SIDES wrap-up and review

What elements of SIDES’ courses struck you as most valuable in supporting student learning?

The overall pedagogical theme of "get started, Work on it, Show it" is great. I also, as I have mentioned in a previous post, really found the “lesson objectives” very helpful. I am not sure how much a middle school student would get out of it, but I imagine that it would be helpful for myself, as the instructor to keep the assessment of the lessons on point.

What are the most important takeaways for you?

When I started this course, I thought that the biggest challenge would be in building a “voice” in the digital classroom. However, after speaking with David Evans, and others, it seems that one of the most difficult aspects of distance education is the asynchronous entry of its participants, and the struggles to help students in various different lessons across subjects and even grade levels.

What features would you most want to highlight if you were creating a course?

I think that I would want to highlight the “lesson objectives” and the “work on it” sections. I have felt, from taking this course, that lessons that don't require me to produce anything tangible were given less focus than those that asked me to hand something in. While I understand that learning is it's own reward, I think that students need something to do to cement their knowledge.