SAUonline Instructional Design Process Executive Summary

Transcription

1 SAUonline Instructional Design Process Executive Summary 1 The SAUonline instructional design (ID) process was presented to, and approved by, Academic Senate as a means for improving consistency and quality in SAUonline courses. This Executive Summary provides a concise summary of the major steps in the ID process. The detailed roles, responsibilities, and tasks in each phase of the design process are presented in the attached SAUonline Instructional Design Process document. The SAUonline ID process consists of 8 phases, or steps, and 6 major milestones. Each step in the process consists of specific tasks, as well as identifying the tangible deliverable produced in the step. ourse design steps 2 7 comprise the 6 major milestones. The ID process consists of the following steps: 1. Requesting course development. The sponsoring academic department fills out a ourse Development Request (DR) form, and submits it to SAUonline or OAT staff. All course development requests are expected to have a 16 week lead time. Requests providing less than 16 weeks lead time will be evaluated regarding their potential impact on quality of the courses already in development, and development may be delayed to achieve increased course quality. If the decision is made to proceed with course development, the request is reviewed to make sure all the needed information is included on the DR. If the information is incomplete, the form is returned for completion. If the information is complete, the course is entered into the development queue, and an Instruction Designer is assigned. NOTE: The assigned faculty developer must have complete the SAU Online Faculty Training course prior to developing an online course. 2. Project start (Time required: 1 Week) In this phase the Instructional Designer meets with the assigned Subject Matter Expert (SME), or faculty member, and together they: o review the overall design process o establish the target dates for the major milestones o begin planning/brainstorming general ideas for the course Missing any 2 of milestones stops the development process, and triggers an evaluation of the risk introduced into the process, and the possible release of the SME.

2 3. Analysis (Time required: 5 Weeks) 2 Deliverables: High level ourse Outline, completed syllabus, schedule follow up meeting During this critical phase, some of the activities include: Desk copies of text books are ordered and received ourse goals and learning outcomes are developed Instructional materials are gathered The syllabus is developed (if needed) Assessment strategies are developed The sponsoring Academic dept. reviews the proposed course outline, goals, learning outcomes, assessment strategies, etc., and recommends changes which are placed in a Punch list, including who is responsible for each item (ID or SME). 4. Design (Time required: 2 Weeks) Deliverables: Development Plan, navigational structure, schedule follow up meetings, updated punch list. During this phase the Instructional Designer and SME use the approved High level course outline to design the course learning units/modules/weekly sections, and also develop a comprehensive formative and summative assessment plan. Inclusion of instructional media elements is also planned during this time. The result of this phase is a completed development plan which will be used in the next phase. During the Design phase, the sponsoring academic department must review and approve: 1. all stated learning outcomes 2. proposed assessment strategies 3. course syllabus (if new) 4. major concepts and sequence 5. academic rigor NOTE: At this point, all content and major design features are frozen.

3 5. Development (Time required: 4 Weeks) Deliverable: ompleted course ready for QA review 3 During this stage, the design team begins putting flesh on the bones, so to speak. Using the design document created in the previous stage, content is developed and placed in the Blackboard course shell; assessments are created and placed in the course; along with other graphic images, interactions, etc. Once the SME and/or development team has approved the developed course in Blackboard, it will be released for QA & Testing. 6. Q & A Testing (Time required: 1 Week) Deliverable: Punch list of items for revision In this stage, the SME and the ID will review the finished product for: Usability (link checking, buttons, titles, navigation, sound quality, alt tags, etc.) Grammar, spelling and punctuation Sensitivity and accessibility (no offensive language, graphics, etc.) During the QA Review phase, the sponsoring academic department must review and approve: assessment strategies course syllabus (if new) major concepts and sequence academic rigor Once the QA reviewers have completed their report, and the sponsoring academic department completes their report, the design team will revise and deliver the course to the sponsoring academic department for final approval and implementation. 7. Approval (Time required: 1 Week) Deliverable: Punch list of items for revision, if needed. Final approval and release for launch is granted by the sponsoring Academic department. NOTE: Departmental approval must be received by Instructional designers before the course is opened to students.

4 8. Ongoing Evaluation 4 All completed SAUonline courses are periodically evaluated and revised based on student and instructor feedback gathered at the conclusion of each semester, as well as text book edition changes. As a continuous process, the development team will evaluate each course for instructional integrity, functionality and usability. Future changes will be made once approval to revise is granted by the sponsoring academic department.

5 5 SAUonline Instructional Design Process A Begin Request Phase 1. Department requesting online course development submits a course development request (DR) to OAT Instructional Designers. All required info must be provided, or DR is returned to the sponsoring academic department for completion OAT Instructional Designers transmit copy of DR to SAUonline Staff 2. Lead time for the DR is evaluated. a. If Lead time is >= 16 Weeks, the DR is officially placed into the course development queue (GO TO, p. 6) b. If Lead time is < 16 Weeks, the DR is reviewed regarding potential impacts on the quality of the requested course, student experience, potential negative impact on courses already in the design queue, and development may be delayed to achieve increased course quality. GO TO B, below) B When request lead time is less than what is needed ourse development requests that do not provide the required lead time for development will be considered for acceptance into the course development queue by exploring the following issues: How much lead time is provided? What is the nature of the request (revise, create, etc.)? Availability of textbooks Availability of SME SME ID experience Other relevant issues ourse development requests with inadequate lead time not only tend to be of poor quality, but also impact the quality of other course development projects already in the queue. In other words, poor prior planning results in a reduction in quality for all development projects currently in the queue. Is it worth reducing the quality of all current projects to produce a course that was a last minute idea?

6 Develop/Delay decision is made 6 A. If the decision is to delay development, Instructional Designers will communicate with sponsoring academic department to plan for future development (GO TO K, p. 10) B. If the decision is to proceed with development, Instructional Designers will verify all required info is in the DR (GO TO, below) Do we have all the required info on the DR? Requesting department must supply the following information via the: 1. ourse atalog Title 2. ourse atalog ID 3. New development or revision? 4. Name of department chair/dean 5. Signature of the Department chair/dean 6. Hard launch date 7. Approved by Academic Senate? 8. Required text book(s), including ISBN numbers for each required text 9. Optional text book(s), including ISBN numbers for each required text 10. Attached ourse syllabus, if available. 11. Name of the faculty (Subject matter expert, SME) assigned to develop the course a. If Yes, development request is placed in the development queue and an Instructional Designer is assigned b. If No, GO TO A, p. 5 and have sponsoring academic department provide missing info

7 7 D Project start (Time required: 1 Week) ourse development officially begins. Development process consists of 6 major milestones: Project start; Analysis; Design; Development; QA Review; Approval Missing any 2 of milestones stops the development process, and triggers an evaluation of the risk introduced into the process. Possible release of the SME a. Initial meeting to officially start the project and review the process (SME/ID) b. Schedule follow up meeting (SME/ID) c. Development timeline (including any barriers, vacations, births, etc.) (SME/ID) d. Overview of the development process (ID) e. ontract requested (if necessary) (SME) f. Faculty / Instructional designer collaborative relationship (SME/ID) g. Identify teaching style and preferences (ID) h. Q&A (SME/ID) i. Brainstorming about delivery options (SME/ID) j. Set follow up meeting date and deliverables (SME/ID) GO TO E, below E Analysis (Time required: 5 Weeks) Deliverables: High level ourse Outline, completed syllabus, schedule follow up meeting During this stage, the SME: a. Orders desk copies of course text(s) ordered for SME and ID (if needed) b. Identifies course goals c. Identifies student learning outcomes (overall outcomes, and unit outcomes) d. Syllabus written initial draft (if needed) e. Gathers and inventories instructional materials to be used in the online course f. Identifies how assessment is done currently (if course is delivered F2F) g. Develops assessment strategies for online students h. Identifies course organization i. Identifies major concepts, skills, etc. j. Sponsoring Academic dept. reviews, recommends changes to goals, outcomes, and syllabus k. Punch list of changes or answers and who is responsible (ID or SME) l. Sponsoring Academic dept. approves edits/changes GO TO F, p. 8

8 F Design (Time required: 2 Weeks) Deliverable: Development Plan, navigational structure, schedule follow up meetings, updated punch list. 8 During the Design phase, the sponsoring academic department must review and approve: 6. all stated learning outcomes 7. proposed assessment strategies 8. course syllabus (if new) 9. major concepts and sequence 10. academic rigor During this stage, the ID will: Review the instructional materials and course content identified by the SME in the Analysis stage. NOTE: In order to complete the design document Use the High Level outline to form a development plan including the following elements: o ourse objectives o Student outcomes o Module/Learning Unit sections o Module/Learning Unit objectives o Formative and Summative assessment plan o Plan for instructional media elements GO TO G, below G Development (Time required: 4 Weeks) Deliverable: ompleted course ready for QA review During this stage, the SME: Uses the design document to create a development map identifying all content, descriptions of graphics, and interactions that will be present in the online course. Once the development map is completed, the SME and ID will: review the development map for accuracy of content review the development map for appropriateness of graphics and/or media elements review the validity of the planned assessments After review of the development map, the content will be placed into the online course shell. NOTE: This process can be combined with the Design phase, where the course shell serves as the development map. Once the SME and/or development team has approved the developed course in Blackboard, it will be released for QA & Testing. GO TO H, p. 9

9 H Q & A Testing (Time required: 1 Week) Deliverable: Punch list of items for revision In this stage, the SME and the ID will review the finished product, but it is highly recommended to engage the help of a group of new eyes to review the course for the following types of issues: Usability (link checking, buttons, titles, navigation, sound quality, alt tags, etc.) Grammar, spelling and punctuation Sensitivity and accessibility (no offensive language, graphics, etc.) 9 During the QA Review phase, the sponsoring academic department must review and approve: assessment strategies course syllabus (if new) major concepts and sequence academic rigor Some possible suggestions for QA reviewers are: education majors, communications majors, graphic design majors, graduate students. Once the QA reviewers have completed their report, the ID will make revisions and deliver the course to the faculty member for release and implementation. GO TO I, below I Approval Deliverable: Punch list of items for revision Final approval and release for launch is granted by the sponsoring Academic department. NOTE: Departmental approval must be received by Instructional designers before the course is opened to students. GO TO J, p. 10

10 10 J Ongoing Evaluation All completed SAUonline courses are periodically evaluated and revised based on student and instructor feedback gathered at the conclusion of each semester, and text book edition changes. As a continuous process, the development team will evaluate each course for instructional integrity as well as functionality and usability. Future changes will be made once approval to revise is granted by the sponsoring Academic department. GO TO Z, below K Delay Development A decision to delay development of a course is almost always related to concerns about the quality of the student learning experience in a course hastily developed. If development is delayed OAT Instructional Designers will work with the sponsoring academic department to resolve all the issues that led to the delay, and help coordinate a development start date. GO TO D, p. 7 Z End of ourse Design Process