Managing a Web Course

1
Managing a Web Course

• Maggie McVay Lynch, Ed.D.

2
5 Key Areas to Manage

• Motivation
• Building Community
• Content pages
• Discussions
• Email
• Assessment

3
Managing Student Motivation

• Set expectations student responsibility
• Provide clear information about activities
• Point out relationship of Web activities to
  course goals
• Establish positive working relationships
• Allow time for community building

4
Managing Community Building

• Establish netiquette principles
• Set clear participation policies
• Encourage small group work
• Structure activities to promote positive
  interdependence
• Model reinforcement of positive social skills
• Promote individual accountability
• Provide many opportunities for sharing
• Hold regular office hours

5
Managing Content Pages

• Organize folders at the outset
• Follow a set of checking procedures when
  completing each page
• Follow a consistent look and feel
• Date pages at creation and each update
• Backup content regularly
• Put dates for review or maintenance in your
  personal calendar

6
Managing Discussions

• Make sure every discussion has a clear
  purpose/goal
• Explain nature and value of proposed activity or
  topics
• Set specific time frames/due dates
• Provide students with a sense of your involvement
  
• Provide students with a sense of closure
• Encourage student-centered participation

7
Managing Email

• Set a specific time to deal with email in each
  class
• Set clear expectations for your response time
• Make a separate folder for each class
• Provide clear instructions for how to send and
  open attachments
• Set up typical responses to cut and paste for
  feedback

8
Managing Assessment

• Use all online tools (chat, BB, papers, web
  pages)
• Use CATs to determine student progress
• Encourage self-assessment and peer assessment
• Set up clear, criterion-referenced grading
  schemes for every activity
• Be clear and consistent on due dates
• Use online grids (Excel or a Grade Book) to track
  student learning
• Provide regular feedback