Workshop: Design Considerations for Online / Digital Courses

Workshop: Design Considerations for Online / Digital Courses

M.S. Vijay Kumar, [email protected] Muramatsu, [email protected]

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

1Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Cite as: Kumar, V. & Muramatsu, B. (2014b, August). Design considerations for online / digital courses – part 1. Workshop presented at KFUPM. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

mailto:[email protected]


Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Agenda

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: What do you value in your teaching?

Break

Part 3: Engagement: What Works

Part 4: Brief Overview of Online Course Design

End Morning Session

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Vijay’s Background

B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering, M.S. in Industrial Management & Ed.D. in Future Studies in Education Research in educational technology innovation diffusion

Taught courses in introductory programming, data communications, instructional computing, future studies, and teacher education

30+ years in EdTech – Developing, managing, & innovating educational uses of information technologies 10+ years in Open Education: Open Educational Resources and

OpenCourseWare

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Brandon’s Background

B.S. & M.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Taught multimedia design and open education

20+ years in EdTech ~10 years in educational digital libraries: Collections, nationwide

collaborations, quality and peer review

10+ years in Open Education: Open Educational Resources and OpenCourseWare

“Been There, Done That” Multimedia courseware design and course support, course design,

video production software design, digital libraries, metadata, learning objects, open educational resources/OpenCourseWare, …

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Goals & Objectives for the Workshops

Help you understand how we think about educational technologies, and how they support pedagogy and learning

See some examples of educational technologies, to help you understand a range of possibilities

Identify how KFUPM can implement online/digital learning

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Goals for this Morning

Discuss what you value in your teaching.

Understand a brief overview of online course design. Understand how online course design is just good course design.

Begin to redesign a module in an existing course.

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Key Takeaways

Good course design is good course design, online or offline; experts can help

Not just moving a course online (shifting format), but rather an opportunity to think about the course and the affordances of technology

Identify & share learning outcomes; and how assessments demonstrate meeting these outcomes

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What do you value in your teaching?

What aspects of your class / teaching do you value most?

How are you doing these things in your course(s)?

Are you happy with the outcome(s)? How might it be improved?

In groups, select someone to summarize your discussions

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Discussion

Question: What one thing has generated a lot of engagement in your class? What is one technique that has worked a lot?

Question: Identify a significant problem that each group has identified, and the rest of the workshop serve as consultants to suggest solutions

Should the answer to, “Are you happy with the outcome(s)?” be no? Are there new opportunities? Approaches?

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Break

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Agenda



Break


Part 4: Brief Overview of Online Course Design

End Morning Session

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Engagement: What Works

What one thing has generated a lot of engagement in your class? What is one technique that has worked a lot?

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Part 4: Brief Overview ofOnline Course Design

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Brandon MuramatsuMIT Office of Digital Learning

[email protected]

Exploring the Guide

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About your Experiences…

• Have you taken a traditional online course?

• A MOOC course?

• Have you taught a traditional online course?

• (We’ll revisit these questions again tomorrow)

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Online Course Design

Designing an good online courseis designing a good course!

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Exploring a online coursethat we recently developed

(not a MOOC)

Going Behind The Curtain

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Best Practices for Teaching and Learning

• Course Goals:

How should we design a course?

What are the best methods for promoting critical thinking skills, knowledge retention, and transfer?

…primarily for in-person classesbut as we’ll see, this is the same for online / digital classes

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Background on the Course

• Created for as a proof-of-concept for an online teacher education program

• Based on an existing, face-to-face, 14 week course that MIT provides for graduate students and post-docs who wish to learn how to teach

• Transfer of offline course to online format

• Course is run by the MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory (TLL)

• They work with faculty on education research and pedagogically informed teaching practice (e.g., Center for Teaching and Learning)

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Background on the Course (cont.)

• Co-Instructors had taught the face-to-face version of this course

• Experienced in teaching in Biology

• Experienced in research in Biology, both have Ph.D.s

• Deep interest in biology education, especially preparing students for careers in Biology

• Instructors had not taught online before

• Relying on others for that experience it takes a TEAM!

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Online Course Design Guide Organization

1. Pre-Design

2. Design and Development

3. Facilitation

4. Evaluation

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Part 1: Pre-Design

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Part 1: Pre-Design

• “Gathering all of the necessary information to ensure that the course will meet the needs of the learners and engage them throughout the learning journey.”

• What’s different online:• More difficult to make spontaneous adjustments

• The asynchronous nature means you need to be thoughtful about creating interaction opportunities

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Question: Who are my learners?

• Faculty interested in learning “best practices”• Might be in teacher

education departments

• With possible focus on Science / Math education

• Challenges• Different from the

course upon which it was based

• MIT graduate students ≠ faculty in teacher education programs

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Question: What do my learners currently know?

• Unknown• Might, or might not,

have experience with “good” teaching practice

• Might not have been formally trained to “teach”

• Challenges• What’s their

background?

• Had to make assumptions


Question: What do my learners need to know before starting the course?

• Participants should have:• Experience in teaching

• Perhaps experience in teaching pre-service teachers

• Challenges• Do learners need

additional preparation?

• Had to make assumptions


Question: Who are the subject matter experts?

• Instructors

• Identified experts via the literature• Each session comes

with pre-session readings from “experts”

• Topics presented in each session that represent the work of “experts” are clearly cited

• Challenges• Not overwhelming

participants

• But providing a deep enough research basis for those interested in finding out more


Question: Do you have existing material that can be used in the course?

• Yes! • Challenges• Material designed for

face-to-face interactions

• Materials designed for a 14 week course


Question: What other content is available that supports meeting learning outcomes?

• Lots and lots • Challenges• Pre-supposes learning

outcomes!

• Some materials are referenced in pre-session readings

• Some materials are referenced during the session videos (as citations)


Question: What content must be revised or created from scratch?

• Lecture videos• Most of the course is

an interactive discussion in class based around the pre-session readings

• Slides

• Activities

• Challenges• Developing a mostly-

asynchronous learning experience for what was a highly synchronous course


Part 2: Design and Development

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Part 2: Design and Development

• “In this phase, learning strategies are mapped out, learning content and media are developed, organized, and sequenced, and supporting technology is selected.”

• What’s different online:• Online learning is more exploratory in nature, and oftentimes

less directed than in-person

• Learners access materials asynchronously: The easier it is for learners to locate and engage with learning activities, the more mental energy they will have to focus on the content.

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Objectives and Outcomes

• “Learning outcomes are general statements that describe the essential learning (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) that learners will achieve by the end of the course. They should encompass the depth of the knowledge and skills that you will be ultimately assessing. When composing outcomes, be mindful not to combine elements that cannot be assessed by a single method.”

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Designing a Blueprint

• What’s a blueprint?• A comprehensive plan that allows “you to design with the big

picture in mind to ensure you reach every milestone and build consistency throughout the curriculum.”

• This can be your syllabus!• Course learning objectives and outcomes• Lesson topics and format• Learning resources• Activities and assessment

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The Backward Design Process

Learning Objectives

Assignments & Exams

Learning Experiences & Instruction

What is important?

How do you know if

students understand it?

How do you help students understand it?

ASSESSMENT PRACTICEGOALS

Modified from Wiggins & McTighe, Understanding by Design, p. 18


Elements of Backward Design

• Goals

• Consider students’ skills, knowledge, & attitudes to develop learning objectives.

• Assessment

• Assess students’ abilities to meet the learning objectives, both at the beginning and throughout the course.

• Practice

• Design in-class activities and instructional methods to help students meet the learning objectives.

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Content Priorities

Big Ideas & Core Tasks Wiggins & McTighe,

Understanding by Design, p. 71


Content Priorities

Important to Know & Do




Content Priorities

Worth Being Familiar With

Important to Know & Do




Content Patterns: Organizing & Sequencing (1)

• “Constructing patterns in your curriculum is one way to infuse consistency throughout the course, which helps the learners manage time and resources. How you approach your content each week should be organized in such a way that the learner understands what is being taught and how to interact and engage with the material and community.”

• What’s different online:

• The easier it is for learners to locate and engage with learning activities, the more mental energy they will have to focus on the content.

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Content Patterns: Organizing & Sequencing (2)

• Write all course content using a consistent voice

• Create patterns in activity structure (e.g., description, rationale, deliverables, and resources)

• Establish a consistent schedule (e.g., standardize due dates and plan synchronous sessions, virtual meetings, office hours, and other activities at the same time each week)

• Align learning objectives to each segment of content

• Structure the content into smaller pieces

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Lesson Development with Media (1)

• “Depending on how you choose to introduce, curate, or present the learning topics, creative applications of media can further engage learners in the material.”


• Simply posting your slides does not leverage the opportunities in an online course

• Simply recording a video of an in-person lecture does not leverage the opportunities in an online course

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Lesson Development with Media (2)

• Media can:

• Introduce and guide main concepts

• Generate interest in a subject

• Reinforce confusing or complex ideas

• Frame overarching themes

• Set the stage for an activity

• Curate a particular approach for how the learner should explore a topic

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Student Attention in 50 Minute Lecture

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Attention

Minutes Hartley, J. & Davies, I. (1978)


Best Practices Course: Media Example

• Tablet drawing versus screenshot

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Smith, K. (2000). Going Deeper: Formal Small-Group Learning in Large Classes


Best Practices Course: Media Example

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Designing Assessments

• “Align each assessment with specific learning objectives and course outcomes”

• “Diversify assessment types to align learning with particular objectives”

• “Create both formative and summative assessments to evaluate the progression of learners throughout your course.”

• What’s different online:• Some assessments can be automatically scored, and can be

parameterized

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Checklist (1)

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Checklist (2)

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Part 3: Facilitation

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Part 3: Facilitation

• “Learners should be able to absorb the information presented and share their interpretations and knowledge with their peers so that the online environment feels like a collaborative community.”


• In person, we’re adept and reading eye-contact, body language and human gestures—online we have limited opportunities

• In person, it’s easy to ask spontaneous questions—online this requires intentional design

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Part 4: Evaluation

• “Evaluation is a critical part of the teaching and learning process. It completes the feedback loop, and helps you determine if the learners have understood the material presented to them. During this phase, you should be assessing the knowledge and skills that were defined in the learning outcomes statements.”


• In person, it’s easy to ask spontaneous questions—online this requires intentional design for reflection

• Technologies allow peers to easily review each others’ work

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End of Morning Session

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Workshop: Design Considerations for Online/Digital Courses – Part 2


Tuesday, August 26, 2014


Cite as: Kumar, V. & Muramatsu, B. (2014b, August). Design considerations for online/digital courses – part 1. Workshop presented at KFUPM. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.




Agenda

Part 5: Identify Significant Challenges / Opportunities in Teaching / Learning

Break

Part 6: Personal EdTech Action Plan

Part 7: Summary

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Goals for the Afternoon

Redesign a module in an existing module / course

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Key Takeaways



Opportunity for transparency in identifying & sharing learning outcomes; and how assessments demonstrate meeting these outcomes

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Identify Significant Challenges / Opportunities in Teaching / Learning

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Identify Significant Challenges / Opportunities in Teaching / Learning

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Group Consulting

Describe the challenge

Identify possible ways to address the challenge, especially how education technology might help (give examples)

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Part 7: Summary

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Homework: Personal EdTech Action Plan

Propose an activity to integrate educational technology in your course Describe the educational activity of interest

What would it take? Support staff, infrastructure, release time, etc.

How would you know if you’re successful?

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Key Takeaways



Identify & share learning outcomes; and how assessments demonstrate meeting these outcomes

67

Workshop: Design Considerations for Online/Digital Courses



Cite as: Kumar, V. & Muramatsu, B. (2014b, August). Design considerations for online / digital courses – part 1. Workshop presented at KFUPM. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.



