Week 1: Making Connections

During the first week of my sabbatical, I searched for online ESL/Language classes and contacted different professors to see if I could observe their online classes. I contacted three Spanish professors, one Italian professor, two math instructors, and several ESL instructors. I also researched tutorials for CANVAS since I will be using that platform for one of the classes I will take at @one http://www.onefortraining.org/ site. I also contacted OTAN http://www.otan.us/ to see if they could refer me to professors who teach noncredit blended (hybrid) or online classes throughout the state of California.

This week, I also started to search for free online classes that I could take to improve my teaching. After reviewing several sites that offer open/free online courses, I started my first OPEN University Course to experience online education: Getting Started with Online Learning at www.futurelearn.com.

I also researched free Microsoft tutorials to add to the lab class and to improve my Microsoft Word and PowerPoint skills. Besides the many free you tube videos I found online, I also discovered this wonderful free website:  www.gcflearnfree.org. This site, offers free online tutorials where the student needs to complete assignments, turns them in for review, and pass the tests in order to move to the next module. As a student, you must register and turn your work in within the due dates. If due dates aren’t met, you are dropped from the class. Apparently, the classes are very popular because I tried registering three different times and after waiting for 2+ hours each time, when I clicked “register”, I got a message saying that the class was full; therefore, I emailed GCFLearnFree and sent screen shots with my waiting time :-) and I was able to register through the back door!

I am excited to start this sabbatical and to be able to learn more about online education.