This project focuses on changes to two online courses offered by the Center for literacy Studies in conjunction with the Tennessee Division of Adult Education:
- ESOL Basics: Fundamentals of Instruction for ESOL Instructors
- Introduction to Learning Disabilities in Adults (also for instructors)
Both of these courses are offered free to instructors of low literacy adults and/or adults with low English language skills in Tennessee. Instructors self-register online and participate entirely voluntarily in these 6 week, 12 hour, online courses. There are no grades, only a complete/non complete designation, and instructors can use the hours towards maintaining certification. Almost all course assignments involve a discussion board post and replies are encouraged, but not required.
During December I met with the online course facilitator (and designer) for the ESOL Basics course, Sandra Fugate, and together we planned out which discussion board assignments/prompts would be modified to promote increased discussion (roughly one per week) . The “theme” of these changes was to increase teacher sharing of resources/ideas/experiences for instruction via the discussion boards. I’ve worked with Sandra before, so the collaboration was nothing new, but we were excited to be enhancing the course. Both of us found that shifting the wording of online course assignments to increase discussion renewed our interest and excitement in the course itself (which has been offered 4 times previously).
Using my conversations with Sandra as a template, I reviewed the Intro to LD online course (I am the facilitator and designer) and targeted at least one discussion board per week for changes - again with the idea of increasing the sharing of experiences, ideas, and teaching resources.
Also in December, we advertised these online courses via e-mail discussion lists. The Center’s minimum registration to hold an online course is 10 - and neither course yet had that number of registrants. Without students, we can’t do the research!
Lots of work to do in January, but first we need registrants!