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teaching online

Welcome to the study of ethics in primary care!

You will need to be very self-directed to do well in this course. But then, you'll need to be self-directed to do well in your practice as a family nurse practitioner. You're in charge of your own learning here.

I've set up a framework for you to learn by providing weekly assignments. I will actively participate in all of the discussions, and will facilitate and guide some of them. There's an opportunity for several of you to take on a leadership role in the discussions by facilitating and summarizing.

"Eureka! I think I finally figured it out. Yesterday an instructor we hold in high regard told us, in essence, if you want to learn something, get out some books and dig....After spending so much unproductive energy this past year worrying, being frustrated and trying to keep up with instructors, program changes and computer crashes....the real "treasure" at the master's level is learning to find the pleasure in sifting for knowledge yourself!"

--An FNP Student who graduated in May 2001.
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Note that there is a group project due towards the end of the course. The project needs to be posted by the end of Week 13. Tip: Get started on the project by Week 4 (meet with your group--in person or online; devise a plan; define roles--who's going to do what; establish timelines for each person's job).

Note that effective teamwork on the group project is a specific learning objective for this course.

There is a direct relationship between the degree to which you actively participate in this course and the learning you will achieve; hence there is a strong correlation between one's participation and one's grade in this course.

For online teaching and learning to work well, it is essential that students actively participate in the course at least three times over the course of a week. Mere reading is not enough. You have to "be seen to be heard." Frequent and regular entries that are thoughtful and that stimulate discussion are what count!

Assignments are due by midnight on Monday of the week specified and must have the appropriate date recorded in the sign-on logon (or an earlier date) for full credit. Adhering to deadlines is important because your classmates will be waiting for you to post your entry so that they can read it and comment on it. Don't wait until the last minute to post. Computers abide by Murphy's Law; you should anticipate glitches rather than be surprised by them. Computers have been known to EAT assignments!

Use the following forums in Nurs 505A or Nurs 505B of WebCT "prn"--

Questions for Instructor to direct specific questions to either Professor Tom Nolan or Fr. Mark Stanger.

Student Lounge - A Place to Talk about Anything to talk about anything you with that is not course related. Keep the conversation within the bounds of Netiquette.

Student Resources to post course-related URLs and other references that are of interest to your classmates.

Suggestions for Course to make comments, suggestions, and such about how the course is working.
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Read: Success in Online Learning

 
Some Advantages of Online Learning

1. Online instructors and students gain experience and skills that will make them marketable in the 21st century.

2. Online learning is active. Students analyze and evaluate independently while reading, writing, and discussing heavily. Because of this, many students find online learning more fun.

3. Online learning is flexible. Based on their preferences and needs, instructors and students can work on a course at 2 p.m. or 2 a.m., at home or at school.

4. Involvement in online teaching after years of offering the same courses is rejuvenating. In addition to learning new technologies, instructors make discoveries about how to teach that they bring back to the traditional classroom.

5. More students participate online because they are less self-conscious and less subject to the time pressure that can inhibit classroom discussions. Instructors, in turn, get enhanced one-on-one contact with students.

6. Web site integration allows a larger variety of content and resulting opportunities for individualized learning. The whole world becomes the classroom.

7. Online learning can work on a variety of levels. The Internet can deliver an entire course, enhance communication in a face-to-face class, or provide a storage place for basic course information.

8. Students become more actively engaged with the subject matter of the course than in face-to-face instruction.
 
9. The learning never stops because participation goes on all week long.
 
10. Students and instructors form a close-knit community of learners online.
 
11. Instead of having just one instructor, students get feedback on their input from many others in the course.
 
12. Online learning forces you to be more independent and self-confident in learning about and resolving technical and mechanical issues that surely arise!
 
13. It forces you to be more organized both in your external surroundings and in your own internal self.
 
Some Disadvantages
 
1. The single biggest disadvantage of online teaching and learning is that we don't get to meet face-to-face. Hopefully this is offset by the 24/7 accessibility of faculty, students and other resources.
 
2. Working on the computer can be very tedious.
 
3. Time-management is challenging for some people. One can spend much more time in an online course than in a f2f course.
 
4. Once you have "posted" or "entered" a word, a sentence, a thought, an idea, it is embedded on the screen. It is "documented," like it or not, because you cannot take it back! (This could also be an advantage because it forces you to think more carefully before you post.) How do you account for, or apologize for something that you created that you may later regret? Once something is sent, there are no erasers here.
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