Course Design Exemplars

Examples

• Addressing student diversity• Flipped classroom• MOOC techniques• Authentic learning• Threshold concepts• Graduate attributes• Others

Common First YearCourses

School of EducationCurtin University

Enrolment Options

Bachelor of Education(Primary)

Bachelor of Education(Early Childhood)

Common First Year8 units

On-campus2013

Regional2013

Open Universities Australia 2014

200 100 2000

Starting Points

• No exams• No lectures – only ‘workshops’

Design Principles

• Design an environment which will enable students who can’t attend classes to be successful– Stop thinking about face-to-face workshop practices!

• Authentic learning approach – where appropriate

• To make life easier for students– all students

We don’t give a S#%@

M COO

Massive

Open Online

Course

c-x-

Tutor support is provided

M

Massive

CO

Online

Course

c-Tutor support is provided

Design Principles• Guide to the Course – how you’ll become a teacher• Guide for Students – how to study this unit and why• Topic synopses – brief ‘advance organisers’ for each topic• ‘Vodcasts’ – recorded mini-lectures for each topic• More detailed descriptions of assessment and learning activities• Clear scaffolding of academic skills and modeling of good

answers• A guide for tutors• A new Blackboard template to minimise mouse clicks

Apply MOOC Approaches

• Online module design– Topic synopsis– Key concepts vodcast– Learning task

• Provide scaffolding of the skills needed to do the task• Vodcast explaining how to do task• Model a ‘good’ answer

– Learning task…– Key concepts vodcast…

Guide to the Course

• How the course works as a whole (course level outcomes) and how it meets national standards

• How the individual units contribute to the degree as a whole

• Vodcasts about how the program will help you to become a good teacher

How to study the unit and why

• Details of the framework for the unit • How the unit fits in the degree• The teaching approach • Your expectations of your students• Inquiring About the World

Topic Synopses

• Advance organiser summarising the main points from each topic (half page)

• The learning tasks and resources for each topic

ExampleIn this first teaching week we will explore the idea of the ‘digital world’. This term, and similar terms, are used commonly in popular language, but what do they mean? We’ll explore some definitions. We will also explore the different digital worlds you live in: your personal digital world; your learning personal world as a student; and your professional digital world when you graduate. This unit is organised around these three ideas.

We will also help you to understand what ‘sense of place’ means, and why we need to change and adapt to the digital world. We will think about mobile technologies and how these are changing our lives. You’ll need to read chapter 1 of the textbook, and view some thought-provoking videos to give you some background to the discussion.

We will also get you started on your first assessment (the video presentation about “why I want to be a teacher in a digital world”), by providing a tutorial on video editing software. Finally, we will help you to get started on scripting your video.

Vodcasts

• Mini-lectures for each topic or part of a topic – 5-10 mins

• Interviews• Discussions• Explanations of how to do a learning task• Modelling a learning task• Example

Learning Tasks• Learning tasks need to be explicit, relevant

and engaging• There should be:– A clear description of the task– Scaffolding of the skills needed to do the task– Modelling or examples of a ‘good’ answer

Examples

• Addressing student diversity• Flipped classroom• MOOC techniques• Authentic learning• Threshold concepts• Graduate attributes• Others

Authentic Learning

Jan HerringtonSchool of EducationMurdoch University

Living & Learning with Technology

• First year teacher education unit

• 360 students• 2/3 on campus, 1/3 external• No labs, used own

computers

A typical introductory teacher education course

• How to make a Powerpoint presentation

• How to create a simple web page

• How to use a spreadsheet

• How to evaluate software

The effect of this approach?

• Transitory learning• Lack of transfer• Or worse!

Technology as cognitive tools

“Teach carpentry not hammer”

(Oppenheimer, 1997)

The task – website and blog

• Create a website

• Add social, teaching, and learner/researcher resources

• Add annotated links and other resources found through the unit

The developing website

• Create blog

• Entries

• Entries

Example Task: iTunes

Imagine your family is preparing for a wedding with many guests flying in from interstate. Prepare iTunes playlists for several functions over the weekend, such as: – a family/friends barbecue the night

before, – the ceremony, – the reception, – family breakfast, etc).

Example Tasks

• Create a newsletter for a sports team: Microsoft Word or Pages

• Create a menu for a party or dinner: Taste.com.au - My Menu Planner.

• Create a weekly family schedule template for the fridge door: Microsoft Word tables

• Create a pregnancy diary: Use iCal (Mac) or Google Calendar• Create a family tree: MyHeritage• ‘To do’ list and timeline for a 21st birthday party: ToDo or

spreadsheet like Excel• Share your favourite novels: Use a free site like Shelfari

Collaborative wiki

• Created a teaching resource suitable for use with primary students

• Created in and published on a wiki

• Presentation in a 5 minute movie (PresentIt, ScreenFlow etc)

• Link to the resource from students’ website

The exam

• Two hour exam 30% (required invigilated assessment)

• Hand written• How to make it authentic?

The exam?

•Two hour exam (required 30% supervised assessment)•Hand written (in a technology unit?)•How to make it authentic?•Make it reflective!

Give students eight questions 4 weeks ahead

3 would be chosen for exam1 question unseenDiscussion forums on each

question on the LMSPanic, nerves, rage,

generosity, support, sharing

The reflective exam

The exam

•Describe a lesson, in a subject area of your choice, where you begin the lesson by asking students to take out their mobile phones and switch them on.•A community group has offered your school solar electricity panels, and the Principal has asked each class to create a project around the issue of sustainable resources. Describe an authentic learning project that your class could do using technology?•Describe five ways you could use technology (applications, hardware, software, web tools, etc.) to engender a sense of community at your school.

The unseen question

• Write the last entry of your blog (reflective journal)

Student Feedback

This is the worst unit I’ve ever done. I was taught

nothing in this unit. Everything I learnt, I learnt

myself, from the other students, and from the LMS and from the assignment

that I did.

Examples

• Addressing student diversity• Flipped classroom• MOOC techniques• Authentic learning• Threshold concepts• Graduate attributes• Others

Threshold Concepts

School of Physics and EngineeringMurdoch University

Threshold Concepts

• Threshold skills• Chris Creagh• www.workitoutts.com/ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=T0gVC_fg8bY

Examples

• Addressing student diversity• Flipped classroom• MOOC techniques• Authentic learning• Threshold concepts• Graduate attributes• Others

Graduate Attributes

School of EducationCurtin University

Graduate Attributes

Assessment Mapping - Current

Assessment Mapping - Current

Mapping Assessment to Outcomes

Examples

• Addressing student diversity• Flipped classroom• MOOC techniques• Authentic learning• Threshold concepts• Graduate attributes• Others

Animations

• http://htwins.net/scale2/?bordercolor=white

Open-Book Open-Web (OBOW) Exams

• Jeremy Williams (2009) The efficacy of the final examination: a comparative study of closed-book, invigilated exams and open-book, open-web exams (with Amy Wong), British Journal of Educational Technology, 40 (2), 227-236.

• Jeremy Williams (2007) E-xams: harnessing the power of ICTs to enhance authenticity, (with Wing Lam and Alton Chua), Educational Technology and Society, 10 (3), 209-221.

An OBOW Exam….