A UNIQUE APPROACH FOR CREATING STANDARDS FOR ONLINE COURSE DESIGN IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Author(s):  
Marlin Killen
Author(s):  
Kevin P. Gosselin ◽  
Maria Northcote ◽  
Kristi D. Wuensche ◽  
Trudy Stoddard

Over the past few decades, substantial growth has occurred in online education in general, and this has been particularly true of the higher education sector. Most universities and post-secondary institutions now offer students the opportunity to enroll in online pre-tertiary, vocational, undergraduate and/or postgraduate courses. While some of these courses are successful for the learners who enroll in them, others have been found somewhat deficient, often criticized for their lack of humanization, interaction, communication and online presence. This chapter examines the role of the so-called soft skills of online course design and online teaching that are seen as vital for online educators who are responsible for the facilitation of high quality online learning. Along with a review of relevant literature about the soft skills of online teaching, the chapter presents three institutional case studies from which a set of practically-focused recommendations for promoting the design of humanized online learning environments has been developed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146978742199084
Author(s):  
Eseta Tualaulelei ◽  
Katie Burke ◽  
Melissa Fanshawe ◽  
Cathy Cameron

Online learning has been widely adopted in higher education but there is a need to better understand the nature of student engagement with online courses. For example, there are questions about whether students engage with courses as educators intend and what features of online courses engage students to enhance learning. Bringing together student and educator perspectives, this article reports on a study that identified ‘pedagogical touchpoints’ – opportunities within online courses for student engagement – to ascertain whether a better understanding of these could improve online course design and student engagement. Data were collected across three undergraduate online courses. Data analysis produced three key findings: mapping pedagogical touchpoints against dimensions of engagement reveals patterns that may inform enhanced course design, students’ engagement with pedagogical touchpoints varies according to their learning needs and desires, and mapping pedagogical touchpoints can inform course design at both conceptual and practical levels. Discussion of the findings highlights that purposeful design of online courses, including strategic planning for pedagogical touchpoints, can maximise the potential for student engagement and consequent learning.


Author(s):  
Yianna Vovides ◽  
Linda Rafaela Lemus

This chapter introduces the readers to the current practice of instructional design in higher education and describes the need for optimizing instructional design methods and practice to increase its nimbleness and adaptive capacity. It also aims to challenge the readers to imagine how instructional design methods in higher education could serve as a catalyst for solving adaptive and complex systemic challenges. The authors argue that instructional design is no longer a process that should be relegated to online course design but is, in fact, a process that can bring about organizational change.


Author(s):  
Sally J. Baldwin ◽  
Yu-Hui Ching

The evaluation of online courses is an important step in providing quality online courses. There are a variety of national and statewide evaluation tools used to help guide instructors and course designers of online courses (e.g., Quality Matters, OSCQR). This paper discusses a newly released course evaluation instrument from Canvas, the second largest learning management system (LMS) used by higher education institutions in the United States. The characteristics and unique features of the Canvas Course Evaluation Checklist (CCEC) are discussed. The CCEC is also compared to established national and statewide evaluation instruments. This review is helpful for those interested in online course design and developments in the field of online education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (169) ◽  
pp. 15-33
Author(s):  
Penny Ralston‐Berg ◽  
Heather Braatz

2012 ◽  
Vol 482-484 ◽  
pp. 2253-2256
Author(s):  
Lin Jin ◽  
Tong Zhao

Network courses construction and research, explained the concept and the content of Network curriculum, the main technical keys of the network course construction, and discusses the methods of using Dreamweaver Web Editor developing network course based on Web platforms. "Digital Electronic Technology" online course design and implementation of an example, introduced the principle of network curriculum design, and the technical Specifications of teaching development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moushir M. El-Bishouty ◽  
Ahmed Aldraiweesh ◽  
Uthman Alturki ◽  
Richard Tortorella ◽  
Junfeng Yang ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Shattuck

One of the dilemmas faced by today’s faculty is assuring quality in online courses. As one solution to that dilemma, Quality Matters (QM), a program of MarylandOnline, built a rubric of design standards informed by existing research literature and best practices. The rubric was implemented within a faculty-centred, peer review process in which colleagues share their expertise to facilitate course design improvements and to achieve an established level of quality in online course design. This article will describe the basic tenets and processes of QM as an inter-institutional quality assurance program for online learning.


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