Hilgartner Open Learning

The path to essay composition requires trial and error. In the GED Exam Preparation and English Preparation courses, students come with varied skills and experiences with essay composition. Over three-quarters of the adult students I have worked with this term have never written an essay. Of the quarter that have, only one understands the basic essay format and its intention. The textbooks provide lessons and practices on what an essay should like. They offer advice on each step of the writing process. They offer practice at each of these steps. I have created an essay format video and handout to support these lessons but it is not enough. Yet, the majority of students in an asynchronous and independent online learning program either leave these lessons and practices for last or do not attempt them at all. Those small few that do often complete the essay compositions at once and submit them at once not taking the opportunity to receive and learn from feedback. The challenge then ...

Course Gap Analysis I originally started this post with the plan to reflect on course evaluation as I set about to improve my online courses in terms of engagement and completion rates.  However, I came to notice that the majority of the work I was doing was taking existing content and designs and adjusting or revamping. I noticed too that I was doing so in phases. In particular, I have been working on assessment which in my courses largely means exams, which are a good starting point or foundation for summative and formative assessment opportunities. I observed several stages, the first being improving access. Improving Access For exams, I started off working on moving exams and items online. I took book pdfs with the questions and then I converted them to text. From there, I stripped the questions and ran them through a GIFT format converter . I then upload the GIFT files quickly into the Moodle course question banks. I created a text file with an HTML templat...

This week I have set myself to bolster my online course offerings. I am hoping to engage students from diverse distances and backgrounds so that they participate and complete the learning activities needed to be successful on certification exams or enter college programs. Thus far, I have imported entry test questions into the question bank to create entry tests that will identify for students what lessons they need to study to be successful so they can build a study plan. The plan is to personalize their learning and increase the focus on filling in gaps. Of the students who have taken the study plan approach, 2 to date, they both have completed, with one successfully reporting back a pass back on the official certification exam. Certainly, those students engaged participating in the study plan were more active, asking questions and attending virtual workshops. To further engage, I have created custom badges for successful completion of key activities to show progress: the indicat...