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In designing my syllabus, I'm trying to decide whether to include testing like I do in the conventional version of the course, which has a midterm and a final. This resource from Iowa State is helping me think about whether a midterm will be useful in the same way for an online course as it is for a conventional one-and how I might format it if I decide to have one.

Great resource, I could have used this many times. I will keep handy going forward. Thanks

This report offers some observations on the use of multimedia resources in online courses. The focus is more on course development (both time investment and quality of materials produced) than on student experience or learning outcomes, but this can still be a valuable tool for instructors thinking about whether (and how) to use multimedia in their online course designs.

This article discusses "the importance of structuring activities for balancing electronic communication during e-collaboration (i.e., videoconference, email, chat session, distributed use of group support system) to bridge cultural and stereotypical gaps, to increase profitable role repartition between the participants, and to prevent and solve conflicts." This is especially useful as we work to design our courses for diverse learners

The following list contains brief use cases of faculty and instructors throughout Penn State using VoiceThread in unique ways for teaching and learning. These use cases describe the basic designs utilized by the instructor, reported outcomes as well as possible future uses for VoiceThread.

Among the many case studies included here I found the article by Matt Meyer "Using VoiceThread for Weekly Peer Topic Discussions" the most helpful. The article details how small 'discussion groups' of 6-7 students per group were provided with an initial prompt and some framing statements. Individuals were required to respond to the prompt according to specific requirements, such as "include one personal story," "include 2 questions to the other group members to respond to," and "must comment in that particular VoiceThread discussion 3 different times during the assignment for the week. This is very similar to what I envision doing in my course.

Applying the Community of Inquiry Model (Teaching presence, social presence, cognitive presence) to on-line doctoral education. Socialization and mentoring needs identified as rationale for blended designs.

Smashing Magazine is one of my go-to sources for ideas when it comes to designing or publishing anything on the web. This piece is a very thorough how-to about producing and publishing a podcast. In my courses, I try to teach how to produce media, but also how to publish and circulate that media. I'm considering having students in my graduate composition practicum course develop a podcast related to the subject of each week's class.

This website is designed for practitioners that want to develop online environments to build and sustain new audiences by using facilitation techniques that affect learning in these informal spaces. Below you'll find different tools that we believe can help you successfully facilitate an online environment.

This article describes the framework of four open educational practices based on patterns of OER reuse, mapped against the processes of curriculum design and delivery. Includes evidence, examples and ideas for application by practitioners, as well as recommendations for institutional policies on OER and OEP.

Hi Kristy, I really like the figure on page 12 of the article. The box for reflective and strategic enhancement and would I ever love to participate in Carpe Diem! Great find.

A Blog about Open and Online Education (by Debbie Morrison) I really liked her entry, Start Here, because it discussed the PROS and CONS of some of the various instructional models presented in other resources. She made the connection between design and higher education - much of what I've been seeing relates to training in a corporate or business setting. I can more easily see how to use these models as tools to build my course now.

Chart-Form of Instructional design theories, theorists, models, etc.

As we begin our peer assessment, this article from Troy who has used the Quality Matters rubric in their assessment of online courses gives great tips and tidbits for further improvement

by John Sullivan Why Change? Author provides a practical step-by-step manual for using MS Publisher to design an attractive syllabus.

Ed, I love this option, however in the SON, we are constrained to use the "approved syllabi" by the Curriculum Committee. The belief and supported information tends to validate that consistency among the courses is easier for the students who are enrolled in multiple courses to "find" the information. The creative in me longs for this Publisher option, but the pragmatist must follow the rules!

Hi Ed! Just to follow up on Phyllis' comment - unfortunately, the standardized syllabus is really useful at accreditation time. Accrediting bodies like to be able to see that particular outcomes are being addressed (for example) and having uniform syllabi makes it simpler for departments and schools to demonstrate that. I'm sure that those in our cohort who are administrators can speak more authoritatively about this (and I hope I'm not stating the obvious :)

Course Design for Content Based Learning

This article breaks down some terms and nuances of online teaching that would be helpful when designing a course.

I like the way this gives a lot of information but by using bullets makes it a quick and useful read.

This is a succinct summary of the UDI goals in creating a course.

Based on Blooms Taxonomy and apps, this creates a specialty in aligning outcomes with activities

Discusses the difficulty of changing the educational paradigm to a servant professor instead of a professor led classroom--both virtual and real. How steep will be the learning curve to replace lecture-test evaluation with student driven and student centered needs.

from the 2005 ASCUE (Association Supporting Computer Users in Education) Conference. I thought this was particularly good with respect to issues of the time demands an online course places on instructors (especially in terms of development and roll-out), as well as on students.

An excellent guide to use when developing a course and wanting to be able to effectively reach a multitude of devices (student-content interaction)