The primary evidence that students have mastered the concepts in my course will be the creation and publication of artifacts in a student e-portfolio during a regular 16-week semester for the 3130 Practicum course.
The requirement for the 3130 Practicum is for students to produce and publish a minimum of six published stories for the University Press in the concurrent semester to receive credit for the course.
The artifacts students will publish include, but are not limited to, a multitude of written story types – news, features, sports, editorials and columns, photos, video packages, infographics and page layouts.
Discussion engagement within the course by students, instructors and advisors will provide examples of feedback, critiques and evaluation of student artifacts and how journalistic standards apply to the artifact.
The 3130 Practicum is an experiential course that does not follow a traditional course structure. For example, there is no set meeting time for the course, students set their own itinerary with the instructor. Occasionally a group meeting may be called to discuss or instruct a special topic. My idea is to introduce a bi-weekly online conference to address specific issues for the e-Portfolio and to monitor individual student progress for completing the semester requirements for the course and creating the e-Portfolio.
The publication of the six stories and the creation of the e-Portfolio are the only graded assessment for the course. The course instruction emphasizes one-on-one coaching of students since their assignments and achievements vary from student to student. The e-Portfolio will provide a cohesive platform for students and instructors to share achievements and to further explore the journalistic quality of student work in positive and constructive forum.
Although students, editors and instructors for the Practicum routinely meet for one-on-one editing assignments, the e-Portfolio course portal is another reinforcing agent to monitor student progress and achievement and to begin the development of the student’s professional digital identity.
Outline for my course
- Announcements
- Welcome and About course info – standard info from my class
- Syllabus – course info from LU Dept. of Communication, collected from colleagues
- Course Calendar and assignment due dates
- Getting Started – used model from DLL program courses.
- Classroom
- Course readings – from my course, changes weekly, no textbook. Listed as internet links.
- Course resources and links – from cited sources including WordPress and Google official documentation.
- Assignment Documents – created by me with input from colleagues
- Discussion Board
- Discussion Board guidelines – using DLL program model
- Discussion topic – some standard topics posted; others based on current events.
- Course Conferences
- Conference portal link, dates and times – used DLL program model.
- Chat Lounge
- Lounge guidelines – used DLL program model.
Planning Outline questions
| 6.) If you have been working as a collaborative team, how do you feel about teaching an online or blended course independently?
While not specifically working on a team, I have shared my ideas to create a collaborative discussion for the expanded and inclusive development of an e-Portfolio for departmental-wide integration. My feelings are irrelevant, but I feel excited about the opportunity and the ability to deliver something very tangible for our students to leave my class with. |
| 7.) How will you ensure the success of your learners in this course?
I will ensure my students success as I always have – by consistently engaging them on a professional and personal level. I work very hard to build a rapport with all of my students and I’m generally very successful at doing so. I monitor their work, their work quality and their behavior. I’m a talker, I like to talk to my students, I engage them on a personal level to become an influence in their academic life as long as they are in our program and beyond. |
| 8.) What do you want learners to know and be able to do when they have completed your course?
I want my students to be students that can go beyond the surface of story to create accurate, engaging stories that are credible and are as objective as they can possibly be and have a record (in their e-Portfolio) of the work they have done and how they have progressed with each story |
| 9.) How will you determine that they have reached the goal and objectives you have set?
I think this is the most difficult aspect of the course and the creation of the e-Portfolio because journalism is a very subjective “thing” to assess. What makes a good story? It’s not necessarily word count or length or simply completion, but a combination of qualities. Stories are like fingerprints, they are unique in each individual writer and this element of “coaching” is integral to the course and the e-Portfolio project. |
| 10.) What resources will your learners need for your course?
Lamar University, the Department of Communications and the University Press have a variety of computer labs to provide students ample access to Blackboard for the Practicum 3130 e-Portfolio. Additionally, a majority of students have personal computer and internet access. Students will need their LEA account information to access the course. Students will have a variety of platforms to choose from for their e-Portfolio and we are only encouraging that students use the free versions available such as WordPress or Google. |
| 11.) Where will you put them?
The students are required to use the University Press newsroom resources to produce their stories and may additionally use the same resources for their e-Portfolio. The bi-weekly conferences will more than likely be held after 5 p.m. on a weekday and most likely students will be participating from home. I plan to host the sessions from my home. |
