Posts Tagged ‘course design’
September 17 - What Should be Standardized?
By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching and Learning, Teaching Professor Blog
I was reading an article that describes the attempts of a marketing department to standardize the various sections of an introductory principles of marketing course. What caught my attention and has been following me around since I read it is this: “In all sections students must pass the exams for the course regardless of their grades on other assignments for the class. This keeps students from using group projects to raise their grades.” (p. 12)
September 15 - A Modular Course Design Benefits Online Instructor and Students
By: Rob Kelly in Online Education
Andrea Henne, dean of online and distributed learning in the San Diego Community College District, recommends creating online courses composed of modules—discrete, self-contained learning experiences—and uses a course development method that specifies what to include in each module.
September 3 - Tips for Designing Your Course for Reuse
By: Rob Kelly in Online Education
The initial design of your course will have a big impact on how much time and effort will be required to update it in the future. Here are some tips from the University of Michigan School of Nursing to consider as you create your course to accommodate future changes:
July 22 - Strategies for Preventing and Correcting Poor Faculty Evaluations
By: Mary Bart in Online Education
Online instructors receive poor evaluations for any number of reasons, including lack of experience, inadequate training, and poor communication skills. Other times, the poor reviews are more reflective of the course design than the instructor who’s teaching the course. That distinction is unimportant to the students.
June 22 - Helping Online Faculty Succeed
By: Mary Bart in Online Education
Online education programs are known for their convenience, but they’ve also developed a reputation for poor student retention rates. So when someone who oversees an online education program that maintains a 92 percent completion rate speaks, people tend to listen. Such was the case at an online seminar titled High-Level Online Faculty Support for Low-Level
October 13 - How to Assist Faculty with an Online Course Template
By: Renee Cicchino in Curriculum Development, Distance Learning Administration, Instructional Design, Online Education
How do you get the best out of your online faculty? Don’t make them re-invent the wheel each time they create an online course. Let them do what they’re best at. Free them from administrative details. Do their work for them. Give them a course template.
September 29 - Instructional Design: Who’s Playing First in My Course?
By: Bob Eierman in Instructional Design
At a symposium about teaching projects on our campus, one group of faculty presented a set of projects they had done that involved giving students control over course design issues. The projects had grown out of a reading group that studied When Students Have Power by Ira Shor. The faculty presenters said that they let students design the syllabus and that the students typically created a rigorous course that was enhanced by the student ownership. I think I’m a student- and learning-centered teacher, but I’m also a teacher who has determined essentially all the course structure. So a few days before classes started, I decided NOT to spend my last few hours before the opening of the semester organizing, selecting, and deciding on syllabus issues, but to step (off a cliff?) into a world where students have power. Would chaos ensue if I gave students power in my general chemistry class?
