Online Teaching Readiness Needs Assessment

I use this questionnaire at the beginning of course design collaborations with instructors. It helps me gather their prior knowledge and better address where to begin the instructional design process. Also, surveys serve as a way to inform the participants. Feel free to adapt and use it with your instructors, as this one is based on the Canvas learning management

Remember the Human in Online Courses

Remember the human is something we intuitively do in traditional face-to-face classrooms, but somehow this gets lost in distance education. If it’s only a text-based independent study, then we’ve silenced our students and treated them as mutes by not providing communication platforms that are supported in the grading criteria. Virginia Shea (1994) asks us to remember the human in the

Applying Elements of Cooperative Learning to Distance EdUCATION

According to Wikipedia, the cooperative learning theory has been around since the 1930s and discussed by researchers from diverse fields such as philosophy and psychology. Cooperative learning involves strategic group practices and elements to aid critical thinking. As an educator, I’m most familiar with Kagan’s (1985) approach to cooperative learning. Additionally, I learned about Palinscar and Brown’s reciprocal teaching method;

List of Student and Teacher Expectations for Online Courses

Updated 6/8/20 What you can expect from your Instructor: I’ll reply to your questions within 24-48 hours except during holidays or weekends. I’ll provide clear and concise instructions and exercises for you to follow. I’ll return graded assignments within two weeks from the due date. I’ll monitor discussions to clarify students’ postings, highlight good or interesting comments and ideas, provide

Face-to-Face to Online Course Development Checklist

  I created this list for instructional designers working with faculty in higher education who are moving their courses online for the first time.  This is not a comprehensive list but rather a checklist for talking points.  I hope you find it helpful! Will the course shell be shared with others in your department? What are the course learning goals and