Online Course DesignOnline task by Caspar Groeneveld

Steps in course design

1. Course objective / learning outcome

2. Select learning activities

3. Design course

4. Design course activities

5. Assessment

6. Evaluate

1. Course objective / Learning outcome

This course could have as a learning outcome:

“At the end of the course, students will be able to identify threats to European integration, explain their histories, and recognize differences and similarities between threats.”

Different modules can focus on different aspects.

2. Learning activities

• History of threats requires knowledge: e.g. reading, watching knowledge clips, quizzing knowledge.

• Recognizing and defining threats requires comprehension, analysis or synthesis: e.g. research; reporting.

• Finding similarities and differences requires analysis and evaluation based on available material: e.g. discussion; presentation; reporting

3. Course design

• Examine freedom to select platform• Use consistent design• Use logical design• Turn off tools, functions or buttons not in use. • Only show module being followed• Only show material up to current week• If necessary, use other tools when platform provides

unsatisfactory tool

Tasks and Activities

• Paced students start at certain time, work in weeks. For self-paced students, weeks last as long as they need.

• Next week’s material is made available after finishing previous week

• Weeks end with assignment• Discussion boards are open per topic• Weekly online sessions with teacher, presence

of students expected.

Tasks and Activities: Peer review 1

• Introduce concept of rubrics and peer review. • Rubrics can be applied in some of the other

modules as well. • Propose set of rubrics and have students discuss

them in a forum. • Participation in the forum is expected.• Accept or reject proposed changes and if

necessary have students vote on the final selection.

• Participation on rubrics is weekly assignment

Tasks and Activities: Peer review 2

• Teacher provides an example of effective and useful feedback.

• Students submit paper proposal for peer feedback• Students provide peer feedback to two other students• Handing in paper and providing feedback is weekly

assignment• Follow the discussion board on the topic to track

problems. If a student is struggling with the task:– suggest a fellow student who is comfortable with the specific

material to help her.– discuss the problem in the weekly online session.– if the problem persists, help the student

Tasks and Activities: Wikis

• Students create a wiki lemma in pairs.

• Students have to explain a concept to peers, placing them in the role of teacher and making them aware of any gaps in knowledge they have.

• Students then rate each other wikis.

Tasks and Activities: Blog

• Students write a blog post relating course material on current events. Can be done alone or in pairs.

• Students comment on other blogs.

• Writing the blog and commenting are the weekly assignment.

Tasks and Activities: Presentation

• Students present a concept in a different format, e.g. a concept map.

• Presentation can be synchronous or asynchronous, e.g. during weekly session; requires other students to be present

• Presentation is weekly assignment.

Tasks and Activities: Discussion Board

• Assign roles in a Discussion Board.

• Students may not participate, unless instructed to do so

• Require students to post and to comment on posts

• Make a student mediator

Tasks and Activities: Assignments

• Have students decide on some of the assignments

• Advanced students from different backgrounds have different ideas

• Having influence over the course increases commitment and community

Tasks and Activities: Communication

• Build a Facebook page and invite students

• Allow students to use Skype to contact the teacher and invite them to Skype each other

• React quickly to student communications

• Be explicit about the duration of responses

• Strongly invite them in the weekly online sessions.

Thank you

Tasks and Activities: example

The next pages provides an illustration of a module in ‘weeks’; this will not be part of the 10-minute presentation.

Paced students will follow the course in calendar weeks, self-paced students in their own time.

Self-paced students cannot do group activities.

Tasks and Activities: week 1

• New weekly material made available.• Introduction clip stating the course objectives, expectations

and timeline. • The teachers introduce themselves. • Timeline is visible and can be subscribed to (.ics link).• Discussion board is opened and students are invited to

participate. An extra forum is opened where students introduce themselves and their backgrounds. The teacher or T.A. provides an example. Typically, just before a deadline students will find each other.

• Reading materials are made available, can be downloaded and can be ordered through Printing-on-Demand.

Tasks and Activities: week 2

• New weekly material made available• Open a discussion board for the topic of the week, if new.• Self test multiple choice quiz.

Obligatory, results do not count for final mark. Self test is scheduled before plenary sessions. Self test is available only after watching knowledge clips.

• First obligatory weekly plenary session in Adobe Connect, Google +, etc. Self-paced students taking the module are welcome. Session time may be changed depending on home country of participants.

Tasks and Activities: week 3

• New weekly material made available• Weekly online plenary session• Introduce concept of rubrics and peer review. Rubrics

can be applied in some of the next five modules as well. Propose set of rubrics and have students discuss them in a forum. Participation in the forum is obligatory. Accept or reject proposed changes and if necessary have students vote on the final selection.

• Give assignment for next week: write research question, hypothesis and outline for final report.

• Evaluate the module (first evaluation, mostly technical).

Tasks and Activities: week 4

• Students to submit paper proposal and outline by Monday. Students to comment on and evaluate paper based on rubrics of three other student proposals by Friday. Fulfillment of this assignment requirement for final assignment.

• Weekly online plenary session can provide an example of effective and useful feedback.

• Follow the discussion board on the topic to track problems. If a student is struggling with the task:– suggest a fellow student who is comfortable with the specific

material to help her.– discuss the problem in the weekly obligatory online session.

– if the problem persists, contact the student

Tasks and Activities: week 5

• New weekly material made available• Discussion board on final paper active.• Weekly online session can discuss final questions for the

paper.• Students to hand in final version of paper proposal /

research outline. • 2nd self-test quiz (unmarked and obligatory).

Tasks and Activities: week 6

• Likely no new material for the week, since students will be writing their paper.

• Weekly online session.• Discussion board on final paper remains active.

Tasks and Activities: week 7

• Hand in final paper.• Evaluate the module (second evaluation, both on content

and technical).• Mark will only be available after module evaluation.