Finishing touches

I'm about to launch 2 new classes.  They are very different and I've enjoyed working on both.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned with online classes is each instructor does them differently which can cause lots of confusion for students as well as for me.

Last semester I had the system in my online Spanish classes that required my students to do quizzes, spoken assignments and tests in Canvas but everything else was on the Cengage website.  Students missed quizzes and spoken assignments because they weren't going to Canvas.  I realized how confusing this navigation issue was and did as much on my end as I could to help them.

However, when I searched for a new curriculum I was very interested in finding an online site that would let me use the tests in the curriculum site so I wasn't copying everything into Canvas.  (In hindsight I bet Cengage had that capability, but the rep showed me how to move everything to Canvas so it's what I did--causing lots of extra work on my end).
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I took a break there and wrote in the closed captioning for an 8 minute video giving my new online Sp class a tour of our Canvas classroom.  I didn't do videos like this before and I think showing and explaining exactly where things are located on my Canvas page and what they are expected to do with these things will help.  That's the hope anyway ;)

When I'm working from home my internet connection isn't great.  I believe in heaven and hell and I'm convinced slow wifi is included in hell.  (I also think heaven is not online;  we will talk face to face to anyone we want to talk to.  That's not biblical--just my own personal opinion).  So, I just made an 8 minute video and the CC didn't automatically upload.  Boo.  When I'm in my office the CC comes through in less than a minute and it takes a few minutes for me to proof read it.  (When I lecture I give examples in Spanish.  If I don't proof read, Google translates "nosotras" as "new a_ _."  I proof read closely.  At my house it takes a long time and often gets disconnected resulting in an error message.  I've gotten fast at typing my CC when I have to, but dude.  It's annoying.

You're welcome for that tangent.The irony is I made that video at my in-law's house yesterday (they have amazing wifi and let me use it) but I realized this morning I wanted to change something.  I could have waited until I'm at their house again but I decided to bite the bullet and just remake the video.  I'm glad it's done.

I'm very concerned that so many classes were put online quickly in March and the results from what I'm hearing from students is that the classes weren't consistent.  Students weren't sure how to use these classes and there was quite a bit of confusion.  I know in one of my own sections I assumed students could figure out the new curriculum site without explanation but I needed to provide more direction and help.  I was able to salvage the issue, but I realized how important it is that we provide our students with what they need to use the tools we expect them to use.

I'm in the process of making sure I've provided all I can to introduce these students to these new classes.  Fingers crossed it's enough (and if I've missed something they'll let me know so I can fix it).


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