Technology unfamiliarity leads to some hiccups, but students go with the flow and are eager to learn.
In the two weeks leading up to the start of semester, I spent my time gathering reading resources, crafting powerpoints, and developing homework assignments for the first three weeks of content for my students. I thought I had everything properly loaded into Blackboard... but once students were able access the module they quickly were emailing and texting me about various hiccups such as a discussion thread not made public or a broken link to an external pdf. These were easy fixes but a bit embarrassing.
Luckily, all of my students are eager to learn, kind, and are quick to communicate.
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When developing my curriculum, I was grounded in the pedagogical belief that critical thinking and metacognition are critical skills needed for any student to thrive in academics. Because of this, the first three weeks are geared towards students developing self-reflection skills, learning about patterns of thinking processes in relation to composing, and identifying and overcoming insecurities about the vulnerability of writing. All of these topics lay the foundation for my students to become comfortable with adapting their habits of communication.
Hi Emma,
Thanks for sharing your experiences thus far with your students. I think we all can relate when it comes to Blackboard. Just when you think you have figured one aspect out, something else seems to occur. I am glad your students were patient and you were able to fix the issues. I try to keep it simple. I would sometimes give into the temptation to add a lot of bells and whistles but I found those things were mostly distractions. I found a clean user-friendly was the way to go.
I am glad to hear you say that you are including multiple reflective writing opportunities early in the term. Students need this practice. Have you read the Writing…