Group items tagged

This study of 70,000 courses identified five course design archetypes in terms of LMS use: Supplemental - high in content but with very little student interaction Complementary - used primarily for one-way teacher-student communication Social - high peer-to peer interaction through discussion boards Evaluative - heavy use of assessments to facilitate content mastery Holistic - high LMS activity with a balances use of assessments, content, and discussion

Florida International University "compared 29 online course sections that had been redesigned according to best practices to 664 online sections that hadn't. Across all the metrics the university's researchers looked at--from the time students spent in the online course to how they evaluated the course and the grades they earned--the redesigned courses posted better results."

Great example of a course syllabus (with excellent list of readings - Want!) about creativity, design, and "hacking". What would a class like this look like in a hybrid format?

I like Central Michigan's online instructor self-check for course development. Easy to complete with simple radio buttons. I also like Michigan Comm. College's rubric style so that you can show level of progress at achieving certain standards. Great examples -- maybe something we can apply to our processes here.

From OLC Tweet stream - interesting to see how this review process includes instructor online skills as well as 'pure' course design

Research: When Instructure began analyzing the course designs for its higher ed customers, the LMS company discovered something about getting students to interact with the online elements of their courses.

Key finding: "Our data suggest that inserting short summaries into existing course videos is a simple and facile way to improve student recall of course contents." Thirty-second lecture summaries at the midpoint and end of lecture videos were correlated with significantly better learner performance on related quizzes. This was true if the lecture summary was delivered by the course instructor but not if it was delivered by a "guest." (Note: The average video length was approx. 10 minutes.)

"A student survey instrument was created that captures student perceptions of the instructional characteristics of their course, their learning, and their satisfaction with the course. The data collected from the student survey was merged with data from institutional student information systems (e.g., demographics and course grade)."

Something to check in on later as they develop ... "The OSP's mission is to build a large-scale online collection of syllabi and to build foundational tools for analyzing it in order to advance scholarly inquiry, promote institutional cooperation, and foster pedagogical diversity. We believe that this critical mass of syllabi will stimulate new research tools, drive policy change, foster best practices, provide new metrics, and aid in the search, discovery, and the development of new course materials."

Components of development and delivery: Content development, pre-semester setup, and overall involvement in the class decrease in time consumption by the third iteration. Yet, Grading & Assessment time consumption actually increases. The survey found that [of the respondents]: Learning curves: The problems, "myths," and concerns associated with online course development and delivery are more likely associated with pedagogy than with technology.

The mission of the Center for Online Learning is to promote quality online courses. There is substantial research to indicate what constitutes best practice in online course design and delivery to achieve good student learning outcomes and satisfaction. It is the purpose of this site to set forth guidlines to achieve that end.

WA State Board for Community & Technical Colleges Open Course Library

In this course, you will learn about Phytophthora so that you can reduce the risk of Phytophthora disease in your nursery. The course is divided into three modules: It is best to go through each module in order. Each module should take 1-2 hours to complete, although you may start and stop as often as you like.

Example of moving a Math course online and creating community by getting students to record themselves explaining solutions to problems

"One of the biggest misunderstandings about online learning is that it has to be limited to things that can be done in front of a computer screen. Instead, we need to reimagine online courses as something that can enable the interplay between offline activities and digital augmentation. . . . We need to focus . . . more on finding ways to robustly capture evidence of offline learning that can be validated and critiqued at scale by peers and experts online."

"Rethinking the variety of voices and formats will not only be better for engagement, but also for learning. Rather than presenting information in scripted bullet points like an old-fashioned e-learning module, we should experiment with formats like debates, conversations, open-ended inquiry and stories in online courses. This will require students to extrapolate key points, synthesize what they've heard, and sometimes leave with more questions than clear take-aways."

Example of a rubric that helps IDs or course developers assess the quality of learning objectives in a course

"The case for learning out loud extends beyond the development of effective communication skills. An asynchronous, multimodal learning environment that invites students to verbally converse with one another has been shown to improve the social and emotional elements of learning." (also see http://www.slideshare.net/brocansky/learning-outloudsept2014)