This week has been quite a struggle for me as I have started working on my course outline and storyboard. One of the biggest reasons why I found this task to be so tricky was because I have decided to develop a module that is part of a unit, which is then part of a larger course. I made the decision to approach this online teaching module as a mini-course to help me focus on developing just one aspect of a larger course for now. It's become more of a fictitious course for now; I'd need to do a few tweaks to use it for the classes that I teach but it would be an easy adjustment to make.
For my online teaching module, I have decided to focus on creating the first unit for any chemistry course that I teach, namely "Chemistry Bootcamp". This is truly necessary because chemistry has its own language (nomenclature) and requires a certain fluency before being able to understand more complicated aspects of the subject. Usually this takes about 6-7 face-to-face classes to cover. I thought that this would be a great module to develop online as I typically teach chemistry in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and my students always want to know what they can work on and review during the summer. Why not have an online module that they can work through at their own pace to help prepare them for the rigours that the IB program presents to them?
One of the tasks that we needed to complete this week was to develop a topic description and course outline. Here is my course description:
Welcome to Chemistry Bootcamp! Chemistry is the study of matter, its properties, and its changes or transformations. Learning chemistry is similar to learning a second language; it’s important to develop a strong fluency in the language of chemical nomenclature and equations in order to converse with scientists from around the world. The purpose of this mini-course is to provide you with a solid review of the fundamental skills needed to have a successful semester in chemistry. This mini-course will focus on nomenclature, balancing equations, types of reactions, significant digits, chemical calculations, stoichiometry, and safety in the chemistry laboratory. It will be conducted entirely online, using a variety of asynchronous technologies allowing you to progress in a self-paced manner.
And here is my link to my course outline. The course outline was challenging to create because my online teaching module is a bit more fictitious so it is pretty general in nature.
Comments
Post a Comment