Web-Based Courses

Today we had a presentation in class on web-based courses in Manitoba, and specifically using online courses in high school. There are a great number of web-based courses offered in Manitoba, and they come in handy for students in remote areas who do not have access to specialized teachers, those who want to take two classes scheduled at the same time, or those who need flexible schedules for one reason or another.

One particular online tool we looked at was Blackboard, which can be previewed as a guest by clicking the link. Blackboard is kind of like an online classroom, with all the lessons available for students. There is the ability to use reflective journalling, chat with one another, compose blogs and wikis, participate in teacher-guided discussions, and visit posted web resources.

In taking a look at Blackboard, it was awesome to see how the outcomes were organized and easily accessible for students. If a student taking an online course wanted to sit down and work through a few hours of the course, no problem! If they only have time for a short lesson, that's fine too! Blackboard makes it easy for students taking online courses to work at their own pace.

With the classroom shifting toward blended learning, it is becoming more necessary for myself as a classroom teaching to use an online environment, such as Moodle or Google Docs and integrate it with my face-to-face classes. Giving students the option to work online can keep them more engaged in the learning process, as well as more able to work at their own pace.

While I do not know yet where I will be teaching in the future and what age groups I will be working with, I know that my students will likely be web-savvy and it will be up to me to find ways to integrate web-related material into the classroom.