessed according to a discussion rubric, while others are not required. For optional discussion forums, individuals may post anonymously, required discussions are not anonymous. A forum is an tool for discussion that is based on one primary area of concern that includes one or more threads (lines of thought) created by the instructor and/or the class or group members. Threads may be responded to by anyone with access to the forum. Posts can be in the form of questions, general comments or observations, or responses to question or input of others. Forums generally require achieving either 5 or 10 points according to the class discussion rubric. There will normally be a discussion activity in the first week that is in part for practice in using this tool. The graphic below is an example of a forum with a single thread and a reply to the thread.
Virtual classrooms are live and generally text based discussions that are available as an optional tool for these courses. These are normally only used by request due to limitations of scheduling live sessions with participants spread over several time zones.
Research activities are often used as either primary activities or sub-activities for assignments. Research activities may take the form of individual or group challenges. These will always be centered around electronically available resources with other resources optional except in the cases in which the learners are researching or experimenting with local organizations. There is a wealth of information (both accurate and inaccurate) available through the internet. Using this tool for online classes helps learners become more effective at differentiating between good and bad information through this medium.
Home based activities may be used for some courses in which learners will use their own facilities or local facilities to apply work done for class or to research local organizations. These type of activities are only used in a few of the CTE courses.
Electronic communication tools are used to transfer most activity submissions or to interact with the instructor or other class members. Most assignments, other than discussion forums, will be submitted either through email or using the blackboard digital dropbox. Forums are automatically posted. Some submissions are attached to posts in discussion forums.
Homepage development will always be the first activity for these online courses. This is a tool to help class members to meet and learn about one another. This is valuable for preparing for group activities and for becoming comfortable working with others in the general class activities. Class members are encouraged to seek out more information about others in the partially social activity.
Group activities are normally used for one or two activities in each course. These are normally organized around randomly assigned groups of from 2 to 10 members dependent on the activity. These are often research activities in which each group will report back to the class, supplying reports to all members. Often these activities will close with a whole group discussion pertaining to the reported findings. Some discussion forum activities use groups for the discussions to reduce the volume of discussion that must be read by each person. Smaller classes may not use this technique however.
Online test and quizzes are primarily multiple choice instruments. These vary in length according to the content and activity. Some are timed tests and all must be taken during specific periods (usually one week or less). Some quizzes and test may be taken multiple times, but the exact questions may vary with each administration. When a test or quiz is retaken, any previous attempts are lost, son only the final attempts apply toward the final course grade. Occasionally test or quizzes may require submitting an electronic file that is either created during a certain time period or by a specified deadline (if the test is other than multiple choice).
Written assignments or other similar activities may involve a wide variety of objectives, but most will normally require producing some electronic documents, some with graphics, and submitting electronically through a variety of methods according to guidelines provided for each lesson.
Assessments and progress will be recorded in an online gradebook located under the "Tools" link in the class blackboard account. These will be numeric scores with the final grade determined by the percentage of the total possible. See the syllabus for the grading scale.
See the tutorial area in the class blackboard account for additional information related to the blackboard tools used.
NOTICE: All information on this site has been produced, obtained, or linked by Dr. Samuel Cotton and is in no way endorsed or sponsored by either Ball State University or the College of Applied Sciences and Technology. This site represents the personal views, opinions, and interests of Dr. Samuel Cotton.
Contact Sam Cotton at e-mail: scotton@bsu.eduor 756-285-5640 fax 765-285-2162
Department of Technology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306-0255