Looking at the various postings for AHY learning objects is really interesting, and I am learning a lot from them. In fact, I feel somewhat beseiged by ideas. Some of them are fairly focused and some quite complex, although perhaps I am conflating this last exercise with the previous one for chunks. Sometimes I feel quite bewildered/overwhelmed and other times that I have a real sense of direction, that now it's mostly a matter of putting the parts in order. I think the confusion comes from reading about what others are doing. I think, 'oh, I could/should do that' but then have to remind myself of what my own course is really about and how I plan to accomplish those goals. I still have to plan the readings of critical essays that will be done by groups who will then plan how best to present the ideas of the essays to the class at the next F2F meeting.
Another aspect that I find interesting is the ideas about discussions that I am seeing. I always thinks of discussions as like conversational debates, wherein, thanks to the back and forth dialogue, more complex ideas are developed about some significant aspect of the text. That would require much more interaction than I see some instructors requiring. I wonder if it would be possible to have a from it in order to help all of the students understand the core of the discussion. This would require the assessing group to take the discussion a step further, I would think. I have to think this through - a person can think of plenty of activities for students to do, but obviously the point is to figure out which ones will most further their understanding of the novels, as well as their understanding of how to think about a text, any text.

I finished the rough draft syllabus and calendar - rough, indeed. I'm missing a few entries for the syllabus and the calendar needs more development, but it is there and presents an idea of how the course will operate. However, I hit a wall when thinking about the 7th week. Is there academic life beyond the F2F day? How long can it extend if students are reading the last novel? When would the final exam be. It seems to me that if the 7th F2F is the end of the course, will really have only put in 6 weeks from the first F2F meeting.
I am going to do the mini-wiki right in D2L, I think. I want to keep the course somewhat contained except for the research that will go into looking about the background information for the novels.
I still have a couple of processes to think through - the group work on the critical essays leading to the in-class presentations, for one thing.
I'm leaving for the cottage today and will be back in time for the next meeting - I'm taking the materials with me so I can go over them while looking at the lake.. a much better view than I have now.

Redesign ideas

I noticed that on an earlier handout for the hybrid program we were to develop some redesign ideas, which I did, but I don't see that Pat is requiring that for this session. However, it was really useful for me to think about this after watching the McKlusky material and reading some of the other discussion forums. I am concerned about the time limits with a 7 week novel course. I am planning 6 texts, plus a group critical reading and presentation every week. I also want to incorporate a wiki so that students can present their background/context research in one place.
I am concerned about the discussions that are so necessary to the development of critical thinking and analysis re a novel. How many different discussions can I expect to post every week? But perhaps we will do some of that in class?
I also think that one way to bring everything together for this class will be to expand the weekly overview since it will, in essence, be an overview, or a bringing together, of all the materials that are linked to the novel - the PPTs, the discussion, the in-class work, their reading and responses, the background in the wiki, the group presentations of the critical essays, response blog material (which I would establish so that they could think about and respond to what they are reading as they go along and which would include significant quotes), and etc. If I make these longer and more rigorous, they could stand in for the three written papers I usually require for this course. They could also use the overview to make connections between what came before in terms of a comparison-contrast, thus creating links and contributing to seamlessness.

Reaction to McClusky Presentation

I learned some interesting ideas from James' presentation on hybrid structure and organization, some that I will think about further, including his ideas about group work and mini-reports. One thing I noticed was how much communication he sets up between him and the students. I would be curious to know if other courses do equally well with somewhat less direction from the instructor. I have no objection to sending news notes often and thoroughly detailing assignments, but too much emailing, etc. as reminders would seem to me somewhat like nagging.

I would like to avoid the email connection altogether, as Pat suggests. I know from past experience with D2L that doing email seems like going outside of the framework of the course, at the same time breaking away from their need to stay connected and aware of what's going on. I mean by that the students need to accept the responsibility to check and to keep in touch.

I also wondered about the frequency of his office hours - same idea as above, especially if you want them to email you. On the other hand, if you set up certain regular hours to work on the course, you could easily be checking the Burning Questions discussion, or whatever else you have established for D2L communication.