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Online Course Quality: Tune Up Your Course with the Online Course Quick Check

Whether you have been teaching online for years or are just getting started, “online course quality” is an elusive goal to achieve. For instance, what are the components of a high quality course? How does course design contribute to overall course quality? What role does the teaching practice of the online instructor play in course quality? Can the characteristics of the students impact the quality of the course? Are large classes and small classes of equivalent quality? Access this brief, informative session for access to an array of tools, resources, and information to aid you in the quest for quality in online teaching. A featured resource is the debut of UCF’s Online Course Quick Check as a tool for quick self-assessment or collegial feedback.

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Effective Design Strategies for Blended Courses

Blended courses (also known as “mixed-mode” at UCF) are growing in popularity in higher education. The benefit of the blended approach is that it offers students the flexible scheduling and pacing of the online environment, along with the support of the face-to-face interaction of the classroom. However, there are unique challenges in the design of a blended course. Care must be taken to leverage the “best” of both learning environments to design a cohesive, seamless learning experience. In this brief seminar, we will explore affordances of blended learning, review models of blended learning implementation, and share practical strategies in order to maximize the integration of the face-to-face and online components in your blended courses.

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Creating Accessible Content in the Online Course Environment

As new and exciting technologies emerge, many of us are compelled to incorporate them into our online courses. Yet how do we face the challenge of ensuring that all of our students, including those with visual and hearing impairments, learning disabilities, and non-native English speakers, can access these materials? In this session, presenters will discuss a variety of strategies, resources, and services that will help us make online course materials accessible. Ideas and concerns of on-site and remote participants will be solicited. The goal of this session is constructive and practical dialogue with colleagues.

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2012 Dziuban Award – Amanda Groff

Amanda Groff, Professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Sciences, was awarded the Chuck D. Dziuban Award for Excellence in Online Teaching by the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL). The award presentation occurred during the Showcase event that concluded the spring section of CDL’s faculty development program for online and blended teaching, IDL6543. Professor Groff received the 2012 …

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Engaging Online Students: Practical Interaction Strategies to Enhance Learning

Minimal student effort coupled with what some perceive as an isolating online learning experience make it more important than ever to identify strategies for engaging students online. In this recorded session, presenters will review a variety of synchronous and asynchronous interaction strategies with a particular focus on designing and facilitating meaningful online discussions.

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Effective Online Assessment: Scalable Success Strategies

In the face of larger numbers of students in online courses and the challenge of designing effective assessments in an online environment, the need is greater than ever to implement scalable strategies that mitigate academic integrity issues. In this recorded session, presenters will review a variety of assessment techniques applicable to many disciplines.

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