Instructional designers play a critical role in helping faculty members move their courses to the online environment. However, it’s important to respect each faculty member’s academic freedom.
“We, as humans, are social beings. Whether we are going to communicate in an online environment or face-to-face, we like to have contact with each other,” says Karyn Holt, associate clinical professor and director of online quality in the College of Nursing and Health Professions
If you want to lose your audience’s attention right off the bat, be it at a conference or in a classroom, here is a tip: start by outlining what you will cover. “Today I will cover these eight points …” By the time the sentence
A lot of faculty worry that they do. Given the cheating epidemic in college courses, why wouldn’t students be even more inclined to cheat in an unmonitored exam situation? Add to that how tech-savvy most college students are. Many know their way around computers and
Faculty members who are new to teaching online often don’t know the important role that an instructional designer plays in helping create effective learning experiences. Creating an online course entails more than simply posting materials online. For the faculty member, it requires an understanding of
I’ve just had one of those in-your-face learning experiences. In fact, it was so unnerving that I’m not sure I can even write about it. It all started when I bought a new computer and, as a result, had to learn an entirely new
“In our class: 1) everyone is allowed to feel they can work and learn in a safe and caring environment; 2) everyone learns about, understands, appreciates, and respects varied races, classes, genders, physical and mental abilities, and sexualities; 3) everyone matters; 4) all individuals
Motivation and engagement are important elements of an online course. This newsletter has featured many tips on how to improve student motivation and engagement. Here are a few more from a recent Magna Online Seminar led by Barbi Honeycutt, founder of Flip It Consulting.
Managing instructor presence—students’ perceptions of how instructors interact with them and guide their learning during a course—is the key to overcoming frustration. It’s not unusual for instructors and students to have widely different perceptions of instructor presence during the same course.
A wise teacher once told me that half of college success is just being organized, and I’m sure the same is true for any work. Yet we provide precious little guidance to students on this critical life skill. Lack of organization leads to students who
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Instructional designers play a critical role in helping faculty members move their courses to the online environment. However, it's important to respect each faculty member's academic freedom.
“A lot of [people] think they can change the course, but developing the course is the faculty's responsibility,” says Laurie Hillstock, director of distance learning and education instructor at the University of South Carolina Upstate. She notes that some instructors have the experience of sharing a course with a distance education consultant or instructional designer, only to have the course come back completely changed. This is not the way to earn an instructor's trust and helps explain why some instructors are apprehensive about making this transition.
Hillstock also notes that the first iteration of an online course is not the end of the design process. Faculty may not have the resources or experience to get the course exactly they would like the first time around. Or they may not know beforehand how well the course will serve your course content or students.
Rather than trying to get everything perfect at the outset Hillstock recommends an incremental approach and to celebrate small successes. To that end, she recommends starting meetings by asking faculty members what's going well in their courses. It's a great way to break the ice with a celebration of success, and it's a great way to share ideas that can be adopted in other contexts.
