Sample asynchronous uses for this book

We hope that this free ebook will be helpful for faculty development and other professional development.  We have used this book for live virtual trainings, asynchronous training activities, and for one-on-one support via sharing links in meeting chat or via email.  

Read and discuss chapters from the ebook Designing Engaging and Interactive Synchronous Online Class Sessions

The Online Campus community created this free resource to share how the technology we use lets instructors create a customized learning experience for students: Designing Engaging and Interactive Synchronous Online Class Sessions

We’d like to give you a chance to check it out, pick out a chapter to read on a topic that interests you, and then discuss what you learned with your colleagues.

This is a chance for peer learning from experienced online educators, and can help spark new ideas for your online classes. Please feel free to share this resource with others!

You'll notice that you can't see other people's posts below until you add your own. This is a setting in Canvas that some instructors use in their discussion forums when they want students to share a response without being influenced by prior posts. You can find out more about how to set discussion forums this way here.

In your discussion forum post:

• Share which chapter you chose and why you chose it

• Share something that you learned from this chapter

• Respond to this question: Now that you've read a chapter from the ebook, what does your reading inspire for you as an online educator? 

By [date] at [time & time zone], reply to at least two of your colleagues. In your replies:

• Share something that resonated with you about their post, or that you have in common

• Keep in mind that tone can be difficult to interpret online, so be extra careful to write your responses in a respectful tone 

• Optional: Engage with those who have responded to your post

Making decisions when designing a layout in Adobe Connect

In Unit 3 you've learned the technical process of creating classroom layouts.  In this discussion, you'll start exploring the application of this technical skill by discussing the design decisions you'll make about the classroom layouts.  You now know HOW to create a layout, but WHAT should you create?  There isn't a single "right" answer to this question.  This discussion will combine reflecting on what you personally find the most important considerations when designing a classroom layout, and learning from others by reading a chapter from the book Designing Engaging and Interactive Synchronous Online Class Sessions: Using Adobe Connect to Maximize its Pedagogical Value. 

For this discussion: 

Read one chapter of your choice from this book -- Designing Engaging and Interactive Synchronous Online Class Sessions -- and then answer all three questions below.

1. Which chapter did you choose and why did you choose this chapter?

2. What's something that you learned from this chapter?

3. Now that you've created classroom layouts, interacted with classroom layouts as a participant during your live class sessions, and learned from the experiences of others by reading a chapter, in your opinion what are the most important things to consider when designing a classroom layout? 

By [date] at [time & time zone], please reply to at least two posts. 

In your reply you can choose to comment on something in one of the post's answers you hadn't considered before or something new you learned from the post.