Conquering the Content

A Blueprint for Online Course Design and Development

Robin M. Smith

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781118717080
• eBook ISBN: 9781118717141
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

Put your course online now, without sacrificing pedagogical quality

Conquering the Content: A Blueprint for Online Course Design and Development, Second Edition is a highly practical guide to creating online courses. With guidance on incorporating learning theory into online course content, as well as a host of templates, learning guides, and sample files, this book furnishes instructors and instructional designerswith the information and tools they need to design and develop their course content to better serve online students. This second edition introduces relevance statements and time-saving tips as well as content maps which provide a scaffold for content organization and help students anchor the topics in their memories for retrieval. Readers will gain expert insight and best practices for designing within the rapidly changing online learning environment and learn to incorporate recent advances that can improve student outcomes. Because the book is designed to focus on online teaching pedagogy, it won't go out of date as specific tools change.

Nearly one-third of all students in higher education are taking at least one online class, and online hybrid classes are becoming more widespread. Distance learning is becoming the norm, but creating an online class is more complex than just posting course content on a website. Conquering the Content demonstrates how instructors can best revamp their course content to suit the online learning environment, and provides the tools and resources instructors need to transfer their effectiveness from the classroom to the online environment. Learn how to:

• Create student-friendly navigation structures that support what is known about the brain and learning
• Organize content based on priority, flow, and easy navigation
• Create assessments that work within the parameters of an online course
• "Chunk" information to facilitate better processing

Time is of the essence in getting a course online, but it's important that pedagogy not get lost in the crush of new content. Course design is just as critical as course content when it comes to distance learning outcomes, and Conquering the Content provides a holistic and practical approach to effective online course development.

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Lesson Relevance: This lesson will set the stage for development of your online course. We will highlight some of the differences between the face-to-face and online environments, recognize that it is natural to feel uncomfortable when making these alterations to your teaching, highlight the importance of separating course development from course delivery, prepare for future updates to your course, and answer some typical questions of first-time online instructors.

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CONQUERING THE CONTENT: A BLUEPRINT FOR ONLINE COURSE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 1, Begin Here

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LEARNING GOALS/OUTCOMES

Begin Here

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Infer qualities of good teachers by describing a teacher who positively influenced you. Explain the value that you, as a unique individual, bring to your subject matter. Differentiate between the environments of online and face-to-face courses. Separate design and development tasks from delivery tasks. Recognize the need to design with updating in mind. Resolve some issues of first-time online instructors. Begin to approach course design from the learner's perspective. Document current course organization and structure.

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LEARNING RESOURCES

References

Chickering, A., and Gamson, Z. “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” AAHE Bulletin, Mar. 1987, pp. 3–6. Felder, R. “Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education.” Engineering Education, 1988, 78(7), 674–681. Merrill, M. “First Principles of Instruction.” Educational Technology Research and Development, 2002, 50(3), 43–59.

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CONTENT

Required Resource

Smith, R. “Lesson 1, Begin Here.” Conquering the Content: A Blueprint for Online Course Design and Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2014.

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LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Activities for This Lesson

Describe your favorite teacher. Identify the value you, as a unique individual, add to a course. Select one course on which to work. Gather materials for the course that you will place online. Identify improvements needed for your current course.

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SELF-ASSESSMENT

Check Your Understanding

Express qualities important for good teaching. Switch your perspective from teaching to learning. Recognize the added value you bring to your learners.

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LESSON ASSESSMENT

“Graded” Assessments or Evidence to Proceed

Materials needed to develop course Course improvement ideas

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GOOD TEACHING

Why are you involved in education? Who influenced you to invest part of your life's work in teaching and learning? Is there any particular person who stands out to you as someone who helped shape your decision to be involved in education? As faculty members we usually choose our subject matter because of passion for that topic. The natural world and problem solving intrigue me; therefore, I originally trained as a scientist. What is it that made you select your discipline? Perhaps it was a teacher who took a special interest in you, a class that challenged you, or some particular lesson that touched you at a sensitive time in your life. Typically, a person's favorite teacher is not one who was his or her easiest teacher; rather the person provided motivation, inspiration, practical application, or something similar. Your learners will likely find these qualities beneficial as well.

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ACTION ITEM 1

Think of your favorite teacher from all your years of school—the one who made a positive lasting impression on you.

Using Form 1, document the qualities that stood out about this person.

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FORM 1

MY FAVORITE TEACHER

QUESTIONS	RESPONSES
Subject this person taught
The year in school I had this teacher
The main thing that comes to mind when I think of this teacher
What he or she did that caught my attention
The qualities that stand out about his or her teaching
What I'd like to adopt from this person

Form available at www.josseybass.com/go/conqueringthecontent

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In addition to learning effective practices from those who taught us, we can adopt the teaching principles found to be the most effective, which have been documented by several studies.

You may be familiar with the classic study by Chickering and Gamson (1987), which established seven principles for undergraduate teaching:

• Encourage faculty-to-learner interaction.
• Encourage learner-to-learner interaction.
• Promote active learning.
• Communicate high expectations.
• Facilitate time on task.
• Provide rich, rapid feedback.
• Respect diverse learning.

These same teaching principles hold true whether you are teaching in a face-to-face or an online environment. If you are not familiar with these principles, I encourage you to find and review this study. Among the many additional articles referencing Chickering and Gamson's original work is Chickering and Ehrmann's “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever” (1996), which provides ideas for using the seven principles in an online course.

Another excellent guide for online courses is Merrill's “First Principles of Instruction” (2002). Most effective learning environments are those that are problem based and involve learners in four distinct phases of learning:

• Activation of prior experience
• Demonstration of skills
• Application of skills
• Integration of these skills into real-world activities

These principles can be applied to instructional design; learning is facilitated when

• Learners are engaged in solving real-world problems.
• Existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge.
• New knowledge is demonstrated to the learner.
• It is applied by the learner.
• It is integrated into the learner's world.

No one would expect an athlete or a musician to perform without hours of practice. Yet much instruction seems to assume that when it comes to cognitive skills, such practice is unnecessary. Merrill (2002) notes that “appropriate practice is the single most neglected aspect of effective instruction” (p. 43).

Your learning experience, research, and your own teaching experience work together to help inform your teaching. It is important to ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title
• Copyright
• PREFACE
• THE AUTHOR
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1 BEGIN HERE
• 2 CONTENT MAP
• 3 LEARNING GUIDE
• 4 PRIORITIZING
• 5 CONTENT
• 6 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
• REFERENCES
• GLOSSARY
• ACTION ITEMS
• More from Wiley
• Index
• End User License Agreement