• Low-risk, nonthreatening learning environment
• Challenging, real-life, authentic assessments
• Rhythms, patterns, and cycles
• Appropriate chunking or grouping
• Learning as orchestration rather than lecture or facilitation
• Appropriate level of novelty
• Appropriately timed breaks and learning periods
• Purposeful assessments
• Learning that addresses visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners
• Active processing with mental models
• The use of universal examples, analogies, and parallel processing

Tompkins offers the following succinct definition of brain-based: “instructional strategies designed for compatibility with the brain’s propensities for seeking, processing, and organizing information.”

Tompkins’ model uses the acronym IGNITE.

Intervals: Tompkins recommends using an interval of intense focus for approximately 15 to 20 minutes followed by a two- to three-minute break. “Physiologically, your neurons are keen and alert for no more than 20 consecutive minutes. At the end of those 20 minutes, your neurons have gone from full-fledged alert to total collapse, and it takes two to three minutes for those neurons to be completely recovered and back to the total alert state. If you break longer than three minutes, you’ve redirected your attention,” Tompkins says.

Shifting from intense focus need not be a radical change. It can be as simple as posting to a discussion board.

Grouping: Present information in groups of three or five. “The brain can process no more than nine items in a sequence, and it actually does this much more efficiently with three or five. Odd numbers work better than even numbers. If you’re going to give students a list of six things to do, make it one, two, three, whitespace, four, five, six. The brain responds to whitespace because the brain processes things in groups. Students will be better able to focus as they look at this group of information. You’re providing the same amount of content. It just makes it more learner-friendly,” Tompkins says.

Novelty: When students are bored they tend to not pay attention to information that is present. Tompkins recommends injecting novelty to prevent boredom. “If there’s no announcement to make, post a good joke for the day. If you’ve got a header picture, change it once a week. Insert pictures with each unit. Do something to get their attention. You want students to go in and say, ‘What’s new today?’”

Interconnectedness: Learning needs to be connected to students’ reason for taking the course. Tompkins recommends making these connections by providing experiences and demonstrations and revisiting those experiences. Constant review is essential because people learn through two mechanisms: repetition and connecting to prior knowledge, Tompkins says.

Technology and time: Select the appropriate technology to suit the needs of your students. For example, podcasts may be effective for master’s-level students, but they are not a good choice for teaching developmental-level students.

It’s important to provide enough time for students to process what they’ve learned. “Don’t put so much work in there that there’s no time to process what you’re asking them to learn. I think sometimes instructors fill their courses with all kinds of things that there’s no way students will have time to do everything,” Tompkins says.

Environment: Keep the affective aspects of the online learning environment in mind. Welcome student emails. Understand your learners’ needs.

This model does not require sophisticated high-tech solutions. “It can all be done with a very simple course design,” Tompkins says. “I recommend using visuals all you can because over 90 percent of us are visual learners.”

Excerpted from Brain-Based Online Learning Design, Online Classroom, (November 2011): 1, 2.

Instructor Presence – The Mapmaker
Instructor presence is vital to create in an online course, because without it, the class becomes an impersonal experience guided only by text and the other electronic medium. Just as in a seated class, the presence of an instructor provides a sense of leadership and security for the students, a central point person that guides them in the learning experience. In an online class, one has to be conscious to create this presence, as it is not patently evident as it is in a seated class.

Instructor presence can be created in a variety of ways. The welcome announcement and faculty bio both provide an initial presence, but these are not in and of themselves enough. True instructor presence requires consistency throughout the course, and should be felt in the other areas. This can be achieved by the following: having consistent formatting, putting photos in the faculty bio and on the main introduction so that students could put a face to the instructor’s name, having the instructor provide his or her own icebreaker and having students relate theirs to it, providing clear objectives for the course (and relating those to each lesson so that the expectations are clear), and having the instructor take part in the discussions. These elements give the student a sense that there is a “mapmaker,” and not just a map.

Instructor Feedback – The Tour Guide
Instructor feedback is one of the most vital elements of an online course. It is interesting to note that instructor feedback is also a vital part of the aforementioned instructor presence. Feedback helps the students recognize that there is an instructor that is monitoring their progress. You can have instructor presence without feedback, but the presence would likely seem detached and impersonal. Feedback adds an interactive component that brings warmth to the experience. Put another way, if instructor presence is the sense of the “mapmaker,” then instructor feedback is the “tour-guide,” so to speak.

Feedback can be found in many areas. Clearly, grades are the most obvious avenue. However, there is great opportunity for feedback within the discussions. This type of feedback helps the students know that they are on track and moving in a direction that is consistent with the course objectives. Feedback also includes giving reinforcement as quickly as possible, as doing so will help elicit the behavior that is desired. This might include having a quiz with a function that produces immediate correction. It is also important to let students know the time frame for answering emails (which really should be within 36 hours) so that students don’t have to worry that their questions are just “hanging out in cyber-space.”

Navigation – The Map
Lastly, a map is only as useful as it is accessible. The legend, the key, etc, all must make sense and be relevant if the map is to be useful. There are several elements one may implement in order to make navigation as easy as possible. First, have a focus to each lesson and ensure this focus is brought to attention in each element. This includes making sure that extraneous and irrelevant material is omitted, making the lesson as succinct as possible. Provide instructions below each folder, have deadlines typed in bold and in a color so they are easy to spot, have both a preview and a checklist on the lessons page, and serialize items (and ensure that this serialization is the same on every page the item is found). It is also good to have options such that the student can find the same material from more than one link (making it so that they can find their destination with more than one route). Lastly, have instructions that are qualitatively the same in each place the item is found so that there is a consistent explanation of the assignment, thereby reducing possible confusion.

Last Thoughts
Ultimately, a good online course has elements that do not singularly exist, but rather has integrated elements that are part of a fluid, dynamic experience. A good online instructor works to ensure that each element of the course builds upon the course objectives and works in conjunction with one another, rather than as separate pieces. Online courses can be impersonal and flat, or they can be vibrant and robust. The feel of the course and the experience for the student will chiefly rest on the instructor’s ability to provide a succinct, clear, accessible, course with guided direction—in other words, an accessible map made by a mapmaker who serves as the tour guide.

Danielle Hathcock is a licensed professional counselor and an adjunct instructor in the psychology department at Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Mo.

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Bottom line: Just like initial course development, updating courses can be quite a lot of work. You can reduce the hassles and work (but not eliminate them) by designing your online courses with updating them in mind. That is, design so that updating is built into the process, not tacked on as an afterthought.

Identify change-likely elements
Most course designers start with a list of objectives or topics and then design the course elements, including content (such as narrated slides, reading materials, animations, audio clips, etc.), activities for students to do (such as answer discussion questions, review a site, perform tasks, etc.), and assessments (such as programs, reports, and tests).

High-level design tables, such as the one below, are often used to organize what will happen in the course. A high-level design table is then typically used to inform more-detailed design, including the design, development, integration, and testing of all the course elements.

One way to reduce the (unexpected) hassle in course updating is to identify up front the elements that are less likely to need updating and the elements that are more likely to need updating. Elements that are less likely to need updating may include content that doesn’t change and won’t need a what’s-happening-now focus. For a business writing course, for example, grammar rules are unlikely to change, so the content, activities, and assessments around those rules are likely to be stable. That doesn’t mean you won’t ever change it. In fact, you may indeed change it, for reasons discussed later.

Elements that are more likely to need updating may include content that normally changes over time (for example, certain science and Web design topics) and topics that are closely aligned with current events (for example, government and law topics).

To reduce update surprises, make note of elements likely to need changes and how often they likely will need updating when you are designing your courses. You could color-code the elements in your high-level design or use unique symbols that indicate when the element needs to be reevaluated for updating. Also note whether changes in those elements will cause update issues elsewhere in the course. For example, changes in content commonly necessitate changes in assessments.

Then, while the content and course are fresh, create an update plan so that when you get ready to update, you already know what needs to be done. This will save you time, energy, and hassles because you won’t need to start from scratch in determining how to go about updating.

Changes likely anyway
Certain aspects of your courses are going to change over time, even if the content itself is fairly stable. These include changes in textbooks, readings, and other “outside” content and changes to technologies (used for teaching and learning online).

When new versions of a textbook or a new textbook altogether is used, it is likely to impact all the other elements of your course. If you know that a new version of the textbook becomes available every X years, you should factor that time period into your course updating plans. The more closely your course content, activities, and assessments are tied to a text or readings, the more updating will be needed when that text or those readings change.

To reduce course update (and other) hassles, a bioethics professor I know “unhooks” the text and readings from the other content, activities, and assessments, and I think this approach could work for others as well. She supplies a list of readings (including the textbook) and time frames for reading them to students, but these readings are not in strict lockstep with other course content. Her goal is to provide foundational information in the time period before students will need it to understand the other content she supplies. She does pull test questions from these readings, so she has to update the test each time she updates the readings.

Another way to reduce updates caused by changes in readings is to develop general activity and assessment templates that can be used with minor tweaks as readings are changed. For example, an activity template that prompts students to select and justify the most significant influence/reason/outcome can be used with a variety of readings and isn’t tied to a very specific reading or readings. These kinds of templates can be developed to match the desired learning outcomes and tweaked to map to specific content as it changes.

Over time, the tools and technologies available to you inside and outside of your course management system will change as well, and this will influence how you “do” your course. For example, collaborative document creation tools (such as Google Docs) or easy-to-create media development tools (such as Google SketchUp) may change how your course works and the way you present content. This is to be expected and is, in my opinion, one of the fun parts about being involved in online course creation and delivery.

Patti Shank, PhD, CPT, is a widely recognized information and instructional designer and writer and author who helps others build valuable information and instruction. She can be reached through her website: www.learningpeaks.com.

Excerpted from Online Classroom, January 2010, 4-5.

Easy? No. Rewarding? Yes.

Fortunately, making the leap online programs today is a lot less painful than it used to be, in part because you have the benefit of learning from schools that have successfully transitioned some of their courses to an online delivery.

One such school is Abilene Christian University (ACU). In 2002 ACU began thinking of ways to increase its outreach through online courses. Carol Williams, PhD, then graduate dean and assistant provost for research, had distance education added to her responsibilities. ACU had more than 4,000 undergraduate students and about 400 residential graduate students. It had no “continuing education” unit or infrastructure. Now, some eight years later, ACU has nearly 500 online students in five master’s degrees and four certificates. Online programs are the fastest growing area for the university.

Williams shared the ACU story during the recent online seminar Growing Successful Online Programs at a Small School in which she told about her frustration over the lack of resources that address the unique needs of small schools looking to compete with the big dogs online. The ACU experience may hold some lessons for other small, private schools who are contemplating the leap to online.

1: Define your purpose for having an online program – High-quality online programs require a significant upfront investment, and should align with the mission of the university. As a result, it’s important that you’re able to articulate why you want to put a program online. As you develop your business plan and budget, be sure to include a timeline, a realistic assessment of available resources, and metrics for success.

2: Assign an administrative leader – The institution needs to designate an administrative leader who can manage all aspects of program development and delivery. This person needs to understand “the big picture” while coordinating with deans, faculty, instructional designers, support services, library personnel, and others who play a role in the online students’ learning experience, Williams says.

3: Create faculty buy-in – Many faculty feel teaching online is inferior to teaching face-to-face. Williams works hard to dispel those and other myths. She also recommends starting with faculty who are known as innovators on campus, and providing a workload and compensation plan that recognizes the additional time and effort required to design an online course. Providing support from instructional designers is critical as well, she says.

4: Build online student support services – Because many online students may never set foot on campus, all the normal functions related to financial aid, registration, billing, library, and technology support must be available online.

5: Consider outsourcing – Many smaller universities are stretched thin when it comes to marketing and admissions. Adding online programs to their job responsibilities may be a tough sell, and likely won’t get you the results you want. Williams suggests outsourcing these tasks to vendors who specialize in adult learners and online education.

#4 Faculty competence: First, and most basic, the faculty that are going to be teaching online must have the content background. But beyond that they have to get the appropriate training to teach online. They have to understand online pedagogy and they have to understand the technology they’re using. You need to be able to certify that the faculty have the appropriate skills. Then you need to constantly update the faculty on those skills. Finally you need to have a faculty evaluation system and use that information to feed back into the courses.

#5 Institutional integrity: Again, starting with basics, the institution must be accredited. Regional accrediting agencies are your allies in ensuring institutional integrity. They will help you look at what you say you’re going to deliver and what you’re actually delivering and help you make sure they match. Institutions must be rigorous in establishing outcomes for programs and courses and measuring their effectiveness—are you achieving those outcomes?

“You say you’re going to do something and you show that you’re actually doing it,” says Merle Harris, president of Charter Oaks State College. Here, too, a key point is to make this information easily accessible to students. “You have to be upfront about it and make sure that people know that you are going to be upfront about it,” Harris says.

#6 Excellence in student services: The guiding principle is that you have to recreate online all the services that are offered on the ground. You have to be sure that students can get online advice and counseling. You have to make sure they can get complete information about their courses in advance. The online registration process has to be efficient. Students must have access to library services online. Online tutoring services should be available. You have to be able to accomplish financial aid transactions at a distance. Since the students are using technology they have to have a help desk. Not only must you recreate the services that students could walk to on campus—in most cases you actually have to do a better job because often enough students have a difficult time connecting with services on-campus.

#7 Integrity in marketing: Make sure you’re giving a clear and accurate message about what you actually can and do deliver, so that you’re not making promises that can’t be fulfilled. As with other aspects of transparency, integrity in marketing has to do with providing relevant information on your website—what the graduation rate is, what the alumni say about the program, etc.

#8 Curricular quality: “We have to make sure that there is quality in the content,” Harris says. For example at my institution courses are reviewed by other faculty members both before the course is offered, and the first time it’s offered, and then it comes up for review again within at the most five years—it could be earlier.” This periodical review is necessary to be sure that outcomes are clearly stated and that the students are achieving those outcomes.

“The keys are disclosure, transparency, the ability to interact with students easily and the quality of the curriculum. So that we know what we’re trying to achieve and we regularly measure it.”

Excerpted from Transparency is Good Practice for Online Administration, Distance Education Report, April 1, 2008.

Hillstock works with faculty to develop satellite, CD-ROM, and Web-based courses using a design model that is roughly 80 percent asynchronous and 20 synchronous. Within this model, instructors can choose a variety of technologies that the university’s office of educational technology services (ETS) supports.

The decision to use a given technology needs to be based on a needs assessment of the course, the technology’s compatibility with the institution’s course management system, and the level of technology students have access to.

For example, suppose an instructor decides that his or her students would benefit from view-on-demand presentations. There are many products that can do this, but not all will work as well across different platforms and within a course management system. Also, different products have different end-user technology requirements.

The technologies you use and how you incorporate them into your course can have a major effect on student support issues. Hillstock recommends the following strategies to reduce student support issues:

• Put things in one place. “If you’re using things like video or on-demand presentations, the course management system should be the container for all of that. Even though you know that you’re using six different technologies in your course, the students don’t care. All they need to know is that they have full access to the course by logging in to Blackboard, which is the course management system we use,” Hillstock says.
• Provide students with clearly stated minimum technology requirements. Students need to know up front the technologies they will need to access the course. This lets students know ahead of time what arrangements they will need to make, whether it’s upgrading their technology or making plans to use a computer at a local library or friend’s house. Hillstock recommends doing a test run several days before using synchronous tools in a course. The five minutes it takes for students to connect and verify that they can see and hear and navigate through the system will greatly reduce the need for support staff help during the actual synchronous session.
• Hide functions that are not used. Course management systems and other online learning tools have many functions that are not always used in a course. Once you determine which tools you will be using in your course, hide all the other functions. This will make the course easier for students to navigate and will reduce the need for support staff help, Hillstock says.
• Avoid using too much technology. Just because your institution supports a wide range of technologies does not mean that they all should be used in your course. Deciding which tools to use should be based on the specific needs of your course. And there is such a thing as using too much technology. How much is too much? “If I look at a course that uses videoconferencing, audio conferencing, satellite, video streaming, and Blackboard, I stop and say, ‘Whoa.’ I stop and ask, ‘Why do you think this is a good idea?’ They may have good reasons, but a lot of times when I listen to them, it’s more like, ‘I just thought that since you guys support all these things, I should try to use them all.’ There is nothing wrong with them trying to use videoconferencing, audio conferencing, or even streaming video, but many times those faculty who attempt to use five or six different technologies do it because they don’t have a thorough understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each of those tools,” Hillstock says. Rather than trying to include every technology that might be appropriate for a course, Hillstock recommends that instructors begin by using the course management system and one additional tool. This reduces the amount time it takes to create the course, and instructors often find that this less technology-intensive design works well. “The majority of faculty members basically want to use things like discussion boards and chat, and to be able to make their course documents available to their students,” Hillstock says.