UC Week 12
29th of April 2010
This session consisted of:
- investigating sources of case studies about online courses
- looking at several examples of online courses which are considered “good” examples
- looking at tools to evaluate online courses
Case Studies
I am not so sure about what to write here, as most of this class was based on looking at some examples of online courses. There was much discussion about various points which were raised, however it is diffiicult to summarise these in any really cohesive way… Also, as I don’t teach a 100% online unit, some of these points dont (yet!) directly relate to my current experiences. Some key points though are:
- It’s best to look at local examples of online courses, even better if you can use the course
- It’s really important to keep important information “above the line” i.e. so users don’t have to scroll to see important things (as discussed in my Week 9 post)
- Introduce yourself with a photo, and include contact details clearly – knowing that a real person is at the other end is a key factor for online success
- Include a Frequently Asked Questions section – initially based on Frequently Asked Questions!
- Clearly elaborate the expectations of the student, especially in terms of participation and any assessment associated with it
- Think about if marks are associated with teacher-graded participation, or if it is encouraged by designing in inter-dependence between students
- Consider using technology like Echo360 to provide “live” lecture content online, and to link the lecture theatre to the course (especially in mixed face to face/online units)
- consider the technology that students have access to – can they all equitably access high-bandwidth dependent technology like this?
- extra features, like subtitling, can improve accesibility of this type of content
- Use quizzes as an efficient way to assess, and automate it to give formative and summative feedback
- takes a lot of work to set up – much easier if SCORM compliant systems are used
- companies like Easy Authoring have a range of products which turn text in to quizzes, and other useful e-learning creation tools.
- ensure rigor of assesment in quizzes
- consider cultural attitudes to plagiarism
- consider invigilated online quizzes, but issues for distance students
- use technology to reduce cheating – some security settings on Moodle to reduce opportunity for this
- takes a lot of work to set up – much easier if SCORM compliant systems are used
Sites which give access to online courses to be examined as case studies include:
Contemporary online teaching cases from Deakin University
Welcome to our Contemporary online teaching case site. It features the work of over 70 Deakin University staff in developing and using new media and online technologies to foster student learning. The site was developed through University strategic teaching and learning innovation funding. It has been designed to help teachers work creatively and productively in their online teaching.
Each of the cases locate new media and online technologies in the context of broader views of what it means to teach and learn effectively in different disciplines and professional fields in tertiary education.
Effective Practice Case Studies from JISC (which must stand for something but I can’t figure it out!)
JISC inspires UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in education.
The case studies can be disseminated as required in your institution. They have been identified here by the generic learning activities to which they are linked in the publication Effective Practice with e-Learning and on its accompanying CD-ROM. Five of the ten case studies have supporting video clips available in Windows Media Player and QuickTime™ formats.
Case studies of E-learning from the UK Centre for Bioscience
The following case studies are examples of effective e-learning, teaching and assessment practice written by bioscience teachers. Each case study provides an outline of something that has been tried and found to worked well with students.
The case studies were compiled by the Centre for Bioscience as part of the Higher Education Academy’s/JISC Distributed E-learning Programme. (there they are again..)
E-learning Case studies from the Higher Education Academy – English Subject Centre
Welcome to the website of The English Subject Centre. The English Subject Centre is part of the Higher Education Academy and supports the teaching of English Literature, English Language and Creative Writing across UK Higher Education. This website offers a range of activities, information and ideas to help lecturers enhance the student experience. We hope you can take a moment to explore!
Tools to Evaluate Online Courses
A number of evaluation tools for online courses were presented. They are mostly (only?) rubrics which ask about the inclusion and quality of various parts of the online course.
A quantitative audit just looks to see if certain things are present in the course, and a qualitative audit judges how good they are. UC doesn’t have a formal evaluation process at the moment, however as there is almost 100% uptake of Moodle across the university, this is an important consideration. As with many things IT, poor use of the tools is likely to be detrimental to the intended outcome.
Two of the evaluation tools presented in the class are Rubric_online_courses and Rubric4eLearningDesign, with a completed one Diverse_Curriculum_evaluation_Rubric_July22.
They are selfexplanatory, and our homework for this class as to complete one for our own teaching sites. I haven’t done this as it really looks like it is to be done by someone other than the creator of the site, and I really don’t have the expertise to make the qualitative judgements they ask for. But, I have kept them easily accessible (here!) so that I can refer to them as my experience grows. I might also forward them to a few of my colleagues…
There is discussion of using a “% complete” measure for Moodle sites at UC, which tells you what activities and tools you haven’t included in your site. This seems quite a blunt tool for measuring quality, as the context of the usage is important. Just having something present doesn’t mean it is done well.
Students are potentially becoming overloaded with online content, as this saturation of Moodle continues. There is a suspicion that a degree of overkill might be reached if the whole university experience is “Moodleised”. There’s nothing on Google about it yet though…
Finally…
Probably the one document I will print and put up on my office pinboard is Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses. I can’t be sure why, perhaps it is because this is the end of the course and my head is spinning a bit with possibilities and challenges, but this seems to distill everything I have learnt into a useful list of tips. If you don’t want to read the article, the main points are:
- Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty Contact
- Principle 2: Good Practice Encourages Cooperation Among Students
- Principle 3: Good Practice Encourages Active Learning
- Principle 4: Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
- Principle 5: Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task
- Principle 6: Good Practice Communicates High Expectations
- Principle 7: Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning
So, that’s it!
