Posts Tagged ‘EDUC 763’

Form 3b:  New Course Thoughts
Designing an online course need a lot of thinking and it all starts by knowing
who need your course? and what do you know about him?

Description: What will this course be about? Where/how will it be taught?

This instructional designing project “Create your online courses store” will be offered Asynchronous online and free for instructors who wish to establish their online courses store. The course focus is to encourage instructors to use and integrate technology in their daily work. Four modules will introduce the instructor in to different areas they should master starting with online course definition and end up creating an online courses store.

Instructors will research, collaborate, create items and evaluate each other using feedback as an assessment tool in their final projects.


Learners: Who are the learners? What do you know about them that might make a difference in what you design?  (Think about age, prior knowledge, familiarity with technology)

Traditional instructors at the age of 25 with fair technology background and are willing to do what it takes to learn new technologies plus the passion to transfer their offline content to online environment; however, they don’t know where to start this process. In addition to, these are qualified instructors with high-level knowledge about setting objectives.


Things that you want to accentuate in my course. This can be related to what or how you teach, how students respond, or about the technology.  What do you want to see happen in this course?

The main focus in this course is not only introducing instructors to new technologies available on the internet, but I want the learners/instructors to use it and apply it. There will be Online Instructor Group community in Google+ that gather all instructors who are taking the course to discuss their problems as they progress through the course modules.
This course will focus on using live and asynchronous feedback among all instructors using the rubric. At the end of the course each instructor should have at least one online course live and assessed.


Problems that you’d like to avoid in my course. Based on past experience, what would you predict will drag you down?  It could be technology, disinterested students, lack of discussion, etc.

1-It’s not easy to focus only on what I want to deliver, usually I tend to provide extensive information that I’m afraid to (will) distract the instructor on his first step to be an online instructor, so I have to focus on providing basic information that will do the job and leave extra information for the instructor to curate.
2- Lack of discussion by the students/learners will have a negative impact, because the feedback provides an essential element where students reached in their learning process or what problems they faced, but never mentioned (noted).


What might be the most problematic aspect of this course as you teach it? 

1-     Lack of commitment from instructors to finish their activities, as this is a free optional course not assigned by their administration, so am depending on their personal motivation factor.
2-     Lose learner engagement with the course material, I tried to meet different learning style by using different resources with different format chunked in to small pieces, but still I have my concerns.
3-     Technology usage resistance from the instructors and fear is also a challenge; this will drop down the motivational factor inside them which might lead to leaving the whole process and continue teaching the same way they used to.


The most time consuming aspect of this course as you teach it will be:

1-Lot s of online educational resources (content, software and objects) is a big distraction for me to start creating the course, and update all its parts if needed as we proceed.
2- Curating the best educational resources that will be offered to the instructor, as I need to investigate, read and try out different software and links regularly.
3-Review learner work and follow their thoughts and questions in the discussion forum.


EDUC 763 Home page

Course info

The syllabus is my contract with my students

Instructor Information  

Instructor Name:

Noura Saad
Skype me on: Tadreesna
Join my network in Linkedin or Twitter
Part 1: Course Description
This course will introduce instructors to ways that will help them to create an online course store, using online collaborative discussion, available web2 tools, online reasources and other reading materials, the instructors will learn different paths to apply what they have absorbed.
Prerequisite
·         Past experience in teaching
·         Ability to recognize and investigate different learning style for students
 Textbook & Course Materials
Required Text
·         There will be different links to reading materials, videos and SlideShares.
·         Other additional resources will also be available
Course Requirements
·         Internet connection
·         Previous knowledge and usage of Google+ Hangout and Dropbox  
Course Structure
This course will be delivered entirely online through my blog; you will have online lessons, course materials, and resources. At designated times throughout the course; we will participate in a blend of self-paced and group-paced activities using OnlineInstructor Group community and Google+ Hangout. Activities will consist of creating syllabus, learning guide, discussion forums, creating your own online course objects, import internet resources, email, switching feedback, Diigo collaboration in online for educators group and webhosting.
Important Note: This syllabus, along with course assignments and resources, are subject to change. It is the student’s responsibility to check for corrections or updates to the syllabus. Any changes will be clearly noted through email notification.
Part 2: Modules Learning Objectives
Module 1: Getting started for online course
Course Objectives
·         Analyze why should you be an online instructor now
·         Define what is an online course?
·         Identify why should you have an online course?
·         Create your own competency check list  before starting your journey as an online instructor
Module 2: Plan your course
Course Objectives
·         Know what is smart planning and what value you will get by using it?
·         Illustrate your objectives, activities and rubric that you will be using in your course
·         Generate a plan on how are you going to organize your offline content
·         Assemble your syllabus and learning guide
Module 3: Build your course
Course Objectives
·         Identify what do you need to create your own engaging multimedia course
·         Choose related multimedia objects in to your online course
·         Develop your own multimedia course content
·         Assemble your own multimedia online course
Module 4: Publish your course
Course Objectives
·         Identify best free/paid hosting places to publish your course
·         Use one hosting place  and list reasons for that
·         Examine  your online course after being online with collected feedback
You will meet the objectives listed above through a combination of the following activities in this course:
·         Reading provided materials and make your own research
·         Participation
·         Completion of assigned homework’s for the final project
Part 3: Grading Policy
Points                       Description
40                             Participation in Discussion and Hangouts
50                            Delivering assignments
60                            Final project
150                          Total Points Possible
Final grades assigned for this course will be based on the percentage of total points earned and are assigned as follows:
 Letter Grade     Percentage                     Performance
A                             93-100%                           Excellent Work
A-                           90-92%                             Nearly Excellent Work
B+                           87-89%                              Very Good Work
B                             83-86%                              Good Work
B-                           80-82%                               Mostly Good Work
C+                          77-79%                             Above Average Work
C                            73-76%                             Average Work
C-                          70-72%                              Mostly Average Work
D+                          67-69%                             Below Average Work
D                            60-66%                            Poor Work
F                              0-59%                              Failing Work
Late Work Policy
Be sure to pay close attention to deadlines—there will be no makeup assignments, although it’s a free optional course your duty is to stick with the assigned deadline dates that will be sent to you via email with the Calender of this course before it starts. You can also find the syllabus of the course provided on the blog when the course strarts.
Build Rapport
If you find that you have any trouble keeping up with assignments or other aspects of the course, make sure you let me know as early as possible. As you will find, building rapport and effective relationships are key to becoming an effective professional. Make sure that you are proactive in informing me when difficulties arise during the course so that I can help you find a solution.
Complete Assignments
All assignments for this course will be submitted electronically through Dropbox and email, unless otherwise instructed.
Commit to Integrity
As a student in this course you are expected to maintain high degrees of professionalism, commitment to active learning and participation in this class and also integrity in your behavior in and out of the classroom.

EDUC 763 Home page

Course Outlines with Outcomes

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Click on my image

Learning Outcomes are statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate after completion of a process of learning. Students may ask what I will learn from this course. What will I be able to do when the course is over? Sometimes the course description alone does not provide sufficient detail. Generalized learning outcomes do not supply much additional information to prospective students. More focused outcomes can identify key tasks in the learning process, or observe stages in cognitive development. Below you can find my learning outcomes please feel free to email me with any inquiry.
Module 2 Outcomes : Plan your course
Module 3 Outcomes : Build your course
Module 4 Outcomes : Publish your course

EDUC 763 LEARNING GUIDE

Posted: October 29, 2013 in 2.1 Creating, 2.2 Using
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EDUC 763 Home page

Learning Guides

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Click on the image

The Learning Guide is a support tool designed to improve your performance by supplying learning and support materials to your desktop. Its aim is to reduce the amount of time taken up by training and support by providing access to structured and targeted information at the moment of need. Below you can find my four designed learning guides for the four modules, which will be introduced in creating an online course, please feel free to email me with any inquiry, and join my Online Instructor Group.

EDUC 763 Home page

activity_icon_hdr

This is an example of an activity designed for module 3 where instructors should start gathering their course objects, either by bringing internet resources, or creating their own objects which could include but not limited to audio clips, videos, presentations, online tests and surveys. My aim in this course is to help instructors to use new technologies in their educational instructions.

Required resources for Absorb activity

Action required for Do Activity

In module 1 & 2 you have decided what do you want to include in your online course, and now it’s time to work on your course objects, by creating that resources, and establish your object/objects in addition to another imported object/objects from the internet, to create multimedia online course.

For the assignment, search suitable software for your online course to create your object. If you have a problem using that software Google it! to know more how should you use it.

Package your online course content in a file and upload it to dropbox with shared link.

Connect Activity

In the Online Instructors Group provide a link for your packaged online course content, and share your thoughts in our community, with small summary about your challenges in creating your online course objects, and how you manage to overcome it. Respond to at least two of your colleagues and try to offer new sollutions for them.

Live Activities

One of the well-known web2 tools is Prezi. In Prezi instructors could present their lessons visually and engage learner more in their provided content, Prezi also allows instructor to share their Prezies link and download it, so one should think about how, why and where to include this object in the online course.

Another useful free video creating tool is Animoto where instructors can create their videos using their materilals, add voice and even ready made video script and share their videos over the web.

Sample presentation Activity

Sample video activity

Reflection 

Module 1: Design with Learning in Mind 

1450b-reflection

In this week we were introduced to instructional designing course, with a lot of definitions that gives you an idea how many tasks we should gather in the same time to design a course, in simple words the instructional designer is the person who is responsible for delivering a learning experience to the learner, we are talking about designing road map that will take the learner to the place we told him that he is going to reach, and by removing every broken rock on the road we will make sure that the learner will walk safely without any distraction that might cause an accident in the middle of the road, instead we should put facilitated road marks that light him his road in day or night.

Module 2: Mapping for Future

It’s time for writing the objectives  of a course of our choice,  writing SMART objectives will help the instructor later on, to know where he will be heading, In addition what resources he need to provide that should meet the end results that was set for his learner so that he is not lost in the middle of the road.

Using Bloom Verb the learner will decide and know what we are asking him to do, missing this will lead to unknown results the instructor don’t want to get, they are considered as the ground rule to start creating a course learning guide in later stage. Good written objectives will motivate the learners to join the course. SMART objectives not only detail what we want the learners to learn but must also give an indication of how we will assess their progress, and this is another great task.

Module 3: Designing for Assessment

Assessment in online world is completely different than face 2 face assessments, where the examiner is controlled by a supervisor, so controlling the results is more guaranteed but that is not an issue in online education where the instructor can collect trusted results based on the delivered work received from the learner. Choosing multiple way to assess your learner performance in your course will not only give you clear idea if he was using any kind of plagiarism, but more importantly it will expose the learner to different ways to process information.

Module 4: Active and Engaged Learning

This week we had to align the activities the learner will be able to do in our final project. Our learning activities should include absorb, do and connect at the same time, in order to enhance the learning process in the learner mind he should be taken from one line to another smoothly, focusing on the do part will be more recommended among all other activities, because it clearly show if the learner could absorb the information and practice it through the activities, it’s not enough to read how can you ride a bike without trying it. Designing good course activities will guarantee engagement of the learner with the results was mentioned in your objectives.

Module 5: Designing with Organization in Mind

After we set our objectives, activities, rubric and assessment methods, it’s time to gather the whole picture in one place using  learning guide which is a summary of what will happen in a given module or unit. Learners will be able to get you’re the big ideas in one place. So what I had to do for this week is bring trusted resources in the internet that will match what I want the learner to know, and use to guide them in their activities. In addition theses resources should also be in different format in order to meet different learning style for different learners.

Module 6: Designing Content

Bringing too many resources to your learners doesn’t mean that they will get your course 100%, it’s your job as an instructor to think of ways to chunk that content into bite size pieces so the learners doesn’t choke with lots of resources, even if they are major in the course that doesn’t mean that they should be offered one time or in one format or from one resource. Internet offer educators lots of objects that could benefit any online course if they were chosen carefully to meet course requirements. This is part of the story but what inside each object is also more important because it will determine how the learners will learn depending on the feature of that content, time of learning and how the material and activities are engaging.

 Module 7: Designing for Best Practice

Online courses could be accessed by any learner, but what is missed for some educators is how many detail they should think about before designing and creating an online course, at the end it’s not only uploading PDF’s, one should think about many things in order to make a successful online course, it’s a long list that should start with clear goal of how the end product should be. Creating an online course mean that it should be created to meet all people need and it’s even better if we consider that all our learners are people of disabilities who use certain software to navigate the internet resources, by this we will take care of each tiny detail in the course, images, audios and flashes the list is endless but the results will assure that each learner took what he came to if he find that in the course.

Module 8: Final touches

After seven weeks of bringing all what does it needs to design an online course, and following the guideline of universal designs, we are now at the end of bringing the whole course items and reviewing partners work using universal rubrics. In the final project we should share a summary of our work. This “portfolio” will highlight some of the major work we have done the past seven weeks. When I start to gather the whole puzzle parts I saw where I was before two months and now, it’s really great experience for me to see my course completely online running from one instructional item to another, and from one page to the other. I hope you enjoyed my instructional gaudiness that will help you to walk through your online journey as an online instructor, if you have an inquiry please forward me your questions and I will be more than happy to help you.