Workshop presented at Coastal Bend College August 18, 2016.

1. Killer Online Design
and Teaching Techniques
Raymond Rose
Rose & Smith Associates
Port Aransas, Texas
Coastal Bend College
August 18, 2016
Slides available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/RaymondRose
This work by Raymond Rose is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

2. Done this before.
Over Two Decades
of successful online education
courses and programs
– Designing
– Developing
– Facilitating
– Managing
– Advising

3. These are selected publications.

4. Your turn: an Experience survey
• Taught F2F >20 yrs, >15, >10, >5?
• Taught online >20 yrs, >15, >10, >5?
• Taken an online course?
• Taken a hybrid, web-enhanced course?
• Had a bad experience taking an
on-campus course?

5. What about you?
What is your preferred learning style?
What’s your favorite topic (content piece)
to teach?
What is your least favorite topic to teach?
What topic do your students have the
most problem with?

7. Agenda
• Introductions
• Myths and Realities
• Course Design
• Course Delivery
• Content Considerations

8. Myths about learning online
• F2F learning is superior to online
• Online courses are easier than F2F
• Students don’t learn as much online
• Online learning is lonely and impersonal
• You must provide F2F events for
students to really know each other

9. The Promise of Online Education
We were promised. . .
– “Anytime” access without a bell schedule
– Ability to access courses 24/7
– “Any place” learning outside of school
– An unlimited course catalog
– Learners self-directed and responsible
– Instructors reaching more learners

10. The Predicament of the Reality
Online education isn’t easy!
–Online instructors can feel
overwhelmed
–Online learners can feel overwhelmed

11. Instructors & Learners Feel Overwhelmed
Classmate postings to
read
Response comments to
post
Questions still
unanswered
Learners have. . . Instructors have. . .
Too much, too many. . .
Learner postings to read
Response comments to
post
Questions to answer
 
 
 

12. Instructors & Learners Feel Overwhelmed
Compositions w/o
feedback
Grades not yet received
Opportunities to fall
behind
Time in front of the
computer
Learners have. . . Instructors have. . .
Too much, too many. . .
Compositions to read
Grades to determine
Learners AWOL
Time in front of the
computer
 
 
 
 

14. There are numerous roles
in designing and developing courses

15. design and building
• OL instructional designer
• OL technology visionary
• Content author (SME)
• Course builder
• Faculty tech supporter
• Course reviewer/tester
• Course instructor
• Facilitator tech
support
• Student tech support
delivery

16. Online course AUTHORS/DESIGNERS
succeed when they…
• Aren’t restricted by false assumptions
• Experience the online student experience
• Are trained in online pedagogy
• Are trained in using the LMS
• Have clear standards and guidelines
• Are part of a community of designers
• Have help with technology issues

17. Online course BUILDERS
succeed when they…
• Are trained in using the LMS
• Are trained in page creation
• Are given clear standards and guidelines
• Are given well-designed template courses
• Are given sample page templates
• Have help with technology issues
• Are part of a community of developers

18. Online course INSTRUCTORS
succeed when they…
• Aren’t restricted by false assumptions
• Understand the online student experience
• Are trained in online facilitation pedagogy
• Are trained in using the LMS
• Have clear standards and guidelines
• Are part of a community of facilitators
• Have help with technology issues
All these, PLUS have
let their content be their voice,
and don’t try to type itinto discussions to teach it.

19. Why not… Just Do It?
Planning is important,
what you want to accomplish, how
you’ll do it
Winging it isn’t recommended,
neither is reinventing the wheel

20. What Are the Solutions?
Control the time and energy
you and learners spend
manipulating the course
and
Use that time and energy
for learning

21. Online Course Standards (QM)
• Course Overview, Introduction
• Learning Objectives (competencies)
• Assessment and Measurement
• Instructional Materials
• Course Activities and Learner Interaction
• Course Technology
• Learner Support
• Accessibility and Usability

22. Create & Control Purposeful Virtual Spaces
An obvious place for everything and
everything in its obvious place
– Structure, order, and detailed
information comforts learners that
you’ve planned and prepared for them
– Limit learners’ choices to just those they
need
– Display links to all major areas on all
pages

23. Sample Course Layout. . .

24. Let the Content be Your Voice
• Put in time and energy in advance
composing the course content and. . .
• Save time and energy while facilitating
during the course
or, said another way:
• Say everything you want to say
using your voice in the content and. . .
• Use your postings for facilitation and
meaningful feedback*

25. Provide Overview Information. . .
– Course overview
– Learning goals
– Grading policies
– Assessment rubrics
– Assignment & due dates
checklist
– Table describing course
sections and usage
– Table describing usage of
tech tools
– Policies and procedures
– Weekly timeline
– Schedule of meetings
– Weekly activities summary
– Communications plan
Provide everything learners
ever wanted to know
and shouldn’t have to ask

26. Provide Overview Information. . .
Describe your course design, practices, and
role
– Purposeful virtual spaces
– Scheduled asynchronous communication
philosophy
– Learning through collaboration and interaction
– Your role as guide
– And write it all using a personal, friendly tone

27. Consider Making A Video* Introduction
Include these essential characteristics:
•An appropriate personable welcome and tone
•A descriptive overview of the week's purpose and main
themes
•Details related to activities, timelines, rubrics, and
assessment tools
•Suggestions for how to approach the week or activities
•Recommendations and reminders
•Ensure it’s fully accessible (captioned/transcript)
* or audio

28. Provide Expectations, Rubrics,
and Guidelines for Success. . .
Provide detailed requirements for each
activity
– Number of postings
– Word-length of compositions
– Levels of criteria
– Examples of exemplary work*
– Milestones and due dates
– Due dates

29. Provide Expectations, Rubrics,
and Guidelines for Success. . .
Rubric for Participation
What’s expected of you in this course
– Communicate regularly
Characteristics of Excellent Discussion
Contributions
Examples of Excellent Quality
Discussion Contributions

30. Provide Expectations, Rubrics,
and Guidelines for Success. . .

32. Provide Answers. . .
Answering questions requires time!
• Provide info on how learners find answers to
questions
– Assign practice on how/where to ask questions
– Describe the two main types of Q&A
• Tech questions
• Assignment clarification questions

33. Provide Answers. . .
Provide two discussion forums:
1. “Ask a Tech Question”
2. “Ask an Assignment Clarification
Question”
Answer questions only in appropriate space and
only once
• Link from other discussions back to the specific
answer
• Assign, advertise, remind
• Include instructions on how to search forums

34. Provide Answers. . .
Never let an answer fade away. . .
Capture and reuse your answers
– Take weekly notes-for-next-time
– Build and add to your overviews,
instructions, FAQs

35. Detail, Detail, Detail Your Assignments
• Break multi-part activities into separate
assignments
• Create a predictable set of recurring document
sub-sections
– Activity Overview
– Learning Objectives
– Assignment Details
– Expectations and Rubrics
– Tech Instructions
• Use bullets, numbering, and visuals*
• Link to longer text and materials

36. Control Asynchronous Discussion Threads
• Give each topic its own separate forum
• Limit simple discussion threads to one week
• Break up discussions/interactions with sequential
deadlines
• Provide an on-going social forum
• Provide a weekly “Let’s Talk about this Week”
Keep all communications in the course
and out of email!

37. Manage New Postings
• Learn, teach, and use tech tools
– “Read next new message”
– “Sort by date”
• Require new subjects for each posting

38. Default vs. Useful Subjects

39. Let the Learners Facilitate
Remember: Let the content be your voice
– Design activities to remove yourself from the middle
of discussions
– Clearly state you’ll observe from the side
– Teach techniques and assign facilitators to guide
discussions
– Model but don’t dominate
– Don’t summarize*
– Yes, you still have to read all new postings regularly

40. Let the Learners Provide Feedback. . .
• Design activities to remove yourself from routine
feedback
• Assign sharing and critiques of classmates’
compositions
• Provide learners with rubrics for consistency
• Provide examples to model how to critique and
provide feedback
• Assess and grade learners’ feedback and
critiquing efforts

41. Let the Learners Provide Feedback

42. Let the Learners Assess. . .
Design collaborative projects
where team members decide
and divide allotted total points
– Clearly explain the teammates will divvy up
total points among members
– Provide scoring rubrics for consistency
– Provide teams with additional time for grading

43. Let the Learners Assess

44. Design for Feedback/Assessment Efficiency. . .
• Design feedback forms based on rubrics for each
week’s graded activities
• Include feedback on individual participation in
discussions
• Fill in forms as you routinely read learners’
postings
• Record personal references, quotes as you read
• Weekly, send completed feedback to each learner

45. Design for Feedback/Assessment Efficiency
• Create and actively maintain a
feedback phrasing database
• Compose, record, and reuse
predictable boilerplate phrasing
• Organize by week/lesson/activity

46. Schedule Routines for Improved Future Efficiency...
Keep daily/weekly “Notes for Next Time”
– Make notes of ideas for improvements, corrections, better
preparation, clarity of phrasing, additional detail*
– Note where learners stumbled, were confused, performed
disappointingly
– Modify assignments — reorder, break apart, or combine
– How the pace needs slowing down, moving more quickly
– Add to FAQ and overviews the info resulting from learners’
questions
– Results of surveys

47. Schedule Routines for Improved Future Efficiency. . .
Pre-course tasks
• Communication
• Course personalization
To-Do’s in preparation for
next week
• Announcement topics
• Discussions
To-Do’s for current week
• Overview of events
• Facilitation tasks by activity
• Trends/problems to watch for
• Timelines, milestones,
due dates
• Feedback/assessment to-do’s
• Forms for each activity
• Things to change next time
Develop a Detailed “How to Teach My Course
Script”

48. Structure and Control Provide Freedom
• Provide information and “voice” in the content
• Design activities for interactivity between learners
• Step aside and let your learners facilitate,
critique, and assess
• Streamline your facilitation and assessment
routines

50. What is Universal Design?

51. From This To ….

53. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Principle I:
Provide Multiple Means of Representation (the
“what” of learning)
Principle II:
Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
(the “how” of learning)
Principle III:
Provide Multiple Means of Engagement (the
“why” of learning)
http://www.udlcenter.org/

55. Accessibility:
OCR’s Operational Definition
“those with a disability are able to
acquire the same information and
engage in the same interactions —
and within the same time frame —
as those without disabilities.”
OCR Compliance Review 11-11-2128, 06121583,
paraphrased from 11-13-5001, 10122118, 11-11-6002

56. Common OCR Findings*
Lack of alternative text on all images
Documents not posted in an accessible
format
Lack of captions on all videos and the
inability to operate video controls using
assistive technology
Improperly structured data tables

57. Common OCR Findings
Improperly formatted and labeled form
fields
Improper contrast between background
and foreground colors
Frames not titled with text that facilitates
frame identification and navigation

59. Rose & Smith Associates
Raymond Rose
ray@rose-smith.com
512.791.3100
Presentation slides on this topic are available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/RaymondRose
And at my blog:
http://rmrose.blogspot.com
Contact Information