Learn online!
Five of the courses I've created:
* * *
Writing an Effective Desk Research Paper
(Available on Udemy)
Desk research papers are widely assigned in college and university. This course gives you detailed guidance in creating a first quality desk research paper –– the kind of guidance that you may not get in any of your classes.
The course consists of 39 video lectures, starting with assignment analysis and ending with polishing the final paper. Crucial stages of the paper development process –– such as, for example, developing a narrow topic, writing an effective thesis statement or research question, identifying sources, carrying out targeted research, information analysis, proper citation, peer editing, revision, and rewriting –– are all explained and demonstrated in almost five hours of video. In addition, over 800 pages of supplementary materials are provided for download.
This course is designed for college and university students, but would be an excellent preparatory course for high school students going on to further study –– especially if undertaken with the support of a teacher.
Successful Facilitation of Adult Learning Groups
(Available on Udemy)
Instructing groups of diverse adult learners is a special field –– different in significant ways from instruction in an institutional academic setting. The adult learner brings to the learning situation many strengths, as well as needs, that the instructor must understand and take into account.
A crucial consideration for the instructor is his or her own role, which is vastly different from that of the traditional teacher. This course provides the guidance for the instructor to adapt to the new role.
This course consists of 26 carefully focused video lectures.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
Managing Metaphor: A Guide to Understanding English Like a Native Speaker
(Available on Udemy)
This course is designed to give you a special window into the English language. I think you'll see English -- and be able to understand and use English -- in a new way.
The so-called "metaphor as conceptual mapping" explanation of the metaphor-making process is central to the examination of common metaphors throughout the course and will give you a method of interpreting new metaphors as you meet them.
The course begins with a series of videos about some of the "top-level metaphors" that provide the central relationships that control the formation of hundreds of the specific-level metaphors we use daily. The work of George Lakoff is featured in one video. It is a bit theoretical, but helpful in understanding "metaphor as concept-mapping."
To make the conceptual-mapping process clearer, several specific, commonplace metaphors are examined. This section could be almost endless, so the metaphors examined are only a small representation. In the future, additional videos may be added to this section.
The Internet has become a rich focus of metaphors. A section consisting of four videos provides a glimpse of this fertile field and, hopefully, will stimulate a deeper examination of the creative thinking that goes into Internet-related metaphor-making.
The final section examines so-called "orientational metaphors,” those with prepositions at their core. The common pairs "up & down" and "in & out" are used to show both process and variety of basic-level metaphors. This section could contain many, many more videos, and it's possible that more will be added in the future.
Throughout the course, project suggestions are given, with the invitation to share the results with others taking the course. These projects provide the opportunity to practice what has been learned, to extend the learning in a meaningful way, and to contribute to the learning of others.
The Dynamic Learning Strategies Workshop
(Available on Udemy)
As important as learning strategies are, they don’t always get as much attention as they should. Perhaps you are in an educational system where learning strategies aren’t receiving as much attention as you think they should. If that’s the case, then I invite you to examine the curriculum for this course and identify the topics and strategies where your enhanced knowledge and proficiency would boost your productivity.
There’s another side to this, too. If you have the skills to do the assignments, your confidence will naturally be higher. There will be less stress. Life will be a lot easier.
Walk the Talk: Communicating for Success
(Available on Udemy)
You communicate with many different people in many different situations, so you need to be able to choose from a wide range of skills and adapt them to the needs of the situation. Communicating with a family member, for example, is likely to be quite different from communicating with a business client or a member of a team you play on. If your oral communication skills are strong — and you know how to select and adapt them according to the situation — relationships will have a better chance to go smoothly.
A very special part of the course is the extensive developmental activities designed to help you turn your new knowledge into useable skills. Also, you will be encouraged to keep a Communication Journal that will be, among other things, a record of your unique journey to your communication goals.
Academic Gold: Smart Use of Your Resources
(Available on Udemy)
This course will give you an in-depth understanding of the wide range of learning resources available to support you in becoming a more productive student, and you will learn how to use the resources to achieve the best results. The course starts with foundational processes that need to be widely implemented when using the learning resources. Next, the graphic and procedural resources for vocabulary building are explained. You will then examine the process of brainstorming prior knowledge and learn the benefits of self-generation of questions to guide your learning and how to integrate all this into the effective use of the K-W-L-H resource.
In addition, you will learn the power of social interactions to support your learning. Study buddies, study groups, and informal discussion groups are three resources that can support your learning, and you will learn how to make use of these powerful resources. Cooperative and collaborative learning processes are two additional social interaction resources that offer you significant benefits. The course will give you an understanding of the importance of seminars and symposia, two resources that provide you with opportunities to expand and deepen your knowledge. You will learn how university-based resources, such as the syllabus and learning management system, but especially your instructors, can help you succeed. The course will introduce you to library and special digital resources, such as “Open Educational Resources” and “Highwire.” In the supplementary lectures, you will learn to use the Cornell Method of notetaking, an important procedural resource, and gain an understanding of copyright, Fair Dealing, and Public Lending Right and how they impact you as a student. Finally, you will be able to download a PDF ebook on graphic organizers that will show you how to select and use graphic resources effectively in your studies.
If you are determined to raise your academic achievement, then this course shows you how. As a student, you have access to many resources, but to take advantage of them, you must understand how. This course will give you a new understanding of the resources available and how to use them to your advantage. You owe it to yourself to get the best return for your investment of time, money, and effort. Why not enrol in this course and begin using resources to become a more productive student.
Five of the courses I've created:
- Successful Facilitation of Adult Learning Groups
- Writing an Effective Desk Research Paper
- Managing Metaphor: A Guide to Understanding English Like a Native Speaker
- The Dynamic Learning Strategies Workshop
- Walk the Talk: Communicating for Success
- Academic Gold: Smart Use of Your Resources
* * *
Writing an Effective Desk Research Paper
(Available on Udemy)
Desk research papers are widely assigned in college and university. This course gives you detailed guidance in creating a first quality desk research paper –– the kind of guidance that you may not get in any of your classes.
The course consists of 39 video lectures, starting with assignment analysis and ending with polishing the final paper. Crucial stages of the paper development process –– such as, for example, developing a narrow topic, writing an effective thesis statement or research question, identifying sources, carrying out targeted research, information analysis, proper citation, peer editing, revision, and rewriting –– are all explained and demonstrated in almost five hours of video. In addition, over 800 pages of supplementary materials are provided for download.
This course is designed for college and university students, but would be an excellent preparatory course for high school students going on to further study –– especially if undertaken with the support of a teacher.
Successful Facilitation of Adult Learning Groups
(Available on Udemy)
Instructing groups of diverse adult learners is a special field –– different in significant ways from instruction in an institutional academic setting. The adult learner brings to the learning situation many strengths, as well as needs, that the instructor must understand and take into account.
A crucial consideration for the instructor is his or her own role, which is vastly different from that of the traditional teacher. This course provides the guidance for the instructor to adapt to the new role.
This course consists of 26 carefully focused video lectures.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Learner diversity
- Characteristics and needs of adult learners
- Collaborative learning
- The instructor as facilitator
- Problem-based learning
- Effective group structure and dynamics
- Effective collaborative tasks
- The power of formative assessment
Managing Metaphor: A Guide to Understanding English Like a Native Speaker
(Available on Udemy)
This course is designed to give you a special window into the English language. I think you'll see English -- and be able to understand and use English -- in a new way.
The so-called "metaphor as conceptual mapping" explanation of the metaphor-making process is central to the examination of common metaphors throughout the course and will give you a method of interpreting new metaphors as you meet them.
The course begins with a series of videos about some of the "top-level metaphors" that provide the central relationships that control the formation of hundreds of the specific-level metaphors we use daily. The work of George Lakoff is featured in one video. It is a bit theoretical, but helpful in understanding "metaphor as concept-mapping."
To make the conceptual-mapping process clearer, several specific, commonplace metaphors are examined. This section could be almost endless, so the metaphors examined are only a small representation. In the future, additional videos may be added to this section.
The Internet has become a rich focus of metaphors. A section consisting of four videos provides a glimpse of this fertile field and, hopefully, will stimulate a deeper examination of the creative thinking that goes into Internet-related metaphor-making.
The final section examines so-called "orientational metaphors,” those with prepositions at their core. The common pairs "up & down" and "in & out" are used to show both process and variety of basic-level metaphors. This section could contain many, many more videos, and it's possible that more will be added in the future.
Throughout the course, project suggestions are given, with the invitation to share the results with others taking the course. These projects provide the opportunity to practice what has been learned, to extend the learning in a meaningful way, and to contribute to the learning of others.
The Dynamic Learning Strategies Workshop
(Available on Udemy)
As important as learning strategies are, they don’t always get as much attention as they should. Perhaps you are in an educational system where learning strategies aren’t receiving as much attention as you think they should. If that’s the case, then I invite you to examine the curriculum for this course and identify the topics and strategies where your enhanced knowledge and proficiency would boost your productivity.
There’s another side to this, too. If you have the skills to do the assignments, your confidence will naturally be higher. There will be less stress. Life will be a lot easier.
Walk the Talk: Communicating for Success
(Available on Udemy)
You communicate with many different people in many different situations, so you need to be able to choose from a wide range of skills and adapt them to the needs of the situation. Communicating with a family member, for example, is likely to be quite different from communicating with a business client or a member of a team you play on. If your oral communication skills are strong — and you know how to select and adapt them according to the situation — relationships will have a better chance to go smoothly.
A very special part of the course is the extensive developmental activities designed to help you turn your new knowledge into useable skills. Also, you will be encouraged to keep a Communication Journal that will be, among other things, a record of your unique journey to your communication goals.
Academic Gold: Smart Use of Your Resources
(Available on Udemy)
This course will give you an in-depth understanding of the wide range of learning resources available to support you in becoming a more productive student, and you will learn how to use the resources to achieve the best results. The course starts with foundational processes that need to be widely implemented when using the learning resources. Next, the graphic and procedural resources for vocabulary building are explained. You will then examine the process of brainstorming prior knowledge and learn the benefits of self-generation of questions to guide your learning and how to integrate all this into the effective use of the K-W-L-H resource.
In addition, you will learn the power of social interactions to support your learning. Study buddies, study groups, and informal discussion groups are three resources that can support your learning, and you will learn how to make use of these powerful resources. Cooperative and collaborative learning processes are two additional social interaction resources that offer you significant benefits. The course will give you an understanding of the importance of seminars and symposia, two resources that provide you with opportunities to expand and deepen your knowledge. You will learn how university-based resources, such as the syllabus and learning management system, but especially your instructors, can help you succeed. The course will introduce you to library and special digital resources, such as “Open Educational Resources” and “Highwire.” In the supplementary lectures, you will learn to use the Cornell Method of notetaking, an important procedural resource, and gain an understanding of copyright, Fair Dealing, and Public Lending Right and how they impact you as a student. Finally, you will be able to download a PDF ebook on graphic organizers that will show you how to select and use graphic resources effectively in your studies.
If you are determined to raise your academic achievement, then this course shows you how. As a student, you have access to many resources, but to take advantage of them, you must understand how. This course will give you a new understanding of the resources available and how to use them to your advantage. You owe it to yourself to get the best return for your investment of time, money, and effort. Why not enrol in this course and begin using resources to become a more productive student.
Writing an Effective Desk Research Paper
Successful Facilitation of Adult Learning Groups
Managing Metaphor
The Dynamic Learning Strategies Workshop
Walk the Talk: Communicating for Success
Academic Gold: Smart Use of Your Resources