Your voice and choice will be evident in a variety of digital spaces. Your critical digital literacy skills will be showcased through your connected and participatory actions in open and sheltered digital places. While the course content is found on an open web site, the online discussions will take place in Desire 2 Learn. This is done for two reasons. First, the discussion forum capabilities of D2L (threading, nesting, sorting, displaying etc.) are much more sophisticated than what is available in open digital spaces. Secondly, the D2L discussion forums are restricted to registered students so you have a certain degree of privacy. This allows me to keep the course content open to the world, but restrict access to the discussions to allow for more open and candid conversation.
Your engaged learning includes participation in a weekly discussion posts in the Desire 2 Learn course forum, or alternatively, posting and responding in other digital media such as Hypothes.is, Flipgrid, and Padlet. In these discussions and activities, you will address the learning goals and outcomes. You are required to respond to the main discussion prompt and also comment on ONE of the responses from others in your small group in the course – in D2L or other suggested digital locations. This means posting your own thoughts about the weekly topics before Wednesday of the week, then commenting by Friday. Discussions will run from Monday to Friday. Posts completed after Friday at 9:00 p.m. of each week will be evaluated as NOT MET YET. Set a schedule to check into D2L 2- 3 times each week – see the suggested weekly work flow found in this syllabus.
You will also explore and apply digital tools through activities in open digital spaces. Responses and creations of the weekly Tinkering Tasks and Collaboration activities should be done before Friday. Do not delay completing these tasks and share the creative results in your discussion posts. I have selected tools that will support and inform your critical digital literacies and fluencies as an educator. These include surveys, Google Slides, Flipgrid, Padlet, Zoom, and Cube for Teachers. By participating, tinkering and sharing with these digital resources, you will reveal course outcomes and showcase critical digital literacy skills.
Consider your time commitment to the online discussions and participation in digital activities to be critical to your success as a learner, as well as to the success of the course. Because ongoing engaged learning is expected, including weekly collaborations in digital spaces, 60% of your final grade will be based on this participatory collaboration with others.
MET / NOT MET YET evaluation scores will be based on the following criteria:
- Frequency and timeliness of postings – your post by Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. of each week, your response to posts by classmates by Friday at 9:00 p.m.
- Content of your postings (the thoughtfulness/reflection that goes into your responses and the extent to which they address the topic for the week, connect to the assigned readings, build connections from texts, self, or world experiences). The quality of responses rather than the quantity of words will be a critical factor. These posts should include links to additional self-selected readings and URL links to resources or blogs.
- Adherence to online etiquette [see course page outlining expectations] and the OCT standards of practice for teachers – e.g. professional knowledge, leadership, care, respect, trust, integrity.
- Participation in digital collaborations (e.g. Padlet, Flipgrid), group conversations and feedback to inquiry project elements in both D2L and other digital collaboration spaces.
Based on personal experience, I recommend that you spend approximately 1-2 hours online in D2L each week (reading and responding to others) and 1-2 hours researching, reading, completing activities and working on your assignments for a total of 3-4 hours per week.
See the Points and Grades page for more information on how your work will be collaboratively tracked and evaluated in this course.
