Course Construction

Now that I have started the process of designing my own online course,I am beginning to recognize how to apply the content from the readings and videos we’ve studied so far in a manner that will create an effective online course. This week, in particular, opened my eyes to the perspective of the learners and the various difficulties, frustrations, and misunderstandings they can potentially encounter while working in a virtual environment. By identifying and understanding these potential obstacles ahead of time, I am able to proactively plan for how to combat them as I continue my course design process.

The course I am currently designing is one that targets virtual learning behaviors. More specifically, its purpose is to train both students and parents on behaviors that can aid them in being successful in the online learning environment. I chose this type of course because I think it is definitely needed. Due to the unexpected onset of Covid-19 and our students being swiftly transferred to a virtual learning environment, many learners on my campus did not have ample opportunity to learn about practices they can use to enhance their online learning experience and increase their academic success. I sincerely hope that, with my course, I am able to make their Fall transition smoother than it was during Spring semester.

To teach learners and their parents about these behaviors, my current plan for this course involves learners viewing videos the first 2 weeks to gain knowledge-based content (i.e. how to set goals, helpful online behavior practices, etc.) and then putting what they learned into experiential practice by creating their own S.M.A.R.T. virtual learning behavior goals and a plan for how to reach them. To increase accountability and motivation to achieve their goals, learners will post their behavior goals to the class discussion board for all classmates to see. After creating their S.M.A.R.T. behavior goals, they will further their experiential practice by working in online collaborative groups to create a virtual learning behaviors information resource for one of the grade levels at the school. Each group’s finished products will be posted to their chosen grade level’s website. To gain real world practice with some of the online collaborative learning concepts mentioned in the videos such as equal and active participation, taking turns communicating, cooperation, and being respectful of other members’ opinions and ideas, I will allow students to choose the group of 4 with which they would like to work, the grade level for which their group would like to create an information resource, the type of information resource they would like to create (i.e. song, demonstration video. slideshow, comic strip, etc.) and the digital media they would like to use to create their final product. Throughout the process, learners will monitor and reflect on their behavior goal progress via reflection blogs each day (another online behavior mentioned in the videos). Their group collaborations and reflection blogs will be used to assess their understanding of the virtual learning behaviors taught.

As I evaluate this plan after reading the materials and viewing the videos this week, I feel that I am on the right track towards creating a course that fulfills education’s primary goal of development and deepening of student understanding (McTighe & Seif, 2003) However, as I stated earlier in this post, the learning materials for this week have also brought to my attention some areas that need to be tweaked when it comes to planning for potential obstacles my students may encounter while taking the course. According to Bligh (2000), lectures are more effective when instructors stop and ask for comments and questions throughout the lecture. Therefore, rather than having my students simply view the videos for the first two weeks, I now plan to use a program like EdPuzzle to create stopping points in the videos for students to answer higher order thinking questions (McTighe & Seif, 2003) about the content they are watching. This will encourage active engagement with the content that helps increase learner attention and decrease their lack of motivation to complete the assignment. I have also considered decreasing the number of videos students are required to watch each week. After reading about how information overload has decreased learners’ ability to take in information, focus, sustain willpower, make connections, and remember things (Tedx Talks, 2014), I think it would be counterproductive to load them with additional content. Therefore, I am also considering either narrowing down the number of videos I currently have listed for students to watch or separating the videos by concept and having students choose one from each category to watch for the week. To keep the online discussion board expectations clear and focused on knowledge and skills relevant to virtual learning behaviors (McTighe & Seif, 2003), I also plan to post essential questions and use them to drive the discussion board component of my online course. Finally, I think it would also be beneficial to present a rubric to students prior to their collaborative assignment so that the academic and behavior performance targets will be visible (McTighe & Seif, 2003) and known to the learners.

These are just a few of the tweaks that I am considering so far after reviewing the learning materials for week 2. However, I am still researching ideas to make this online course even more meaningful and valuable to my learners.

REFERENCES

Bligh, D. (2000). What’s the Use of Lectures?. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

McTighe, J. & Seif, E. (2003). Teaching for Meaning and Understanding – A Summary of Underlying Research. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.554.5606&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Tedx Talks. (2014). Cognitive overload -- rewire your brain in the digital age [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0ztO86ImQg