General Procedures for Developing an Online Course

General Procedures for Developing an Online Course

General Procedures for Developing an Online Course Questions to Ask before you Begin Analysis 1. What is your learner audience? Is the course for beginners or advanced learners? For majors or primarily non-majors? 2. What types of materials should be made available to learners online? Will any on-campus activities or labs be available, or must all class activities be delivered online? 3. What kind of Internet access will your learners have? Will learners access this online course from high speed campus networks or from their homes? Design 4. What do the learners already know about the topic? What are their current skills? Constraints? Learner preferences? 5. How much time do you have to devote to putting up materials before and during the semester? 6. Do you have time to facilitate weekly discussions? 7. Can you encourage learner interaction as a way of making learners more responsible for the class as a whole? 1. Is collaborative work among learners or peer review appropriate or desirable? 2. What activities do you think could be redesigned for the online environment? 3. What (prerequisites) skills, knowledge should the learner have prior to instruction? 4. What is the best way to assess your learners? How will the learner demonstrate what they have learned? What are the skills and knowledge that a learner must learn? a. Portfolios b. Multiple-choice quizzes? Self-assessment exams or graded exams c. Essays d. Fieldwork reports e. Individual projects 5. What activities work well in your on-ground classroom? 1 3/2010

6. What will be the balance of learner-centered versus facilitator-led activities? Will you mainly facilitate discussion and research, or does the course have a strong component of lecturing as well? 7. How central is discussion or learner presentation to achieving the objectives of the course? 8. What content should be taught, in what order? 9. What are your preferred methods of presenting content? Activities a. Do you have graphics or slides that you want to utilize in some way? b. Do you use lecture notes? c. Do you use overheads? d. Is it important for you to accommodate as many different learning styles as possible? Facilitator presentation 1. Text on a web page. You don t want to create documents that are tediously formal or that appear as overly long blocks of text when viewed on a web page. 2. PowerPoint slide shows. Divide up your slides and test them so that each segment takes no more than ten minutes. Don t try to replicate PowerPoint presentations that are mainly bulleted text since the slides themselves must carry the entire presentation. Consider converting them into short text paragraphs with bulleted items in a web page format. a. A narrated slide presentation is particularly good for taking learners through a series of steps. 3. Streaming video. Effective uses of streaming video might include a demonstration of an experiment and a presentation of vignettes for a language course. a. When offering audio and video, you should consider learners disabilities. Prepare a text transcript or summary of audio or video presentations for the benefit of those who have sight or hearing disabilities. This will also serve to give all learners other options for accessing the material - including those who have technical problems and those for whom the text option is a learning preference. Prepare your transcript before making your video or slide narration. Preparing the transcript ahead of time can serve as your script or story board for your audio or video. 4. Simulations and Experiments. Discussion 1. Discussion can be asynchronous (not-in-real-time) or synchronous (real-time) 2

a. Small group b. Guided discussions c. Question and answer sessions after a lesson, lab, or exam d. Seminar model in which the facilitator presentation and discussion are combined 2. Decide how you want to use discussion in relation to your pr esentation and assignment elements in the course. Decide whether discussion topics will closely follow the questions you raise in your lectures and other presentations, or whether the topics will provide opportunities to introduce additional materials and further applications of ideas you ve presented. 3. Discussions that are coordinated with assignments must be scheduled to allow enough time for reflection and response. Guidelines and procedures m ust be set up in advance to make sure that the discussion is structured and focused. 4. The discussion area may be used to post assignments for peer and facilitator feedback. 5. Synchronous discussion is text-based chat. Everyone participating must log on at the same time. The entire conversation then takes place in real t ime. If your learners are in different time zones or you need to accommodate work schedules, you ll need to make multiple times available for the same discussion topic. You might survey them to find the most convenient times for all. Or you may set up two or more chat times and require that each learner sign up for a particular time so that you can control the number of participants in each session. 6. To get the most out of chat, learners should be given adequate preparation by announcing the topic ahead of time and publicizing the rules of conduct for the chat. 7. Some synchronous chat tools provide a whiteboard function that allows a facilitator or learner to draw or write on the whiteboard screen in real time and in some cases, use math and science symbols as well. 8. Set up a student café a discussion area set aside for casual talk among learners. Group-oriented work and learner presentation 1. In planning group activities, consider how many group activities will be included in your course. If you decide to have learners change groups throughout the course, make sure you allow enough time for learners to get to know each other and develop working relationships. Consider how, when, and where groups will work online. Groups will need guidelines for working together. Specify a method for group organization or particular roles to be filled, such as a rotating chair plus a recorder and a spokesperson. 2. Consider how you will monitor and evaluate individual contributions. You may require groups to participate in an asynchronous area visible to you or that the transcripts from chats are saved and sent to you. 3

3. Will you issue the same grade for the entire group or grade individually? 4. What will you require learner presentations to look like? Will it involve a simple presentation of text, such as posting a paper or a group summary of the week s lessons? Will the presentation involve the display of multimedia projects? Research 1. Web Research. Web research can include web searches to find information on a particular topic. Give your learners training in web search and evaluation to find reputable sources. 2. Library Research. Library research can be conducted via electronic library databases. 3. Fieldwork. Although fieldwork may be accomplished outside the online classroom, its results may be presented online and a discussion and evaluation may also be accomplished online. Any forms or information regarding preparing for or completing the fieldwork experience can be placed online. Case studies Case studies can be employed using the assignment tool, discussion board, chat, or live classroom. Guest speakers Guest speakers can be employed using web meeting software, video, or live classroom. Assessment 1. Assessment can be made by: a. Facilitator b. Self c. Peer d. External person or group 2. Examples of types of assessment include: a. Written assignments b. Participation in online discussions c. Essays d. Publication of learner work/presentations e. Online quizzes and questions f. Experiential activities, such as role-play 4

g. Collaborative assignment work h. Debates i. Portfolios j. Reviews 1. Plan an adequate variety of activities from which learners can assemble portfolios of their work. k. Online Exams 1. Self-assessment; review; or for a grade l. Journals and reflection m. Practicals Design Standards 1. Fully online courses should be self-contained. The course should contain or provide access to everything that learners need to meet the course objectives. 2. The course should result in learning appropriate to the rigor and breadth of the degree or certificate awarded. 3. Provide information on required course texts and where to purchase those texts. 4. The course should be well-organized and easy to navigate where learners can clearly understand all components and structure of the course. 5. Effectively use formatting, color, and white space to enhance readability of content. 6. Provide transcripts for any multimedia elements. The more plain text the better. 7. Provide a welcome message to learners. 8. Learners should be able to easily determine where to go first when they enter the course, course expectations, policies, weekly assignments, due dates, and how the course will run from week to week. 9. Include information on how to contact you, how soon you will answer emails, and how frequently you will respond to discussion posts. 10. Online courses should display clear guidelines for cheating and plagiarism. 11. Establish clear start and end dates for the week. 12. Clearly state the time and the time zone in which assignments are due. 13. Have learners acknowledge that they have read and understand the course expectations and policies. 14. The objectives of the course most likely won t change from the on-ground modality to the online modality, but the activities would change in order to suit the online environment. 5

15. The course design should be objectives-oriented. Learning objectives should be used as a basis for course preparation. 16. Assignments and assessments should match the objectives. 17. Design your online course using the Blackboard exemplary course standards as a guide. 18. Break up the course into units, modules, lessons, or other meaningful architecture. Organize units in a logical, consistent sequence. This provides a clear snapshot of what will be accomplished during that unit, due dates, and how to submit anything that has to be turned in. 19. Break up larger files into several files or "manageable chunks" of information. Course material should be no more than one 8.5x11 page length of text to reduce scrolling. 20. Here are some recommended links for your course menu: 1. Course syllabus (that has been revised for the online modality) 2. Orientation or course reference document that provides the sequence of procedures that learners should follow each week, policies, guidelines, expectations, how to reach you, and tips on preparing for online learning 3. Learning units 4. Library web site 5. Announcements 6. Email 7. Discussions 8. Assignments 9. My Grades 10. Chat/Virtual Office or Office Hours 21. Decide whether to do selective release of content or whether you will post the entire course. Will you allow learners to jump ahead or post after the unit has passed? 22. It is recommended that you include the following discussion topics: 1. Introductions for the learners to introduce themselves to you and to one another. 2. Student Café for casual talk among learners. 23. Organize discussion topics by unit and discussion question number. 24. State in the syllabus how the quality of discussion contributions will be judged and the minimum level for quantity of participation. 25. Provide a mix of assessment strategies. Have at least two other methods of evaluation besides online testing, such as papers, discussion participation, or projects. 6

26. Incorporate tools and activities that encourage interaction between learners such as blogs, wikis, virtual classroom, chat, or discussion board. 27. Provide a link to the Blackboard Training Tutorials page for students http://www2.winthrop.edu/blackboard/blackboard_for_students.html. Resources Blackboard Instructor s Guide http://help.blackboard.com/instructor/index.htm Blackboard Training Tutorials for Faculty http://www2.winthrop.edu/blackboard/faculty_page.html 2012 Exemplary Course Program Rubric http://www.blackboard.com/getdoc/7deaf501-4674-41b9-b2f2-554441ba099b/2012- Blackboard-Exemplary-Course-Rubric.aspx Textbook Site for: Teaching Online: A Practical Guide, Second Edition Susan Ko & Steve Rossen http://college.cengage.com/education/ko_rossen/teaching_on/2e/students/resources.html Instructional Resources for Online Instructors http://www.blackboard.com/communities/exemplary-courses.aspx Winthrop University Copyright Policy http://www2.winthrop.edu/copyright/ 7