Teaching.IU

Context

There are a number of students who register for my online courses from colleges and universities outside Indiana University. Because students from other campuses may not be aware of the specifics of Indiana University course management system or because we may have to establish library or other access connections, I designed the course with a preliminary “scavenger hunt” assignment.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Developing course-specific scavenger hunt activities can only be completed once the course syllabus is completed so that you know which computer technologies your students will be utilizing. Each scavenger hunt activity can be developed within two to three hours.

1. Assign groups. Students are asked to find their group assignments and use the messaging system contained within the campus course management system to send me their group membership identification and to send a message to their group members. This not only helps them learn to navigate the messaging system appropriately, but also lets me know that I have not missed assigning a student to a group of that I have mistakenly assigned a student to more than one group.
2. Provide assignment. Students are asked to post a special assignment using the assignments tool of our system; this assignment requires them to introduce themselves in a separate discussion forum and to respond to the posting of at least one other student in the same discussion forum.
3. Direct students to answer questions. Students must download a file and answer questions requiring the use of different media depending upon the course. For example, students may be asked to use an Adobe file or Microsoft PowerPoint.
4. Direct students to course library. There is a link to a course created special library that they will use to read a peer-reviewed article.
5. Assign quiz. Students complete a quiz over the introduction section of the text in the test and survey portion of our management system. This way I can determine that they have both acquired the text and that they can use the test tool.

I award points for each activity. This pleases the student, and I am rewarded by knowing we will not have surprise discoveries throughout the course that might keep any student from being able to participate fully in the course.

Effectiveness

Assessment is built into this activity as each sub-activity within the scavenger hunt has a ‘product’ that was developed specifically to assess whether students had met the learning outcome, that is, if the student can successfully utilize the technology.

Adaptability

This activity is endlessly modifiable by simply changing the sub-activities of the scavenger hunt. A possible modification might be to develop a sub-activity that requires students to interact with one another by going on a virtual scavenger hunt to find an answer to a question in cyberspace.