HRD 1100 Course Redesign From Group 3 link

Here is the link that Group 3 has produced a webpage redesign for the HRD 1100 course.

http://group3redesignofhrd1100.webs.com/

Primary Analysis Questions For Group 3

Primary Analysis Questions

Case Study Group Project

Group 3

Tiffany Schnepel, Catina Jackson, & Megan Balamut

1. What is causing the frustrations Georgina and her students are facing?

The frustration is coming from mistakes that both the students and the teacher are making. It is obvious that the students are not taking the time to actually read through the website. When students do not read through the materials for the online course they often miss dates or assignments and then push the blame towards the professor. This happens often in online courses, students think they know what they are doing but in reality panic when they do not receive the grade they desired. Some of the questions the students are asking can be found on the website. The teacher's design of the webpage is not very clear and easy to read.
Another big problem is that Georgina is approaching her student comments/complaints like a professor. She's not seeing things from the student's perspective. She set the website up, but she isn't the one who uses it actively every day. She knows what she has put on the website and feels that it is satisfactory for the students to learn from. It would be a good idea for her to set herself up with a dummy account and actually work the course as a student; that way she could see that there are a few sloppy areas that could be adjusted for clarification. All of the information seems to be there on the website that the students need, it's just not necessarily in an orderly or easy to find fashion. For example the syllabus with the specific dates and requirements shouldn't be a link within a link, it should be front and center so that is cannot be missed. In which will probably cut down a lot of emails asking questions to the professor that can be answer by simply reading the syllabus. And lastly Georgina should not be chasing her students down for assignments. If her students aren't reading the website, syllabus or talking amongst each other than that is beyond her control. This is not high school and even though this is a one thousand level class, which mostly freshman take, they know that if they do not turn in the work then they will have a missing grade or a grade deduction depending on the teacher. Granted she should e-mail the class a copy of everything at the beginning, but she should not e-mail them individually for assignments. If it is in the syllabus, than it is up to the student to read it, and complete the tasks. Students at times have difficulty in the first week or so with getting acquainted with the online course and what will be expected of them throughout the course. There is no need to have a lot of frustration on the students behalf or Georgina's, they all need to work together and help Georgina in making progress to creating a better online course for next semester. We all make mistakes and they can be fixed just like this online course can.

 

 

2. Develop a flowchart of Georgina's site as it currently exists. Develop another flowchart with your recommendations of how to solve the current problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. What other improvements would you recommend for the existing pages in order to decrease student frustration?

The overall color scheme of the webpage could use some improvement. The colors are not inviting and they do not work well with each other. Navigation buttons and bars are easy to understand and use throughout the course website, which should be added to the page to decrease student frustration. Good use of graphic elements such as photos, subheads, and pull quotes are great to use when breaking up large areas of text. Every web page in the course site looks like it belongs to the same site; there are repetitive elements that carry throughout the pages. Making the introduction to the course part of the front page along with the syllabus will show the students that these are important and to always refer to these before you email the professor. A good way to see if the students have read the course syllabus and course website thoroughly is to give them an online quiz that will be due at the end of the week. So that Georgina and the students will feel more comfortable with knowing the information and if they get the answer wrong the students will want to go and find the correct answer choice. If the basic course information is there every time the students log on it would be hard for them to avoid reading it. With that being said, the information about the course assignments and due dates should be on the front page as well, which is normally in a calendar format. Some students are good at keeping track of what is due and when it is due, but others just depend on the course calendar. On the webpage that vital information is not on the front of the course page, it is hidden inside of a link, which to some students who do not navigate throughout the course will not find it easily. Sending out a mass e-mail to the entire class with those important documents on the first day is also a great idea so that way when students email Georgina, her proper response could be that it is posted on the homepage and was also e-mailed out to each student, therefore please refer to the proper page. A very simple improvement that could be made is to have a hyperlink for Georgina's e-mail address, so that way the students can just click on the hyperlink and begin their message. The discussion forum does not seem to be easy to find. If it is an important part of the class there should be a link to it in larger font so that it can be easy to find. There is no place on the current website that shows where the discussion forum can be found. Making some of these adjustments and improvements will make the online course easier to navigate through and put less stress on the professor and the student.

4. As design experts, how would you work with Georgina to fix these problems?

To fix these problems first Georgina would need to go to a professional in the technology department so that way they could look over the online course and double check the information. Having other peers to look over the webpage will give her a variety of feedback on her course design. When creating an online course everything needs to be easy to navigate and make it user friendly. With having a professionals help, this will also help with some of the technical errors that can occur at times, and also help to give the webpage a bolder appearance rather than just a white background. Choosing a text that is very easy to read and simple will help a lot as well. Applying easy to use navigation buttons for the discussion board and assignments would also be something to talk to the technology professional about. By making the links color-coordinated and underlined so that they are visible to the reader is going to help the students out with finding what they need. Exploring the students feedback and given the information that she has received throughout her first online course design, she will now be able to create a more easy accessible course for her students to use with just a little help the course should be up and running smoothly.

5. What options are available for salvaging this course at this point? Which course of action do you recommend?

This course does not need to be completely redone. It just needs some professional attention from the technical support, so that the course can be designed properly. Sending out an email, would be a good first start to point out to the students that this is your first course and to please cooperate with her in fixing the current problems in the course. This is a learning experience not only for the students but also for Georgina. Creating an online course is not something that can just be done overnight, it is a task that does take a lot of time and effort to produce a good quality course website. Continue with how the course is for now, as all of the information is there, with adding just a few improvements the course will eventually run smoother than it did in the beginning. Eventually everyone gets used to how the course needs to be navigated through and as to what is due and when. Everyone needs to be patient and to work together in trying to solve any of their concerns. But to first ask their question in the discussion board before e-mailing the professor. Giving the students a tutorial website that they can go to that will help them be able to navigate through the website will make things less stressful on everyone. After Georgina goes through the website and sees what her students are talking about from their perspective she will have a better grasp on how to restructure her website. From a student's perspective things just need to be rearranged and a little clearer for easy reading. And lastly with providing the students with a course evaluation link will help Georgina see where the students are having the most difficulty. For example UNT uses the SETE course evaluations. Overall the course is not in that bad of shape, but for Georgina and some of her colleagues to look through the course would not be a bad idea. Gaining feedback upon trial and error is not something that will hinder a person but will simply make things better in the long run.

 

 

For Week 9

For week 9 of the group project I feel that everything is going really well. We are definately working well as a group. Everything was to be turned into me by tuesday and it was, therefore I was then able to compile everything together and then submit the draft to my other two group members for them to look over and really check it to make sure we are all on the right track with the group project. Lastly the only problem that we really ran into was the fact that when making our flowcharts we found it somewhat difficult, in that the course web design was not very helpful. And the flowcharts just turned out to be really basic.

But other than that we are about to be on our last week of class and it is on to graduation ceremonies for me on the 14th I can't wait!

Prezi Presentation

Becoming a Teacher on Prezi

Week 8 of LTEC Class

So far this week has gone by really fast and everything seems to be going really good for my new group, which is group 3.

In my group I have myself, Catina Jackson, and Megan Balamut. We are going to have everything ready and completed for our group portion completed by tuesday of week 9 so that way the group leader which is myself will then compile everything together so that it can get turned it at a decent time.

If we have any problems or concerns along the way of completing the task we will simply e-mail and or contact one another to handle the situation at hand so that we can move on to the next task.