OTL201 – Online Teaching and Learning

OTL 201 – Post 6: Updating the Learning Activities Portfolio

This has been a challenging module for me, in part because as I have not yet had any active students for my OL course. 4 have signed up and 1 withdrew after a couple weeks.

In combing the internet, I’ve found a couple other potential learning activities that I may try:

Developing short, online presentations explaining parts of the course that students have difficulty with. This will only be possible after students have taken the course!

Encourage engagement between the students by sending a response to a question from a particular student to other students and have them weigh in. Source: https://elearningindustry.com/top-10-elearning-activities-can-employ-build-strong-online-learning-communities

OTL 201 – Post 4: My Introduction Video

I used a simple green screen app to capture my intro video on my phone. Click on the link below to view.

otl201-post-4-video

Learning Activity Strategy #3

Activity: Encouragement to complete

Working on a course alone, in your pajamas, devoid of human interaction can make it difficult for students to keep on track and complete assignments and the course. By having regular contact with students I can encourage them to complete assignments, ask questions and answer questions.

Learning Activity Strategy #2

Activity: Relate the topic to a real world experience

Encourage students to reflect on their own experiences and relate them to the topic in the course. I may provide my own examples to get things going. Although much easier in person or in the classroom setting, I’ve used this technique to help students relate to the topic.

Next steps: I will use this when students have questions or as seeking clarification.

OTL201 – Post 3

I have not yet “taught” an OL course so I cannot use my own experience and provide examples of activities I use for enhancing social presence. I guess the blog posts in these courses are helping me to start enhancing my social presence! My Learning Activities Portfolio can be found at this location….

http://desinclair.trubox.ca/category/learning-activities-portfolio/

OTL201 – Post 2

My introductory post was taken from my corporate CV I send to clients and is written in the third person, a typical style used for such documents in the consulting world. For the open learning environment I could enhance my social presence by altering the wording to first person and creating more interpersonal communication.

I often use humour when teaching and did include, what I hoped was a slight humourous touch, with my ending comment “Nothing like fresh powder on a blue sky day!” Although directed as part of the assignment, I did hope it would provide a connection with the people reading the post.

I have actively resisted being an active participant in/on social media particularly in the past few years, and this is my first foray into blogs. This course is helping me understand that carefully crafted and curated social presence is another tool to be used in effective teaching and communication.

OTL201 – Post 1

deans-pic After 15 successful years in the forest industry in BC and overseas in New Zealand, Dean Sinclair started DCS Consulting Ltd. (http://www.dcsconsulting.ca) in November 2008 to provide safety consulting and safety auditing services to clients throughout BC and Alberta. Throughout much of his career he has been involved in safety management and has over 13 years of experience in safety. In 2004 he successfully completed a National Certificate of Occupational Health and Safety while working in New Zealand and in 2012 he became a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP).

In 2016 he became the latest TRU Open Learning Faculty Member and will be the OLFM for OCHS 3511: Occupational Health & Safety: Legislation and Standards.

As for something I think is important? Nothing like fresh powder on a blue sky day!

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