Clearly I am way behind on my postings. This post is for my first day of class 8/30/2013
I spent most of the summer worried about all of the things that I thought that I had to do for my hybrid course. I have read a lot of literature that says that it is a lot more work than a standard lecture class and I mostly stressed about how I wasn't getting that work done. In true me style, I prepped everything the week before the class was due to start and decided to wing it as I went along. I tend to not like to prepare way in advance because I like the flexibility to change things as I go. Mostly, this went for the planning of the classroom activities but I also stupidly applied it to the recording of my lectures. I probably should have taken care of those over the summer. But, live and learn.
The structure of my class is as follows:
I decided very early that my flipped class would include readings posted at the beginning of the semester that would be due every week. On Friday of each week I post the quiz that covers the readings for the following week. Students have until our class meeting on the following Friday to complete the online quiz. The quizzes should be easy for the students that completed the reading and are usually 10 multiple choice questions. Once the quiz is completed the online video lectures that I have recorded are released to the students. I use the software Camtasia Relay to record my powerpoints with my voice delivering the lecture as I click through the slides and point out important pieces of the images. When I was planning the lectures I originally decided that I did not want my face recorded, only the powerpoint and my voice. I quickly came to realize that my facial expressions really help me to not seem like such a goofball when I am speaking so I began recording my face too. After the students have done all of this they write a 500word, personal response to the reading. These are intended to be open-ended papers about whatever the student wants to write about as long as it expresses their views and is about the reading. On Friday morning the students come to class and we discuss the readings and do activities that should, hopefully, help them to get a better understanding of the topics that were covered that week.
The First Class:
Day one was really just syllabus day and a discussion on what myth is. I gave my long spiel and the course and my expectations, students introduced themselves and shared an interesting fact about themselves. It was really fun actually. My Hybrid class has a lot of dominant personalities that enjoy participating and throwing out random one-liner jokes that, usually, make everyone laugh. I can foresee that it might be difficult to keep these students reigned in but this is already a way easier class to work with than my usual uber-quiet Friday morning class.
---The activity for the day was very simple, I had the students write down with a partner a few words to define myth. After they did this I wrote them down on the board and we went over the definitions and I gave a brief lecture and how myth has been interpreted in the past and how we will look at it in class.
Overall this was a really great first day. I can tell that I am really going to enjoy this group of students.
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