How to Design an Excellent Online Course

BY DEBBIE MORRISONONLINE LEARNING INSIGHTS

How to Design an Excellent Online Course

e-Learning Strategies Symposium December 6 & 7, 2013

Costa Mesa, CA

• Provide each participant with the opportunity to gain practical, relevant knowledge about course design that can be applied to work or personal education projects

Purpose of Session

Goals for Session• Identify principles and phases of course design

• Identify the role course design plays in creating interactive and engaging courses that support learning

• Review a model for course design and identify elements that contribute to effective course development

• Describe how principles of course design apply to two course design scenarios

• Participant input using Poll Everywhere

• Instructional Design vs. Course Design

• Why Course Design

• A Course Design Framework

• Phases: Analyze II Remix/Develop III Implement IV Evaluate

• Application of course design principles via case studies

• Discussion

• Q & A

Agenda

20 minutes

30 minutes

10 minutes

“Design brings forth what would not come naturally”

Klaus Krippendorff

Professor, Cybernetics, Language

& Culture

Krippendorff Talk on his book The Semantic Turn: http://vimeo.com/43316950

“A systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007)

Instructional Design Definition

• It’s a discipline rooted in learning theory

• Involves development of an instructional plan, learning materials, selection of learning methods, assessments, etc.

• It’s a systematic process applied to education and training that brings about learning

• Includes universal elements: analysis, development, implementation, assessment, evaluation and redesign

• An umbrella term under which there are numerous models each incorporating similar phases: Kemp model, Dick and Carey model, etc.

What is Instructional (or Course) Design?

Examples of Course Design Models

Review of Instructional Design Models Applied to K-12 Environments

• The ultimate goal of course design is to develop effective, sound courses that focus on learning, not teaching

• Several levels of expertise are needed when developing online courses:

1) content expertise – subject matter expert – teacher

2) technical - knowledge of the tech tools, applications

3) instructional – knowledge of pedagogical methods & learning theory

Online Course Design

Bad things happen in the absence of good design…

www.ikeafans.com

And Bad Course Design often begins by…

A Solution to Bad Instructional Design is…

The framework can be used for:

• creating a new course

• converting an existing face-to-face course to online or blended format

• evaluating a component of an existing course

• redesigning an existing online or blended course

Webpage with Course Design Framework: http://www.gliffy.com/go/publish/5134181

• All good design begins with analysis

• Ask questions: What is the learning problem? Why? What has been done previously? What is the Purpose?

• Who are the potential or existing learners? Where do they live, what skills do they need to engage in the course, educational background, Internet access?

• What are characteristics, limitations, strengths of the content delivery platform or vehicle, i.e. LMS?

• Learning goals – institution or learner driven?

Phase I: Analyze

Develop Learning Strategy as per following, closely aligning each to course learning goals:

• Select Content – Remix, Reuse, or Create

• Create activities to guide students to apply content and build knowledge

• Develop/select assessment methods

• Identify/methods standards for course evaluation

Phase II: Develop

• Critical to successful course is the pilot course – conduct dry run prior to full implementation – debrief and modify accordingly

• Develop and plan for formative [@ mid-point in course] and summative evaluations for each course session

• Implement course and modify accordingly mid-way through course after formative evaluations

Phase III: Implement

• Gather & analyze feedback: summative and formative

• Gather course data i.e. learning analytics from LMS, completion rates, etc.

• Compare course in context of standards, quality metrics, i.e. iNACOL quality assurance

• Plan for revision and/or redesign of course

IV Evaluate & Redesign

How [unfavorable] student feedback improves online courses: Online Learning Insights

• The purpose of this next activity is to provide an opportunity to apply the principles of course design to a real-life learning situation in a discussion with your peers, that focuses on phase I and II of the Framework.

Case Study: MOOC Mayhem

Day one: email from instructor

“This course will be collaborative in nature. So the first thing I would like you to do is to join a group. You will be able to do this when you access the course site. You will be able to click on the Join A Group link in the left navigation bar. This will take you to a Google Spreadsheet where you can sign up for a group.”

Case Study: MOOC Mayhem

Background:

• A Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)‘Foundations of Online Education’ enrolls 30,000 students

• Goals of the course: 1) comprehend online learning pedagogy 2) create online materials, 3) comprehend course design 4) create an online course 5) manage online course

Day Three: email from instructor

‘…If you get a message "We're sorry. Our servers are busy. Please wait a bit and try again,” this just means there are too many people trying to access the site. Make sure you enter your names in the correct cells. Some of you are entering your names in cells that have the Group numbers and others are deleting names…

Case Study MOOC Mayhem: Background

Day Two:

Google’s server crashes due to the volume of students trying to access the Google Doc for group sign-ups

Note: Google Docs can handle only 50 active participants per document

Day Four:

More chaos & confusion.

Case Study: Student Comments on Discussion Forum

Day five: email from instructor

We want all students to have the highest quality learning experience. For this reason, we are temporarily suspending the "Fundamentals of Online Education” course in order to make improvements.

• Identify 3 [or more] elements from phase I and/or II in Course Design framework that should have been considered during the MOOC design process

• Discuss with peers

Discussion: What Do You think Went Wrong?

Participant Responses to Case Study

Case Study: Redesign Advice for a US History Class

Background:

Mr. Vintage, a high school history teacher is planning to convert his face-to-face United States history class to a fully online format.

Considerations

• What are the initial steps Mr. Vintage will need to take to redesign his class?

• See excerpts from course syllabus on next slide. Use the Course Design Framework for guidance

• Discuss with peers and identify the initial steps Mr. Vintage might take

Case Study: Syllabus Overview

One of the Course Objectives for US History Analyze and describe the ideological origins of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers’ philosophy of unalienable natural rights, the debates on the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and the addition of the Bill of Rights

Learning Methods:• Reading: Each day you will have a reading assignment to be prior to class• Test and quizzes: There will be a test for every chapter in the textbook. Tests may

be composed of objective, short answer, identification, and essay questions. • Assignments: Essays, Oral presentations, Peer response, Creative projects

Grading:Tests / Quizzes (60%)Assignments (20%)Class Participation (10%)

Complete course objectives listed in PDF from CA dept of education: pages

• What elements in Phase I and II of the course design framework should Mr. Vintage consider when developing a plan for a fully online course?

• Discuss with peers

• Examples of online content sources:

• US Constitution, Creating the United States,

• Constitution Day Resources, Historical Documents, ourdocuments.gov

Case Study: Redesign Advice for a US History Class

Participant Responses to Case Study

Identify principles and phases course design

Identify the role course design plays in creating interactive and engaging courses that support learning

Review a model for course design and identify elements that contribute to effective course development

Determine through discussion how principles of course design apply to two course design scenarios

Summary

Course Design

• Big Dog & Little Dog’s Performance Juxtaposition , nlwink.com

• Four Excellent Resources for Course Designers , Online Learning Insights

• How course Design Puts the Focus on Learning Not Teaching , Online Learning Insights

• Ontario Online Learning Portal for Faculty and Instructors , Ontario Online Learning Portal

• Start Here: Instructional Design Models for Online Courses , Online Learning Insights

• Course Design Framework, webpage

Ed-Tech Tools

• The Top Tools for Learning 2013, Jane Hart

• 10 Principles to Select Technology, Ontario Online Learning Portal for Faculty & Instructors

• Electronic Learning Resources, CLRN.org

• How to Choose the Best Ed-Tech Tools for Online Instruction , Online Learning Insights

Resources

Course Design Framework Feedback

Got feedback on the Course Design Framework? Click here: http://padlet.com/wall/debbiemorrison

Questions and Discussion

• Twitter: @onlinelearningIi

• Blog: Online Learning Insights

• Google+: Debbie Morrison

Thank you!