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What have you learned about developing an effective online course?
I have learnt that to develop an effective online course, an eLearning designer needs to look at the course as an intricately interconnected system of, the learner’s readiness, instructor’s readiness, the learning management system (LMS), a company’s requirements, the curriculum, the course content, course design, delivery and assessment. In this course, I learnt about quality guidelines and how they help eLearning designers create effective courses that are a complete entity.
Secondly, I learnt that not all eLearning tools or systems are created equal and the buyer needs to be educated in solid pedagogical theories. If your company is looking for a LMS for online learning, it should be carefully researched to ensure it is not outmoded or ineffective
Some
of the new emerging ideas are grounded in solid pedagogical theories, holding
great promise. Other ideas are simply variations of traditional practices that
still need a great deal of refinement and work. Unfortunately, some of these
emerging new trends are truly ineffective strategies, grounded in outmoded and
ineffective teaching practices. (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016, p. 3)
I also found that Wikis can be used as an online educational tool that teachers and students benefit from equally. Andy Fisher, Kate Exley and Dragos Ciobanu outlined how the transparency of a wiki when used for education purposes can reduce difficulties arising from a student receiving conflicting advice. It can also be used as a collaboration tool for students to develop material together.
Finally, with careful planning, online courses can be built to address different generations of learners. When it comes to creating courses for different generations of learners, it is essential to address the needs of each generation. Jonathan Davis stated
It’s essential when designing
an eLearning course that these differences are addressed through various
degrees of personalization. Even if you have a course that you want to create
for long-term use, adding personal touches like self-pacing, optional uses of
technology, or even varying degrees of support can help. (Davis, 2017)
Reflective
How does this fit with your experience?
As an instructor, I have exclusively taught face to face. As a student, I have taken online courses, blended courses and face to face courses. I enjoy all aspects of learning, even the evaluation. Prior to this course, I was unaware of why I enjoyed certain online courses more than others. Last year I took a mandatory online course on a dry topic. It was fascinating! I now understand why. It was created by an eLearning designer that incorporated quality guidelines and provided learning activities that were relevant to our job. It used a blend of learning theories with scenario based cognitivism questions and behaviorism questions. It engaged the three generations of learners by being easy to use, using graphics that were newer generation and stories that related to all generations. The eLearning tool was modern and easy to navigate and the course covered the specific policy needs of the whole enterprise.
In other online courses, I have enjoyed interacting with other students in online forums and I recently enjoyed collaborating with my partner to create a Skywiki2.
I would like to integrate discovery learning theory into my course content. By creating job specific scenarios for my students. I would also like to create relevant material that engages multi generations of learners. Finally, similar to Richard Buckland, I am interested in creating a private wiki to hold my teaching notes and to share them with students so they can become class notes
I would like to improve our course material that is delivered to students, if a portion of it was eLearning, we could have a flipped classroom and when they were physically with me, we could focus on activities that would build on what they had learnt online.
What new insights do you now have?
One insight was the advantages of using quality guidelines. I had not considered that courses I would create, could be transferable to other companies, educational institutions or countries. I was also fascinating to see another process behind creating courses.
Another insight was the time it will take for me to become an effective online course designer and instructor. I had not put much time or thought into how to become an effective teacher. I had assumed it would not be that difficult.
Boettcher and Conrad (2105) stated, “Teachers who are effective in the face-to-face
environment can be effective as online teachers, but it is not automatic, and
it does not happen overnight” (pp.4).
It is not as simple as it looks. The world of eLearning design is similar to learning a new language, it takes practice, but is achievable. Not only is it important to think about quality guidelines, when designing an online course, but to design a course that is visually engaging and interacts with learners of all generations.
I also learnt that by utilizing different learning theories, students can be engaged throughout the course. A course does not need to focus on using one type of learning theory but can utilize many. Constructivism works well for many parts of the online course I would like to create; however, students will benefit if I incorporate cognitivism and behaviorism learning theories into the course content as well.
How can this new learning be applied in your online course?
Prior to creating my course, I would need to be familiar with our companies LMS and Captivate. This would require me requesting time from my manager to take courses and learn the software. After, it’s important to create a needs assessment where I would incorporate my quality guidelines checklist into the questions.
Once I’ve created a DACUM (BCRTC uses Competency Based Education) and the course objectives, I could create the online course, which would include imbedding different multimedia, learning theories, addressing specific needs of the different generation of learners, online discussion forums and utilizing a classroom Wiki for use of the students and the instructor.
Most importantly, I need to remember that it is important when I develop an eLearning course that I look at the process holistically, as an intricately interconnected system.
Bibliography
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R.-M. (2016). The
Online Teaching Survival Guide (2nd Edition ed.). San Francisco,
California, USA: Jossey-Bass.
Davis, J. (2017, April 10). How to Convince Gen X
and Boomers to Embrace eLearning. Retrieved from jenobi.com:
http://jenobi.com/convince-gen-x-boomers-embrace-elearning/
Fisher, A., Exley, K., & Ciobanu, D. (2014,
January 3). Using Technology to Support Learning and Teaching. Using
Technology to Support Learning and Teaching. New York, NY, USA: Routledge.
