Essentials of Online Course Design

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2 Essentias of Onine Course Design In spite of the proiferation of onine earning in higher education, creating onine courses can sti evoke a good dea of frustration, negativity, and wariness in those who need to create them. Essentias of Onine Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide takes a fresh, thoughtfuy designed, step-by-step approach to onine course deveopment. At its core is a set of standards that are based on best practices in the fied of onine teaching and earning. Pedagogica, organizationa, and visua design principes are presented and modeed throughout the book, and users wi quicky earn from the guide s hands-on approach. The course design process begins with the eements of a cassroom syabus, which, after a series of guided steps, easiy evove into an onine course outine. The guide s key features incude: A practica approach informed by theory. Cean interior design that offers straightforward guidance from page 1. Cear and jargon-free anguage. Exampes, screenshots, and iustrations to carify and support the text. A companion website with exampes, adaptabe tempates, interactive earning features, and onine resources. A checkist of onine course design standards that readers can use to sef-evauate. Essentias of Onine Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide serves as a best-practices mode for designing onine courses. After reading this book, readers wi find that preparing for onine teaching is, contrary to popuar beief, a satisfying and engaging experience. The core issue is simpy good design: pedagogica, organizationa, and visua. Marjorie Vai has been directy invoved with onine education and training for amost 25 years. Most recenty, she designed and deveoped the onine Masters Degree Program in Teaching Engish to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL) at The New Schoo, New York. Kristen Sosuski is the Academic Director of Distance Learning and a Cinica Assistant Professor at New York University s Schoo of Continuing and Professiona Studies.

3 A specia dedication from Marjorie to Susan Kinsey who has been a good, wise, and supportive friend. Her beief in my vision for this book has been a constant source of comfort. We both want to dedicate the work we ve done in putting this book and website together to onine teachers everywhere.

4 Essentias of Onine Course Design A Standards-Based Guide Marjorie Vai and Kristen Sosuski

5 First pubished 2011 by Routedge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY Simutaneousy pubished in the UK by Routedge 2 Park Square, Miton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routedge is an imprint of the Tayor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition pubished in the Tayor & Francis e-library, To purchase your own copy of this or any of Tayor & Francis or Routedge s coection of thousands of ebooks pease go to Tayor & Francis The right of Marjorie Vai and Kristen Sosuski to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act A rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utiized in any form or by any eectronic, mechanica, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, incuding photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieva system, without permission in writing from the pubishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used ony for identification and expanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataoging in Pubication Data Vai, Marjorie. The essentia guide to onine course design: a standards based guide / by Marjorie Vai & Kristen Sosuski. p. cm. 1. Web-based instruction Design Handbooks, manuas, etc. 2. Web-based instruction Design Standards Handbooks, manuas, etc. 3. Instructiona systems Design Handbooks, manuas, etc. 4. Instructiona systems Design Standards Handbooks, manuas, etc. I. Sosuski, Kristen. II. Tite. LB V dc ISBN Master e-book ISBN ISBN13: (hbk) ISBN13: (pbk) ISBN13: (ebk)

6 Contents Foreword Preface Acknowedgments ix xii xvi Introduction to this Guide 1 i.1 A Unique Guide for Onine Course Design 1 i.2 Who Is the Guide and Website For? 2 i.3 What Do Onine Students Need? 3 i.4 A Standards-Based Approach 4 i.5 Organization of the Book 6 i.6 How to Use the Guide 7 i.7 This Guide as a Mode 8 i.8 Terminoogy in this Guide Orientation to Onine Teaching and Learning Onine Learning in the Twenty-First Century Asynchronous Learning Onine Course Deivery Features of a Learning Management System Time Onsite vs. Onine Summary and Standards Eements of an Onine Course: A Tour Meet the Teacher A Course Tour Summary Language and Writing Stye Rationaes for Cear, Concise Writing Writing Stye Paragraphs 43 v

7 Contents 3.4 Sentences Words and Phrases Tone Writing Instructions and Announcements Labeing Accuracy Summary and Standards Visua Design Basics Rationaes for Good Visua Design Visua Design Onine Page Layout Text Graphic Eements Resources Summary and Standards Engaging the Onine Learner Teaching Components Learning Styes Roes of Participants in an Engaged Learning Process Coaborative Learning Summary and Standards Activities and Toos: Working Coaborativey and Independenty Cass Participation and Discussions Onine Journaing Activities Shared Knowedge Base Practice Exercises Group Projects Summary and Standards Resources that Engage Text-based Suppementa Resources Images Photos, Screenshots, Charts, Graphs, and Iustrations 114 vi

8 Contents 7.3 Audio and Video Varying Voices and Perspectives Experiences from the Fied Free Web-based Toos and Resources Accessibiity Summary and Standards Assessment and Feedback Assessing Learning Outcomes Ongoing and Varied Assessment Teacher Feedback Other Types of Feedback Setting Learner Expectations Assessment of Activities What About Exams and Testing? Summary and Standards Buiding the Course Foundation: Outcomes, Syabus, and Course Outine The Critica Importance of Learning Outcomes The Onine Syabus Using the Course Outine to Structure Your Onine Course Buiding the Lessons and Sections Summary and Standards Creating the Course Structure: Onine Lessons What Repaces an Onsite Cass Session? The First Lesson Orienting Students How to Present and Work Through New Knowedge and Skis Onine A Later Lesson: Introducing or Reinforcing New Knowedge DIY Do it Yoursef Summary and Standards 180 vii

9 Contents Appendix A: Writing Learning Outcomes 182 A.1 Learning Outcomes Support Onine Course Deveopment 182 A.2 Outcomes vs. Objectives 183 A.3 Rationaes for Writing Learning Outcomes 184 A.4 How to Write Cear, Concise Learning Outcomes 184 A.5 Resources 188 Appendix B: Using the Standards Checkist 189 B.1 Learning Outcomes 189 B.2 Ease of Communication 189 B.3 Pedagogica and Organizationa Design 190 B.4 Visua Design 191 B.5 Engaged Learning 192 B.6 Coaboration and Community 193 B.7 Assessment 193 B.8 Feedback 194 B.9 Evauation and Grading 194 B.10 Ease of Access 195 References 196 Index 198 viii

10 Foreword When I pick up a new book in my fieds of anguage education and technoogy-mediated earning, I am sometimes struck by bad thoughts. If the book is reay good, I wish that I had written it, and I had thought of this new approach to teaching and earning. Thankfuy rare are the books that engender such wicked thoughts. But this is one of those books. Essentias of Onine Course Design expains how to design, buid, and impement onine earning soutions, to ensure that earners receive high quaity educationa engagement. The book aims to meet the needs of different groups of readers and practitioners who are anxious to earn more about the design of successfu onine earning courses and what makes them successfu. As an experienced geek mysef, and having spent many years meding the technica and the pedagogica, I have bought many books and attended many courses that purported to expain how onine earning worked, and how I shoud design a course. In many cases these offered me technica soutions whie ignoring the pedagogica issues. Others gave me pedagogica theory but no support in impementing it in a way that earners coud enjoy. Few of them focused on the impact that visua design and user experience design woud have on the earning process. That is why this book is so important. I know of no other book that combines a focus on pedagogica earning design and a that entais, with technica background and support, with expert insights into the word of visua design and optimising the user experience. This provides an added dimension for the ix

11 Foreword onine course designer the meding of key standards of course design but seen from new anges and with added depth and breadth. The book aims, as the authors state in the Preface, to mode simpe and inteigent design and provide abundant exampes of good onine design. Throughout the book this is exacty what they do. One of the beauties of this book is that it can be read and utiised practicay and successfuy by a wide range of education professionas, not a of whom are geeks or Backboard experts or devotees of Moode (or even know what that is). It is aimed at a broader, non-technica readership and yet maintains an inteectua discipine that demands much of its readership. The focus on the practitioner shines through from every page the incusion of persona statements from practitioners about how they have earned and taught, aong with screenshots and rea-word exampes of course design in action, hep the teacher internaize the skis and competences needed for successfu design. The book offers practica advice which is, in the words of the authors, informed by theory but not about theory precisey what a professiona practitioner needs. It aso offers a supporting website where practitioners can find further guidance and resources such as tempates. The book heps teachers move, in Argyris and Schon s terms, from espoused theory to theory in use from what we say we beieve we shoud do, to what we actuay do. The authors are uniquey quaified to produce this book. Marjorie Vai has been an innovator in anguage teaching for many years, and has aways been a eader in the appication of technoogy to earning. She pubished innovative software soutions for anguage earning ong before most pubishers and teachers had begun to appreciate the benefits to the earner of a technoogy-mediated earning resource. Marjorie x

12 Foreword has designed and impemented a ground-breaking onine Masters program in TESOL for the New Schoo in New York (fu discosure: I wrote one of the modues) and aunched a new stye of earning (and opened new channes of access to that earning) for TESOL professionas gobay. Kristen Sosuski has a soid grounding in onine theory and practice, and oversees the onine program in one of the most respected universities in the U.S. For me a crucia focus of the book is how to engage the earner. This is the basis of constructivist earning theory that earning must be an active process and at the heart of every successfu teacher or trainer s tookit. Teachers must know how to engage earners, to motivate, invove, and guide them to earning success. I hope this book heps teachers and course designers wordwide achieve more for their earners and cients. I am certain it wi support the raising of standards in onine earning across mutipe discipines and academic fieds. Michae Carrier Head of Engish Language Innovation British Counci, London xi

13 Preface Marjorie Vai: John Maeda wrote his sma book The Laws of Simpicity (2006) to address the need for simpe soutions when deaing with the compexities of our technoogicayoriented word. For Maeda, this became a persona mission, and was a focus of his research at MIT. Maeda inspires the approach we take in the design of this project. For the foreseeabe future, compicated technoogies wi continue to invade our homes and workpaces, thus simpicity is bound to be a growth industry. Consumers can usuay find an array of easy-to-foow books on computers and technoogy. Educators have not been so ucky. Simpicity of design heps cut through the technoogica mire and saves time. It opens the mind and peases the eye. This guide modes simpe and inteigent design, and provides abundant exampes of good onine course design. And so, we wi reference both Maeda and other designers, aong with academic speciaists. Most of my professiona ife has been spent working in pubishing and academia in the fied of teaching Engish (TESOL) as educator, pubisher, author, and administrator. For 20 years, I served as founding director and then chair of the Engish Language Studies department at The New Schoo in New York City. I designed and deveoped severa programs both onsite and onine, incuding an internationay-oriented onine Masters Degree Program in Teaching Engish to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL). Students and teachers were invoved from around the word. When the time came to train the MATESOL facuty in onine course deveopment, what we needed was a book for each teacher that first expained how onine worked, then modeed and waked instructors through the process of deveoping a xii

14 Preface we-designed onine course. Such a book woud, I assumed, focus on standards of good design. There were theoretica books. There were books that seemed to be written by peope in the fied of educationa technoogy for other peope in educationa technoogy. Other books outined a process but offered no exampes of good course design (as though an understanding of good onine design were intuitive). There were whoe books on singe aspects of course design (working coaborativey, creating activities, etc.). Some referenced some standards of good design but were not comprehensive. Creating our own comprehensive set of materias at The New Schoo was unreaistic. The bottom ine: there was no guide that you coud give an instructor that simpy and inteigenty waked them through the onine course design process. And certainy there was no approach organized and modeed on standards or best practices for onine education. This was the case, in spite of the proiferation of onine education around the word. So, I became intent on deveoping such a guide; a guide that has now evoved into a arger project incuding a supporting website fu of resources. My own experience working with onine media began about 25 years ago as a writer and contributing editor for Dowine, the magazine of Dow Jones Onine Services. It was there that I deveoped the habit of paying carefu attention to a aspects of instructiona design pedagogica, organizationa, and visua. Teachers need simpe, straightforward guidance on how to use technoogy so that subject matter is the centra focus of their efforts. Students need engaging and easy-to-use earning environments. This guide is hands-on and practica. It is informed by theory, but not about theory. It addresses the practica task at hand designing an onine course, based on a set of accepted standards. I was confident that I coud write this guide. However, what I needed was a co-author with ong-term experience working with the kinds of instructors who need books ike this. xiii

15 Preface Fortunatey, I met and got to know Kristen Sosuski, Academic Director at the Office of Distance Learning at New York University. Kristen shared my focus and vision for the project. She brings to this project both a strong background in theory and a first-hand understanding of the reaistic needs of onine instructors and earners. Kristen Sosuski: Throughout my career as an educator, I have coaborated with university facuty to expore the ways in which technoogy can be used to faciitate and enhance teaching and earning. At the New York University Office of Distance Learning, I ead a team that partners with facuty to deveop high-quaity onine courses. I ve found that, in addition to the support we provide, facuty members continuay request a simpe guide to wak them through the process of transforming their traditiona cassroom courses into onine courses. Simpy put, there is a ot for teachers to earn when embarking on the creation of their first onine course. There are pedagogica, organizationa, technica, and administrative considerations to keep in mind. With time and resources aways at a minimum, it can be chaenging to demonstrate best practices whie simutaneousy guiding teachers through the how to of teaching onine. When Marjorie asked me to co-author this book, I was deighted. I knew how important a simpe guide to onine course design was to our own facuty, here and abroad. I aso knew from conferences and coeagues in the fied that this seemed to be true across the board. Marjorie s vision for a simpe, concise, and ceary written guide to onine course design encouraged me to refect on my own work with facuty and, in the process, to deveop new ways to mentor them. Whether you are a new or seasoned onine teacher, this guide wi serve your professiona needs we by providing you with a xiv

16 Preface streamined set of organizationa, pedagogica, and visuadesign standards, which can serve as the foundation for any onine course. The standards checkist aone is an invauabe resource and is intended to serve as a reminder for a course deveopers. This is a great guide for students in educationa technoogy programs who are earning about instructiona design principes. The book exempifies many of the best practices in the fied. The exampes we provide from featured teachers show how they are appied in an authentic setting. One major chaenge a teachers face is how to ensure that their students remain engaged throughout their courses. Chapters 5 8 provide exceent exampes of essons, resources, activities, and appropriate assessments for use in onine courses. I am particuary excited by the activity types that we put together, and our website, which suppements this book by providing modes and exampes. In my experience, teachers need guidance in deveoping digitay-based materias for their onine courses. Considerations such as writing stye, ayout, and use of media tend to be overooked. This book highights the importance of these design eements through concrete exampes and guideines. One of the most difficut concepts to transate to the onine medium is that of time. Chapter 1 visuay iustrates how to structure time in an onine course and Chapter 9 heps teachers design onine syabi to refect a timeine that is appropriate for an onine course. Together, we present this simpe guide to onine course design. I woud ike to thank Marjorie for inviting me to work with her to create this essentia resource for teachers, support staff working with teachers, and trainers to guide them through the onine course design process. xv

17 Acknowedgments This book coud not have been everything we envisioned without the fu cooperation of our pubisher, Routedge. Essentias of Onine Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide exempifies as many standards of onine course design as a book can. We firsty want to thank our current editor, Aex Masuis. He has been very supportive and successfuy communicated the importance of the design features to the production department in the UK. We woud ike to acknowedge a invoved with the production of the book with specia thanks to Sarah Stone, Sue Leaper, Charotte Hiorns and Andrew Craddock for their fine work in foowing through on our design, and editoria concerns. We are aso gratefu to Sarah Burrows, former editor at Routedge, for recognizing the vaue of our vision and for initiay supporting the project. The fine work of featured teachers Joee Scay and Scott Thornbury enabed us to provide our readers with rea word exampes and voices. Their contributions have added much to the practica, hands-on quaity of the book. We appreciate the abiity to use and feature two LMSs, Epsien and E360, in portions of the book. Finay, we want to thank Steve Goss, Kristen s husband, for the eegant design he created for the cover of the book. It evokes those centra ideas of simpicity, carity, engagement, interactivity, and coaboration that are emphasized throughout the text. Marjorie Vai: First and foremost, I am very gratefu to my co-author, Kristen Sosuski, for her exceent contribution to this book. It has been a peasure working with her and getting to know her. She is a fine person as we as as a fine co-author. xvi

18 Acknowedgments My views about what is important for successfu onine study owe much to The New Schoo pioneers who started the onine earning program there in They were (with tites from then): Eizabeth Dickey, Dean of The New Schoo; Stephen Anspacher, founding Director of the onine program; and Eissa Tenny, Associate Dean. They emphasized training onine teachers, standards of good course design, and a genera can-do attitude that encouraged department heads and imaginative teachers to deveop quaity onine courses and programs. I aso need to acknowedge Dha Angada, the gifted instructiona designer who worked with me during the design phase of the onine MATESOL at The New Schoo. My eary experience writing for Dow Jones Onine Services was critica in deveoping my thinking on onine engagement and accessibiity. I thank Cathy Smith my editor at Dow Jones, for her roe in encouraging my work and constanty presenting me with new chaenges. As for famiy and friends, I want to thank Lynne, Robyn, Danie, and Michae for their support. Kristen Sosuski: First, I woud ike to begin by thanking my coeague, best friend, and husband, Steven Goss, Director of Onine Education, Bank Street Coege. He s been my number one advocate. He has been extremey generous in providing thoughtfu feedback and exampes for this book. I m so gratefu to Susan Kinsey, Divisiona Dean, NYU-SCPS who introduced Marjorie and me. Without her, Marjorie and I woud not have co-authored this book and become good friends in the process. I want to especiay thank Marjorie, for her friendship, inspiration, and giving me the opportunity to refect on my practice by working on this book. I woud ike to express my gratitude to Robert Lapiner, Dean, NYU-SCPS, for his enthusiasm and confidence in me. He s been a champion for me and my work and a huge supporter for onine education. Aso, a specia thanks to Dennis DiLorenzo, Associate Dean NYU-SCPS who has given me the toos and resources to buid a successfu onine earning team. xvii

19 Acknowedgments A very specia thanks to the NYU SCPS Distance Learning team (Ted Bongiovanni, Vanessa Carrion, Bancha Srikacha, Vadimir Merisca, Bobby Avies, and Mary Ann Mazzea) and a the NYU facuty and students who gave me the opportunity to coaborate and grow with them. Some of them are featured in this book. Deep appreciation is extended to Robert Manue, Dean of the Schoo of Continuing Studies, Georgetown University. He gave me the opportunity to teach my first onine course, and was gracious enough to provide me with thoughtfu feedback on this book. Aso, it s been an honor to have Feice Nudeman, Executive Director of Education at The New York Times provide feedback on this book. Finay, I d ike to thank my parents, Deborah and Richard Sosuski for encouragement and ongoing support whie I was writing this book. xviii

20 Order and simpification are the first steps towards the mastery of a subject. Thomas Mann xix

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22 Introduction to this Guide How simpe can you make it? How compex does it have to be? Source: Maeda (2006) To design is much more than simpy to assembe, to order, or even to edit; it is to add vaue and meaning, to iuminate, to simpify, to carify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. Pau Rand author, graphic designer, teacher To borrow some words from Pau Rand above, this guide aims to simpify, to carify, and to iuminate. We hope you find that it heps you to do the same in your onine course. i.1 A Unique Guide for Onine Course Design This is the ony book on this topic that has a these quaities: A ceary outined set of onine course design standards estabishes the core principes. The guide itsef serves as a mode of many of the design eements espoused. The step-by-step deveopment process buids the onine course up from syabus to course framework to fina course. The writing is concise and cear, and avoids jargon. The content focuses on practica appication informed by theory. 1

23 Introduction to this Guide Exampes and iustrations of good onine course design are provided throughout the book and on the book s website. The book s website, , provides additiona reference and resource materias, tempates for units, and modes of good onine course design. Look for the website icon throughout the book. A standards checkist enabes readers to do a refective sef-evauation of the work they have done. Learning styes are emphasized and modeed in exampes, and in the way the guide itsef is written and designed. i.2 Who Is the Guide and Website For? The guide and website are for those invoved with onine teaching and training at a eves, incuding: Higher education teachers who face the short- or ong-term reaities of transforming an onsite course to onine. Staff deveopment trainers who work through the onine course-buiding process with teachers. High-schoo teachers deveoping onine courses. Instructors teaching courses on onine course design in schoos of education (i.e. educationa technoogy programs). The standards-based modes and exampes reduce the burden on these instructors to provide such resources on their own. Students in educationa technoogy programs who wi be working in the fied or taking a course in the area. Trainers to those earning about onine pedagogica design. Again, the standards-based modes support the process. Higher-eve administrators who need to understand the eements of good onine course design. Individuas within an institution, or entrepreneurs who wish to initiate onine course deveopment or training. Given the 2