Blended by Design:Designing and Developing a Blended CourseVeronica Diaz, PhD,veronica.diaz@domail.maricopa.edu

Jennifer Strickland, PhD, jennifer.strickland@mcmail.maricopa.edu

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Day 2Course redesign and engagement

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Objectives

Continue with the module design process

Describe instructional design techniques used to organize content

Identify course activities suited to the online or classroom environment

Review some classroom technologies

Explore strategies and techniques to infuse student-student and instructor-student interaction and engagement

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Why (re)design into blended?

Ensures your design facilitates your course

Engage students in dynamic and vital communities

Students take more responsibility for content and learning

Students learn through active participation and inquiry

Assessing the Role of Teaching Presence from the Learner Perspective Dr. Randy Garrison, Dr. Norm Vaughan. Available at Blended Learning and Course Redesign in Higher Education &http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI07159.pdf.

Mapping Your Course, Part II

Give us a quick overview of how your face to face course maps out

What do you think will “translate” most easily?

What do you think will be most difficult to “translate”?

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5 Principles of Successful Course Redesign

1. Redesign the whole course.

2. Encourage active learning.

3. Provide students with individualized assistance.

4. Build in ongoing assessment and prompt feedback.

5. Ensure sufficient time on task and monitor student progress.

http://thencat.org/PlanRes/R2R_PrinCR.htm

4 Basic Redesign Steps

1. Identify course content for a module

2. Write learning objectives and develop instructional modules

3. Select course (re) design strategies: determining which strategy is most appropriate for your course

4. Integrate course content activities in classroom and online environments: determining what is best suited in either the online or classroom environment

Why Objectives?

Clear statement of what students will be able to do when they are finished with an instructional component

Focuses on student performance

Provides structure: beginning, middle, and end

What are the core concepts your students must learn for each module? What do they need to

know? What do they need to

be able to do? What will they know as

a result of my instruction?

Support Objectives by

Integrating learning technologies Classroom technologies Emerging technologies Online resources

Developing diverse assessment techniques

Infusing active learning, interaction, and peer engagement

Why Modules?

Easier to find course content

Support consistency

Allows students to focus on content rather than form

Content becomes manageable

Prevents information overload

“7 +/-2 rule”

Source: Blending In, March 2007

Meeting Objectives

Source: Blending In, March 2007

Course Organization

Dates

Topic

Readings

Section

Unit

Module

The Organization

Course content broken down into “chunks”

Course structure in a repetitive manner allowing for easy navigation

Content organized in conceptually related blocks

Consistent, logical, clear, common sense, apply past experience, let the content set the chunks

Source: Blending In, March 2007

Mapping Your CoursePart II

In your chunk or module What does the instructor do? What does the learner do? What can stay in the classroom? What can happen online? What is the relationship between the two? Apply Bloom’s levels

Building Community among Students

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What makes a successful community?

Individuals feel safe Get questions answered Have conversations Get resources/information Support Friendship Produce a product Individual and shared

identities

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Jane Livingston, 2006, Building Community in a Blended Course, Educause 17

Building Community

Start early

Make it relevant

Identify connections

Create opportunities for engagement

Encourage participation

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Collaboration Benefits

Passive to interactive

Increase retention of class materials

Develops critical thinking skills

Knowledge construction

Builds community

Team building

Interpersonal skills

Importance of emphasizing the relationship of interactive activities to “content”

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Power Law of Participation

Ross Mayfield: http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2006/04/power_law_of_pa.html 20

In Class: Student Collaborative or Interactive Activities

In class writing activities

5 minute discussion questions

Scripted scenarios for role playing

Think-Pair-Share

Note Check

Case Studies

Discussions

Group Projects

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Online: Student Collaborative or Interactive Activities

Case studies Discussions Forums: Panel or Symposium Experiential Learning Group Projects

Role-play Games & Simulations Demonstrations Online Presentations

http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/instructionalstrategies.asp

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Activity

Keeping your module in mind, develop a community-building activity for use online or in the classroom

Report out

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Break

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Facilitating and Assessing Online Discussions

Please think about and answer the following questions.

How do you use classroom discussion in your current courses?

How do you assess students?

Written Communication in the Online Environment

Netiquette:

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Discussion boards must be graded with substantial points assigned

Ways to Use a Discussion Board

Prepare for upcoming in-class discussion (pre-assignment) Reading Review of literature

Follow-up to in-class discussion (continue discussion or post-assignment)

Extension of in-class discussion and assignments (exploratory, will not be covered in class)

Source: Teaching Online A Practical Guide by Ko and Rossen

Ways to Use a Discussion Board Continued

Question and answer forum (to create an FAQ page)

Pose a problem and have students generate possible solutions – discuss those solutions

Students post homework or projects and get classmate feedback

Case study

Source: Teaching Online A Practical Guide by Ko and Rossen

Ways to Use a Discussion Board Continued

Students critique classmates’ work using provided evaluation guidelines

Find/evaluate web resources on lesson/topic and discuss results

Invite guest speakers/lecturers

Debate about topic

Quick Tip!

Consider allowing students to self assign groups that will take charge of and moderate/track a particular week’s interaction

Facilitate Summarize Record Track participation Lead discussion

Questioning Techniques

“Name and describe three social systems theories that apply to community development.”

“What theory of community development did you find yourself relating to most? Why? How would you apply that theory to our learning community?”

Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The Realities of Online

Teaching, Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt (pg. 121)

Moderating and Facilitating Online Discussion

Encourage participation

Ensure that some students don’t dominate

Keep discussion focused

Bring out multiple perspectives

Summarize highlights

Do not dominate or be over-involved in the discussion

Source: Gregg Kearsley Online Education: Learning and Teaching in Cyberspace, Wadsworth: 2000, p. 85

Source: Tom Nolan, Sonoma State University http://www.sonoma.edu/users/n/nolan/501/powerpoint/moderating_facilitating/

Discussion Boards in Your Hybrids

How will you use the discussion board?

See Discussion Board Ideas handout

Utilizing Student Teams and Community Building

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Which best describes your experience with student teams?

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Using Teams

Based on the work of Larry Michaelsen (University of Oklahoma)

http://teambasedlearning.apsc.ubc.ca/

3 Keys Promoting ongoing

accountability Using linked and mutually

reinforcing assignments Adopting practices that

stimulate idea exchange

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Promoting Ongoing Accountability

Require pre-group work

Require group members to express individual opinions and monitor via another member

Include peer evaluation in grading

Readiness Assurance Process

Test over readings

Group: Test, discuss, reach consensus and retest

Provide information for peer feedback process

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Using linked and Mutually Reinforcing Assignments

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Adopting Practices that Stimulate Idea Exchange

Use of assignments that create conditions that foster give-and-take interaction

Assign roles

Use permanent groups

Allow some in-class group work

Size: 4-7

Diversity of opinion, ideas, and perspectives

Not too easy

Not too much writing

Employ, select, apply concepts from the course

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Team Teaching Tips

Outline learning goals Teach team skills Clear and detailed

instructions Rubric Stages of team development

Forming - polite but untrusting Storming - testing others Norming - valuing other types Performing - flexibility from trust

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Team Contracts

Purpose, goals, and missions

Expectations

Roles

Conflict resolution strategies

Meetings

Communication

Decision-making policy

Agendas

Record-keeping

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Other Resources

Team Based Learning (Michaelsen) http://

teambasedlearning.apsc.ubc.ca/?page_id=9

Video Demonstrations http://

teambasedlearning.apsc.ubc.ca/v/michaelsenvid.html

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4 Questions as Guides

What do I want students to be able to DO after this unit of instruction (behavioral outcomes)

What will students have to KNOW to do XYZ (learning outcomes)

How can I ASSESS whether or not students have successfully mastered key course concepts?

How can I tell if students will be able to USE their knowledge of key course concepts? (application)

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Activity

Using the 4 questions, develop some type of team activity for a unit in your course

Report out

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