Presented by: Pat Galitz, Business Administration faculty member at Southeast Community College View our one-hour webinar with Pat Galitz as she shares strategies and tips for teaching online discussion–based courses. You’ll see examples of activities and assignments that really work in the online environment as well as innovative techniques for getting students engaged in your online course. We will show you various resources and tools that you can use including examples from 4LTR Press, a student-tested, faculty approved solution from Cengage Learning.

2. A one-hour webinar with Pat Galitz as she shares
strategies and tips for teaching online discussion–based
courses.
You’ll see examples of activities and assignments that
really work in the online environment as well as innovative
techniques for getting students engaged in your online
course.
Pat will show you various resources and tools that you can
use including examples from 4LTR Press, a Cengage
Learning course solution.

3. Present strategies and tips for teaching online
discussion–based courses.
Provide innovative techniques for getting students
engaged in your online course.
Give examples of activities and assignments.
Give examples of resources and tools that include
4LTR Press resources.

6.  Start with a good "welcome to the course"
announcement and have a students
introduce themselves activity.
 Respond to all student queries within 24
hours.
 Be detailed and positive in your comments
on their work.

7.  Vary the media used in discussions.
 Use documents, PDF files, movies, music,
sound files, Powerpoints, Web site links, and
images to promote the standards and
concepts.
 Respond to all—or nearly all—student
discussion postings.
 Create a Frequently Asked Questions link.

9. Maintain an "extra resources" section in your course
for YouTube clips, articles and essays, photos,
online crossword puzzles that highlight and reinforce
content in your course.
Encourage students to submit resources and links
that cover subject matter.
Ask students to comment on topics as it relates to
their majors and professional goals to help them
connect with course material.
You can -

10. Give clear directions about your expectations for length, in
both completing of activities and responses to other
students.
In your directions, include the following criteria:
Use proper English grammar and spelling and complete sentences.
Cite references by name with a link to the source.
Encourage conversation to stay on topic. No outside or sidebar
conversations.
Encourage respect and understanding for the diversity of other
participants.
Give a specific date and time when both the activity and responses
are due.

11.  Use discussions and activities that will help you meet the
course competencies.
 Use discussion to check both individual and group
understanding.
 Use a rubric if providing a discussion for understanding.
Make sure your students use the rubric when making any
comments or replies.
 Provide a summary post. At the end of the discussion week,
pull together examples of great student posts, identify
themes in the discussion, and highlight truly exemplary ideas
and well-reasoned points of view. Post the summary, and
require students to respond to at least one point as part of
their next discussion board.
Some more ideas…

13. Students are required to participate in weekly
discussion as a component of online classes. These
weekly discussions take the place of the in-class
interaction they would experience in a face-to-face
class.
The 3-2-1 Reading Response can be used in these
weekly discussions, just as it can be used to spark
discussions in a face-to-face class.

14. Students are asked to post in the Discussion Forum
their responses to the 3-2-1 Reading points:
Identify and discuss three (3) new ideas or pieces
of information you learned from the reading.
Identify and discuss two (2) ideas or concepts that
you were already aware of, but that were
reinforced by the reading.
Ask one (1) question based on the reading.
(Students are encouraged to use higher-order
thinking questions).
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN 3-2-1

15. Students are also instructed to respond to a minimum
of two peers.
Peer responses could be related to the new concepts
the students encountered in the reading or the
questions posed.
Ways to use this method:
• Article analysis
• Case analysis
• Chapter analysis
HOW TO USE 3-2-1

16. You can use a grading rubric that assesses original
messages in terms of:
• Basic Understanding of Content,
• Application of Content
• References & Support
• Clarity & Mechanics
Peer responses are assessed based on:
• Content
• References & Support
• Clarity & Mechanics
• Frequency
HOW TO GRADE 3-2-1

18.  Graded quizzes – students complete quizzes prior to chapter material.
I recommend students achieving a 100% to receive a grade.
 KnowNOW – current articles resource where you can post the link for
students to read and comment. Use the 3-2-1 reading response
method.
 Games – beat the clock and crossword puzzles completed for extra
credit. I recommend students achieving a 100% to receive a grade.
 Media quizzing – videos broken into segments with questions after each
segment for students to watch and complete questions.
 Flashcards - to help reinforce chapter material.

19. Jing - http://jing.en.softonic.com
This is an online service for screen capture and screencasting. The free
version is quite robust and allows teachers (or students) to make videos
of computer screen activity. That activity can even be narrated to
create a tutorial or lesson (also called a screencast).
Prezi - http://prezi.com/windows
An online application for creating and showing presentations. What sets
this apart from other presentation software is that it in non-linear.
Thus, you can create a presentation in any order and jump from one
area to another very easily. Allows for the use of the mindmapping
concept. Presentations can be stored and viewed online.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com
Share photos online. They can be shared publicly or privately to a
select group of people.

20. MORE WEBSITES…
SKYPE - http://www.skype.com
Allows users to communicate with peers by voice using a microphone,
video by using a webcam, and instant messaging over the Internet. The
software is free.
Ted Talks - https://www.ted.com/talks/browse
There are some amazing videos if you are working on the skill of
collaboration. Or check out the hundreds of other categories.
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com
A video-sharing website which users can upload, view and share videos.

21. AND MORE SITES…
GotoMeetings – www.gotomeeting.com
Software that enables the user to meet with other computer
users, customers, clients or colleagues via the internet in real time.
WebEx – www.webex.com
Provides on-demand collaboration, online meeting, web
conferencing and videoconferencing applications.
Narrated Powerpoints –
Select “slide show” the “Record Narration” from the pull-down
menu at the top. Convert Powerpoints to Flash so that students can
open the file even if they do not have Powerpoint.

22. Audio files should not exceed 10 minutes in length,
which equals about a 50MB file size.
The optimum length for an audio file should be 3-5
minutes.
Simple lecture and term pronunciation could be
delivered as audio files which takes less server space
then video.

23. Videos should not exceed ten minutes in length,
which equals about a 100MB file size. This guideline
reflects the policies implemented by companies such
as YouTube.
Large videos can be difficult to upload and download
and also take a lot of server space to store.
Use video effectively. Video is a great way to
capture demonstrations, for instance.

25. www.cengage.com