Web Segment:

Before and After: A faculty experience in online course development processes

October 25, 2018

Presented by Terri Woodburn, Ph.D. Assistant Program Director, Professional Science Masters

Facilitated by E-Lu Chen, Instructional Designer.

codl@ku.edu 785-864-1000

• Course development process • CODL provides best practices, tips,

and hands-on help for the course creation process

• The course shell will be loaded with a template on request• Sample text will be provided in

many sections

• Make the Homepage your own!

• Organizing your modules/units/weeks• Try to be consistent in naming

modules with other courses in your program – consistency helps students navigate and feel comfortable in the online setting

• Modules will be available through the ‘Lessons’ tab

• Specify assignment deadlines in generic terms• Ex: due by midnight Thursday• Try to have consistent deadlines

with other online courses in your program

• Rubrics• Post rubrics for items such as the

weekly discussion board prominently

• Tests creation in an online setting• If you are worried about online

test taking you can create other learning activities/projects instead or ask CODL for best practices on test creation or proctoring options

• Quality Matters Review• Courses are reviewed by a third

party• To make sure online standards

are met• To provide feedback of what is

done well and suggestions for course improvements

• Allot time for a few revisions before the course goes live

• An important item to think about is setting timelines for yourself, as well as your students• A standard grading timeline is to have weekly grades (with comments) back to

the students within 48 hours of the end of your course week• Set office hours that you are consistently available and can be contacted –

they can even be noted as “by appointment”• Provide this information in the syllabus and/or Communication Expectation

areas• Log in a minimum of 4 out of 7 days to check on progress and interact with

discussion boards – subscribe to weekly discussion threads to get email notices of student postings

• Try to open up your class a few days to a week before classes start

• Weekly Discussions• Questions to start weekly discussions can vary

• Ask critical thinking questions about key concepts for that week• Provide 3 to 5 questions that they can choose from and answer 2 or 3

• Provide an open question that they can research online and provide additional information to the class

• Ask questions over work completed in weekly exercises if they allow for different viewpoints or different results – discuss these differences• Make sure to think about deadlines – this may require a Thursday deadline

for the first post and an earlier deadline for the weekly assignment

• Weekly Discussions• Encourage them to share their own work that pertains to what you are learning

Ex: Describe an example of a False Color Composite image (it can be one described in the textbook, the lecture presentation, or one that you found online). Include the band combination number designation, name the spectral bands used, and provide an example of what this combination is useful for. How might you use this type of image in current or future research applications?

• Try to ask additional questions in your responses

• For small classes allow them to respond to one of your additional questions as a ‘peer response’

• The first live class• Changes can and will be made during your live course

• Edits of text errors• Website changes

• Make sure to either1. Keep the master course shell updated– or –2. Use your updated live course when you copy the course to your next course

shell

• The second live class• Copying a course into a new semester Blackboard site

• CODL can do this on request or send directions• Can complete on your own with a few easy steps

• In previous course click on ‘Packages and Utilities’• Enter new course ID for destination• Select all material to be moved

• Don’t forget to update the module/week dates in ‘Lessons’ once you have your new course copy made• If all other references to deadlines is kept generic these are the only dates to

change

Thank you&

Questions

Contact The Center for Online and Distance Learning

codl@ku.edu 785-864-1000