The document outlines key principles and considerations in open instructional design and assessments, emphasizing the importance of accessibility and learner engagement in online course creation. It highlights challenges in reaching diverse learner demographics and advocates for strengths-based approaches like universal design for learning and culturally responsive pedagogy. Additionally, it provides resources and strategies for effective course design and assessment in the context of adult learning.

1. Open Instructional Design and
Assessments
Naomi Wahls
Learning Developer - TU Delft
Co-Instructor to Designing an Online Course and Teaching an Online Course
EU hub coordinator - OE4BW
Technische Universiteit Delft (TU Delft) 2020

2. Webinar Agenda
● Organization of a learning experience
● Learning outcomes, learner levels, and accessibility
● Active learning in self-directed and distance contexts
● Turning resources and assessments into a course or textbook

3. What does Open Education mean to you in 3
words?
Photo by Adam Birkett
on Unsplash

4. Independence, Freedom, and Equality
Photo by Robin Benzrihem on Unsplash Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash Photo by Serhat Beyazkaya on Unsplash

5. What does open instructional design mean?
Designing an OER?
Open Practices while creating an OER?
What OER exists already?

6. Organization of a learning experience
● How will a learner experience your course?
● Who are you planning to build the course for?
● Who might be unable to access the course due to the design?
○ How open is your course going to be?
○ Will participants simply absorb content?
○ Can participants interact with the content and each other?
○ Can participants create/modify/re-use content?

7. Open Course Participants
MOOC participants are predominantly male and affluent who “…exhibit
self-regulated learning, have flexible work-life schedules, possess
digital literacies, and are proficient in English (Glass et al., 2016, p.
45)”.
The MOOC learners are not the anticipated “borderless, gender-blind,
race-blind, class-blind, and bank account-blind” (Agarwal, 2013, para. 3)
crowd some had hoped for.

8. TU Delft
Online Learning Experience (OLE) Model
OLE Radar Graph
8 course design principles
● Select 3 as a focus
● OLE Radar Graph Tool
Located on TU Delft’s
Online Learning Hub

9. 3 considerations that affect design in
professional development
(a) educational background considerations (e.g., significant
interruptions in formal education),
(b) disability considerations (e.g., learning disabilities and students on
the autism spectrum), and
(c) status considerations (e.g., domestic violence and mental health
issues).
Housel, David (2019). When Co-Occurring Factors Impact Adult Learners:
Suggestions for Instruction, Preservice Training, and Professional Development.

10. Learning outcomes, learner levels, and
accessibility
https://onlinelearninghub.tudelft.nl/

11. Learning Outcomes - what can learners do?

12. Learner Levels - Designing for More People
Photo by Shyam Sundar Hemamalini on Unsplash Photo by Anastasia Dulgier on Unsplash

13. Professional Development Design
Considerations
To transform instructional practices and student outcomes for adult learners,
“deficit model” thinking must be confronted, and strengths-based approaches,
like universal design for learning (UDL) and culturally responsive pedagogy
(CRP), must be promoted in all aspects of teacher training. (Housel 2019, p. 8)

14. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
7 principles of Universal Design - a PDF created as OER by Teaching Tolerance
1. Equitable Use
2. Flexibility in Use
3. Simple and Intuitive Use
4. Perceptible Information
5. Tolerance for Error
6. Low Physical Effort
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use

15. Universal Design for Learning: Reducing
Barriers
Video from the
OER-
Inclusive
Educational
Practices - Creation
of a Lesson Plan

16. Active learning in self-directed and distance
contexts

17. Turning resources and assessments into a
course or textbook
Collaborative learning is a key
component through interaction with
others. (Guggisberg 2017, p. 234)

18. Additional Resources
● Top Tips for Assessment in MOOCs - TU Delft
● Toolkit. Robert Schuwer.
● Creating Online Learning Experiences: A Brief Guide to Online
Courses, from Small and Private to Massive and Open. Matt
Crosslin, et al.
● Teaching in a Digital Age – Second Edition: Guidelines for
designing teaching and learning. A.W. (Tony) Bates.

19. Any questions, comments, observations?
UNESCO project page
http://unesco.ijs.si/project/profdevoer/
Contact:
n.l.wahls@tudelft.nl

20. References
Agarwal, A. (2013, June 15). Online universities: It’s time for teachers to join the revolution. The Observer. Bolognini,
Rose and Foster, Natalie, editors. (2018) Preparing our Youth for an Inclusive and Sustainable World. The OECD
PISA global competence framework. Harvard University. OECD. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/pisa/Handbook-
PISA-2018-Global-Competence.pdf
Glass, Chris R.; Shiokawa-Baklan, Mitsue S.; Saltarelli, Andrew J. (2016). Who takes MOOCs? MOOCS And Higher
Education: Implications For Institutional Research. New Directions For Institutional Research, no. 167. Wiley
Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/ir.20153
Housel, David (2019). When Co-Occurring Factors Impact Adult Learners: Suggestions for Instruction, Preservice
Training, and Professional Development. Adult Learning. DOI: 10.1177/1045159519849910.