Month: June 2010

Business Writing Development Timeframe: How much development time (in weeks) would you estimate Benoît would need to develop Business Writing, the online version?

Upon reflection:  I would add about 3 weeks to each of my sections- it appears i highly underestimated the time-committment required to develop a course for an LMS- I will soon find out, won’t I?

TIME is MONEY!
Benny boy will want to be very organized so he isn’t being ‘forced into unpaid overtime’ as someone said in a previous thread. If he follows my recommended plan (which is incredibly similar to many other suggested plans!) he will have time to play- literally and figuratively.

Week 1- Get over the fear week! Partake in LMS PD/training if possible and get familiar with the idea of teaching a fully online course (reflection time for what he will have to change from his current practice)

Week 2- Discovery Week! Ben will spend the 5 hours this week fully engaging in the LMS, practicing, trialling and playing to the point where he is comfortable in the online learning platform.

Week 3-4- Don’t reinvent the wheel week! Ben will redesign his Business English course so that it is suitable for an online format. He will need to prepare Modules, an Introduction, a help page, Assessments, Readings etc. So the course is ready for the students. How will he engage his students?

Week 5- Crash test dummy week! Ben personally will test his course and make adjustments as necessary.

Week 6- Feed forward week! Ben will seek feedback on his course from his colleagues, current students and/or family and friends. If he is really desperate he can go to the local pub/cafe and ask random strangers to check it out on his laptop and give them a university sticker for participating as part of his focus group. However he does it, he needs to get some constructive feedback so he can make final alterations and be ready for the next week! Bonne chance!

Benoît, a sessional instructor in the English department of a large, research-intensive university, has to select an LMS for teaching his Business Writing course.  Moodle- of which he has no experience with- or WebCT/Vista- where he has had minimal experience using WebCT.  He needs to evaluate these 2 online platforms to determine which one is best.

Upon reflection I now see that I should have tackled this with a more analytical approach using CRITERIA, such as the SECTIONS model but I think the 6 hats are FUN!

This is one way for him to look at it:

Problem Solve using de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats!

• White Hat– the facts: Ben must teach Business English online. Ben has taught Business English f2f. Ben has used WebCT to share lecture notes and readings.

• Yellow Hat– positives: WebCT/Vista is fairly similar to WebCT. WebCT/Vista has university support. Moodle has less red tape and available online support. Moodle is reportedly easy to use.

• Black Hat– negatives: WebCT/Vista reportedly has hiccups. Ben has limited time to learn and prepare.

• Red Hat– emotions: Ben is stressed. Ben is excited to learn something new!

• Green Hat– creativity: Ben quits his job at the university and moves to Cambodia to teach English where they have never heard of Moodle or WebCT/Vista! Ben innovates a new LMS!

• Blue Hat: What is more important: providing the best learning environment for his STUDENTS or selecting the system that is the most efficient and easiest for him to ORGANIZE?

Once he decides on his priority- the decision will be clear.

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.