The
journey down course design road was a bit bumpy at times. I have to say I
really didn’t know what to expect. Overall, it was an enjoyable course. I have to
admit that there is a lot of consideration that goes into the design that I had
not thought of. For example everything connects from the objectives to the
assessment.
Designing
the course was done in a step by step process. I have written objectives before
but workshops or seminars which written the same as for a class but its less
content. The writing of objectives for a course gets a bit challenging because
you have course objectives and lesson objectives.
You have
to consider learner and non-learner issues with the design. Non-learner issues
are those things that deal with the design itself. The books that will be used
to other resources, assignments that align with objectives and assessments are all
part of the non-learner issues. Then there are the learner issues. These issues
are directly related to learner like their age or geographical location.
Selecting assessments that align with the learning
objectives and learning activities is a component of the design that flows like
a face to face class. Using diagnostic assessments can be challenging in the
online environment requiring the distant learner to seek places where he/she
can take proctored examinations. Formative assessment is important in academia
whether it be face to face or online. This type of assessment gives the learner
an idea of their accomplishments and areas in need of more attention.
Content
presentation included three areas of interaction student-content interaction,
student-student interaction and student-instructor interaction. Each of these
areas has to be addressed in the design. They need to connect with the learning
objectives and activities of learning in the course. The design of the course
should allow for adequate interactions to facilitate understanding of content,
community building and instructor evaluation of student progress.
The
difficulty of this course for me was writing to the design. If I just had to
design the course and not write a paper based on the steps of the design the
challenge would have been less. I don’t think I am a bad writer but the
specifics needed for this paper kept throwing me off. It also made me read a
lot more because the leaner, non-learner issues were not simple to understand.
Coming from leadership to academia makes you put on a different hat and look at
things from a different perspective.
The review process of the design class was very
interesting. I think I had the same challenge with the review that I had with
the design. Proofreading is one of my strong points but I missed content issue
on the paper I reviewed. Again it was about the structure of the paper that
gave me a headache.
Design worksheets were done for the first three
lessons of the course. This process taught us how to link everything together
from the learning objectives to the learning activities. The items that were
designed for the content areas of the paper were plugged into the design via
these worksheets. The assessments were also a part of the worksheets. The worksheets
are like a blue print for each lesson and serve as guide for each lesson.
Overall, I count the experience as being a
successful one. Writing to the design is hopefully something I won’t have to do
again, but in the event that I have I think I am better prepared to do so. I’m
ready for the last and final course of online certification and then ready to
be a successful online instructor.