The document summarizes a presentation about demystifying online course design given by Richard A. Smith and Caroline M. Crawford. It discusses the history of distance education including correspondence schools in the late 1800s and instructional television in the mid-1900s. It then provides an overview of how to create a distance education course using a course management system, including organizing course materials into folders, deciding on a course format, and including basic course elements like units, orientation, syllabus, individual class topics and materials.

1. Victoria ISD EdTech Conference
March 5, 2011
Demystifying Online Course Design
Richard A. Smith, Ph.D.
&
Caroline M. Crawford, Ed.D.
School of Education
University of Houston-Clear Lake

2. Distance Education is NOT New
• Correspondence Schools
– Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (1878)
– Benton Harbor Plan (1922)
• Broadcast Radio & Television
– Radio: State University of Iowa (1925)
– TV: State University of Iowa (1934)
• Open Universities
– Articulated Instructional Media Project (1964)
• Teleconferencing (1982)
– Business Personnel Training/Star Schools Project
• Internet
– Course Management Systems/Video/Teleconferencing

3. Creating A Distance Education Course
• Use a course management system (CMS)
– Blackboard
– Moodle
– 15Desks
– Etc.
• CMS provides the course
foundation, skeleton, and scaffolding
– It contains the course

4. Getting Started

5. How To Prepare
• Get ducks in a row
Pretty Ducks All In A Row by Jessica Coulter Smith

6. Put Class Materials in Individual
Folders

7. Class 1 Folder Opened

8. A Basic Online Class File

9. The Basics
• Decide Course Format
– Social Format – Less formal
• Based on a single forum for an entire course
– Topics Format – Concept Oriented
• Students work through a range of topics but a fixed
schedule is not necessary.
– Weekly Format – Date Oriented
• Students work on topics in unison and on the same
schedule

10. Basic Course Elements – Direct
Instruction Model
• Overall Course • Individual Classes
 Units • Topic
 Orientation • Goals
 Syllabus • Objectives
• Content
• Instruction
• Assignments
• Tests
• Standards

11. Course Design
Decisions
• Course Tree Diagram
– Course Goals
– Course Content/Units/Revision
– Course Length
– Test Questions
– Media Assignment
– Look and Feel of the Course

12. Visible to Student

13. Enter Course Here

14. Class Design – Introduction/Objectives

15. Class Design - Instruction

16. Class Design - Assignments

17. Weekly Assignments Due

18. Discussions

19. Assignment Tool

20. Tests

21. Rubrics for Teachers

22. Remember! A Folder for Everything

23. Folders Work Their Way into the CMS File
System
1
2

24. Late Assignments
• Here is some great advice. Do not wait until the evening that your assignment is due to start work
on it (and then plan to submit it). If you procrastinate until evening the assignment is due, I can
virtually guarantee that you will not be able to submit your assignment. This is because the
Assignment Tool link will close because one, or more, of the following catastrophes will occur:
• Your home clock will not be synchronized with the Blackboard clock
• You will accidentally erase all file without having saved it (make back-up copies of everything you
do as you do it – do not wait until an assignment is finished to make a back-up copy)
• The Blackboard server will be down for maintenance
• A storm will interrupt your ISP service
• Your computer will crash
• You or a close relative (spouse, child, parent) will become ill
• Your house will burn down
• You cannot figure out how to complete your assignment
• Your computer will be a victim of transient demonic possession
• Martians will kidnap you and hold you for ransom until the President Obama agrees to give the
Martians the State of Alaska for food storage.

25. Let’s Build a Simple Online Course

26. • End

28. • Blank

29. Tree Diagram by UHCL Distance
Education Student, Neil Snepp

30. A Basic Class File
• View of Class 1 file

31. Instruction
• How daily instruction appears