READY: Fall term 2011 has officially started! Although our students have been in class all summer taking Anatomy and Physiology, most of the faculty (other than Dr. Morris who was tres busy teaching) have been working on our classes and preparing for this fall term. The fall marks the beginning of physical therapy specific classes: Professional Issues in Physical Therapy, Clinical Applications of Anatomy, Essentials of Exercise Physiology, and Pharmacology. So this is exciting for the students as well as faculty. It also marks the first time most of us are really 'doing' hybrid in an entry level program. This is where we'll begin to evaluate if our strategies have been on target, what activities 'engage' students versus those that don't, and also how to manage a class that are geographically distant for 3.5 weeks. In a hybrid program, being ready is a lot more UP FRONT work compared to a traditional classroom. Materials need to be ready for students to peek at so they can get a handle on the term-if an assignment is made, the grading rubric and support material should also be available. I would say the "r" in ready needs to be capitalized in a hybrid program.
As is the norm for most professional education programs, while we prepared for the fall term, we are also planning and strategizing for the subsequent terms. Having 5 core faculty and 2 associated faculty on board at this point has allowed us to evaluate our curriculum and have a productive currriculum meeting this past week. How much fun is it to create, discuss, brainstorm, and discuss some more? Ok, well maybe it's not fun for everyone but to me it is much like I imagine a composer feels when she or he puts the finishing touches on a song! I am enjoying and relishing the spirit of our faculty-everyone shares and we are trying (thank you Keiba) not to talk over one another as we get excited about something! That's a good thing to work on, right? White coat ceremony is also scheduled for this October 22nd, so there is much to celebrate ahead!
SET: All classes are up in WebCT (our online classroom system), students have begun interacting (learning how to create their own Blog in Dr. Riba's class, signing up for chats with Dr. Page, connecting to online resources and presentations in Dr. Shaw's class) just to mention a few. In our pre-semester meeting, we were able to look at all 4 classes super-imposed on one another to check for possible conflicts in time or testing. So I guess we're also SET. The students-many printed materials from WebCT before they even left campus last Sunday-and thus I would say they're ready to GO!
GO: Speaking of GO, I'm about to take a much needed and anticipated vacation. I'll be back in time for our first on-campus session and greatly appreciate Dr. Page leading Unit 1 of the Professional Issues class :-) I feel 100% confident that the students, faculty, and staff are ready for an interactive semester ahead.
Arrividerci! Fans can follow my upcoming travel blog entitled: Io sono Americana
Wow, we do have a dedicated leader who even as she gets ready to embark on her well deserved vacation takes a moment to comment on the upcoming semester! I feel that I am prepared for the semester- (okay, at least the first 3 weeks)and think that I have everything set to go...but you just never know until you jump in with both feet! Students are preparing and have begun emailing...I have already found out that I don't speak loud enough of my lecture recordings! I must work on projecting without blowing out their eardrums...
ReplyDeleteWell, ready or not...here we go!