Foundations of Virtual Instruction
Institution: UCIrvine (Coursera)
Date: June 30, 2014 - Aug 04, 2014
Bio: "Foundations of Virtual Instruction" is part of a four course Specialization Certificate for Virtual Teaching on Coursera. This course is intended to introduce the concept of virtual learning used in K-12 to teachers who have never heard of it or are more familiar with traditional classroom teaching.
This is yet another seminar type course, in which it is more informative than instructive. The course offers general information and resources on the topic; but doesn't really prepare you to do anything with that knowledge. There are a set of quizzes to make sure you paid attention to the lectures. Then there is the peer assignment...
The peer assignment is to create a lesson plan for a virtual course. However nothing in the course is really geared towards telling you what makes a good or bad lesson plan, and the project is peer graded. The only real thing the assignment does is get you thinking about operating in that space, but without any substantive feedback it's hard to tell if what you did is building good or bad habits in the field.
Accomplishments: I easily completed the course with distinction (well over 90%) by completing all of the quizzes and the assignment. This means I have completed two of the four courses required for the specialization. Due to the quality of assessment and courses so far, I have decided not to pay for the verification process or the capstone project ($200) but will still continue to complete the remaining courses.