Module3_Course_Design
In this module you will be able to:
You'll take content that you already use in your face-to-face courses and put it in a digital format where appropriate. You'll take this digital media and incorporate it into the online learning management system (LMS for short, and in our case it's called "Moodle") using an easy-to-use, MS Word-like content editor. Then, add in the extras (PowerPoint files, images, audio, video) if you have time. You'll be working with your own course "shell" which will be in development, and, if all goes well, you can take it live with your eager students! The Moodle course shell gives you many different ways to organize this content. You should think about the order you want to present topics, either using modules or using weekly tabs. The learning management software (Moodle) has this capability. You'll then use Moodle to create your discussions, assignments, quizzes, etc.
While the technology is becoming easier and more intuitive to create courses online, often the most difficult part is organizing your content for delivery online - and getting it out of your head and onto the web.
One possible way to proceed would be:
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There's an old expression among carpenters and tradesfolk:
"Measure twice, cut once."
This old saying goes for almost anything having to do with technology, and most certainly with your online course. It's been proven, time and again, that the better you plan for your course before building it in a learning management system, the less work you'll have to do in the end.
The essential tools in the planning of your online course include your textbook or content, a calendar, and the online syllabus and the Moodle Home page and tools.
The Home page grounds your students upon entering your course and provides immediate engagement and navigation instructions. The Modules/Units/Week tabs acts as a visual and structural organizational tool for scaffolding your online course delivery.
Using Content Mapping to Create a Course Outline Think about your course. How does it flow? Is it sequential? Topic-oriented? Chunked or scaffolded in some way?
There are lots of different ways to organize your course content for online delivery, depending on the subject matter you're teaching and your own teaching style. Creating a visual structure for your content may help you determine how to deliver the content online and make it clearer for your students, as well.
You have practice doing this in any course you teach. Just think about how it will work online. Will each Module look the same? Students do appreciate some sort of pattern so they can get used to the activities and assignments each week. Remember, students always ask the question: "What do I have to do?"
The first page of each Module should provide an overview, much like the first page of the Modules in this course. Tell your students exactly what they need to do to complete the module. Include things like readings (text and links), learning objectives, discussions, quizzes, writing, planning for the upcoming project. If you do assign a big project, break up the planning and writing among several modules.
Be sure to keep in mind the workload you are creating for yourself as the instructor.
Example of Concept Mapping using the FREE software called Coggle. Website for Coggle: https://coggle.it/
With Modules, you may want to enable the "completion tracking" feature in Moodle to direct students' progression through the course by setting prerequisites. You can also set completion parameters that restrict students from leaving a module until all defined activities are completed or pages viewed. This course is set up with these limits so you can experience how it works. Contact the Online Education Dept on how to use this feature in Moodle. Go to this website to learn how to use this feature: http://docs.moodle.org/25/en/Tracking_progress
You do want to set the dates for each module/unit/week to open. You want the class working through the modules together, learning with each other. (If you do open all the modules at once, you will have students who finish in record time, but miss all the interaction with you and their fellow students.)
In summary...
Your course instructions should make it clear for your students how to progress through your course, as well as the important deadlines they must meet. Under the Activities block, Moodle automatically generates an ordered, dated list of all the Assignments. Moodle also adds all assignments to the calendar for you and is listed under the Upcoming Events block. Very handy.
Here are ten proven tips for building and teaching an online course, and how they can be implemented in online environment:
For more information, please review the Quality Matters Rubric Standards (2011-2013) for higher education online courses.
This statement seems counter-intuitive since we're used to seeing negative news everywhere. Negativity does attract attention. However, research shows that it does not sustain attention as long as positive messages. So, make your content uplifting.
Content that arouses strong emotions (positive or negative) gets more attention that content without emotions. When you write a post, think of how you can provoke fascination, anger, anxiety, awe, etc. in your readers and you will get their attention!
How much do people read online? They don't! Or they almost don't... Research shows that people read less than 20% (!) of all written materials online. I know, this sounds harsh. So how can you ensure that the most important information gets noticed?
Start with the most important things first. Break your longer paragraphs into smaller chunks. (I know this goes against your academic upbringing, but wouldn't you rather your content be remembered?)
Research shows that readers pay attention to the first 11 characters of your title and make a decision whether to continue reading your post or not. Make sure your titles contain the most important information, allowing readers to predict what the article/content is going to provide... and of course, make these titles and headlines intriguing so they read it.
Research shows that readers believe that it takes them longer to read wide lines of text. In reality, however, they read wide lines of text faster than the short ones. In order to create the illusion of simplicity while accounting for the actual reading speed, start your articles with narrow
lines (you can include a picture either on the right or the left of your text, or insert a drop cap). After 4-5 short lines, make your text gradually wider. Just as in this example.
Make sure that you can identify the goals of your article or your post in simple sentences. Provide your readers with the outcomes of your content right away so they can look forward to reading the entire story and so they feel that it is worth their time.
Courtesy of http://effectiveonlineteaching.org/2011/12/14/how-to-create-online-content-that-gets-attention-using-human-psychology/
Click on each area of image to learn about the different areas of orientation.
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Most colleges and universities offering online courses also provide students with plenty of information about what it takes to enroll in an online course and how to be a successful online student. They also provide their faculty with checklists and orientation materials that they may need to orient their students in more detail. The materials below represent just a small portion of what is available to online students:
Introduction to Online Learning (Prince George's Community College): a PowerPoint slide show that accompanies face-to-face orientation sessions. Among the pieces of advice offered to prospective online students is that they should plan on spending at least six to nine hours each week on an online course, that the successful online student has both student skills and technology skills, and is not a procrastinator. A good self-assessment for students pondering whether online learning is right for them are directed to articles about online learning, and a Successful Students Checklist.
Checklist for Online Faculty (Prince George's Community College): PGCC is one of a host of colleges and universities offering their faculty training and advice on how to teach online courses. Its Checklist for Online Faculty guides faculty who are planning to teach online in the preparation of their online course materials
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Self Check..
courtesy of http://www.mdfaconline.org/modules/module_b01/module_b1-4.html
Even before the semester begins, you will need to communicate with your students and begin the process of orienting them to your course. An effective practice for online instructors is to provide your students with information about the tools and navigation of your CMS, as well as significant elements of the course. Build into your website easy-to-find links to technical support and other academic support programs for your school. Additionally, include an explanation of strategies for their success in the course.
courtesy of http://introductiononlinepedagogy.pbworks.com/w/page/20123548/Orienting%20Your%20Students
In the Orienting Your Students section, we addressed the need to start your course on the right foot by sending a welcome message and communicating to your students how to begin and succeed in the online course setting. As the semester moves forward, you'll want to encourage them to communicate with you and feel "engaged" in the learning process.
Many pedagogical theorists argue that an important element of a successful distance course is interaction. Interaction with content, interaction with the instructor, and interaction with other students contribute to effective learning (Moore, 1989). Instructor interaction with students is also important (Jiang and Ting 2000). Richardson and Swan (2003) maintain that social learning is linked to student learning.
By these sources, then, we can reason that communication and discussion in online courses is just as beneficial (if not more so) to students as it is in f2f classes.
Discussion and interaction in online courses mean the difference between learning with a group and reading independently. (Of course, for the sake of our on-demand program, this makes our discussion forums all the more essential to learning, as reading pages on a website can only do so much to make the topic engaging to you.
Make it clear to your students how you want them to communicate with you. Clarifying your expectations for communication also means thinking about how to frame your expectations for students to interact with content and to communicate/interact with other students. In the next couple pages, we'll discuss methods for maintaining communication and interaction between you and your students.
A general rule of thumb to providing feedback to students is to respond to their messages within 24 hours after they contact you. However, that's not always realistic when you are grading assignments. Instead, it's helpful to keep in mind that there are different types of feedback:
Informative feedback might be a graded assignment or an answer to a student's question. Acknowledgment feedback can give a simple acknowledgment that you have received what a student has sent to you. Sending a quick, simple response when students send you an email can let them know that you have received it. This way, you don't have to several messages asking, "Did you get my email?"
You can use the forums in your discussion boards to give feedback that is ok for the rest of the class to read. This works well for general answers to questions that come up in discussion. For example, explaining a point in a place where it's going to be read by more than one student. On the other hand, feedback like personal grades and commentary on how a student is doing in the course will need to be taken off the boards and handled individually to protect the student's privacy.
It's a good idea to have an idea how you want to handle feedback to your students before the course begins, and a targeted degree of response time for the sake of consistency. If something comes up and you can't respond within that time frame, let students know when they can expect a response.
In general, it will mean a lot to your students when they receive messages from you, even if it's just a small, brief response to a question or a statement that you've received their assignment. For students whose interaction with the course and instructor has to come through a computer rather than f2f interaction, every little bit of feedback reflects humanity.
permissions by: http://introductiononlinepedagogy.pbworks.com/w/page/20123541/Giving%20Prompt%20Feedback.
It is very important for students to know how much time you expect them to commit to your course. Sometimes students have a false sense of security in online courses and what is an "easy A" because they don't have to attend a class in a face to face environment. Typically, online courses require as much or sometimes more of a time committment than regular campus courses.
Instructors should communicate clear instructions to the students on the amount of time is needed to complete the coursework in their course. Students should understand that checking Announcements, reading discussion messages in addition to assigned texts, taking exams and writing their own discussion messages require a committment of time and discipline to keep current with their course work load on an everyday basis.
As instructors, it is beneficial to your students to add deadlines for completing major projects, assignments, discussions and exams. This will help keep your students on track. By using the date features in the LMS, the due dates are shown on a calendar for the students to help them keep on track in your course. Helping your students keep on track in your course, you can post to announcements, send emails, use text messaging to post reminders of upcoming events.
This is not to imply that online students aren't capable of maintaining their own schedules for a college-level course. With all the extra time that they will be spending on day-to-day discussion and course activities, it's sometimes easy to lose track of the amount of time they still have remaining before a larger-scale project or paper is due. Giving your students these reminders will build upon the deadlines you've already given them in the course schedule or syllabus. Reminders will also help maintain the line of communication between you and the students, so they get the added "reminder" of your presence in the course as the instructor.
Many times we focus on adding information at the beginning of our modules. However, using a summary or checklist at the end of a module is a great tool to help your students ensure they have completed their work related to the module lessons. Below is a text box of a sample checklist.
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Have I completed Module 3?
To be sure you have completed all the assignments for Module 3 and are ready to move on to Module 4, please check that you have accomplished all of the following:
1. Read Chapter 5 from textbook 2. Posted to the Reflection and responded to two other students in the forum 3. Completed and uploaded your Module 3 Assignment 4. Completed Module 3 Quiz
Have you completed all four of these? Great! You are ready to begin Module 4 |
Sometimes the spoken word or immediate interaction will work better for you and a student than email. Some useful techniques:
This website gives great examples of what is required in your course
Some of the links do not work. You can go directly to the website: Las Positas College
Once you read this page, at the bottom of our lesson page click blue "Next Page". Do NOT click NEXT on the Webpage you are reading.
As you are working on your course, below is a checklist for you to review items needed in your course.
Download Checklist for Online Course Design
Download this Worksheet for Designing a Course to help you identify:
Link to download document
You have successfully completed the Module 3 Design lesson module.
Apply the knowledge learned in the lesson module by completing activities, assignments, discussions, reflections, and/or feedback evaluations located in the Moodle course.
