Instructional Design for Online Learning
Best Practices
Online classes have become increasingly popular over the past several years. It is convenient for students because they can do the coursework on their own time and are normally not required to attend a class on campus. A popular misconception by instructors and students is that an online class takes less time and is easier. This is generally not true, especially if the course is effective and pedagogically sound. It takes a lot of work on the part of the instructor and a lot of self-discipline by the student during an online course. It typically takes more time than a classroom class, especially for the instructor.
Online classes also tend to have a 10-20% higher attrition rate than face-to-face classes. This is due partly to the fact that students get frustrated and feel isolated. They cannot build rapport or ask you or their classmates a quick question like they can in a face-to-face class. The following tips below will help deal with these matters.
Below are some instructional design tips and best practices for developing and teaching an online class.
Start slow
Since some of your students may not have taken an online course in the past, they may be unfamiliar with the Blackboard environment and may have trouble getting started. It is best to start with a small, ungraded online assignment to make sure all students can log on and do basic tasks. There are several examples of this listed in the book "Engaging the Online Learner" by Rita-Marie Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson. One suggestion is:
Have students introduce themselves in an "Introduction" discussion board that you set up for this purpose. Ask students to find at least one student they have something in common with and respond to their post. This ensures students are logged into the course and can post to a discussion board in Blackboard.
Technical specifications
If students need any specific software or plug-ins (i.e. Adobe Reader for PDF documents, or Real Player for video streams) to participate in your class, be sure and make this clear up front and give them directions on how to obtain what they need. You might also consider giving students a deadline when you expect them to have the plug-in and be ready for class.
Make your expectations clear
Make sure you are clear about everything you expect from your students including assignments and how the course will proceed. If you expect them to login once a week to check for assignments or participate in a discussion board, be sure and set this expectation up front.
How your role as an instructor changes online
Your role as an instructor changes from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side." This means in an online class, the responsibility of the learning falls more on the student as you guide them in the learning process. This is typically accomplished by assigning projects or active learning tasks.
It is also critical that the students know you are available and ready to help and answer questions. This impression of "being present" in the course is much more difficult to accomplish online. One of the most important ways you can do this is to respond promptly to students requests for help, stay on schedule with course assignments, and give input into assignments, discussions and chats.
Be sure to follow up with students who are lagging behind or are not participating to see what can be done to help them get back on track.
Giving prompt feedback
Since students do not have the advantage of seeing and talking with you face-to-face, effective communication in an online course is critical. Tell students your preferred method of communicating with them during class and clearly state what your response time will be. The best response time is within 24 hours. This would mean you would need to check your e-mails daily, including weekends, and respond to requests or questions. If this is not possible, the feedback should be as prompt as you can manage. If you will be unavailable during weekends when many students will be working on the course, make sure students know this. Also let them know if there are dates or times you will not be available during the course. You can establish office hours on campus, but students who are not in the local area will not have that option, so be sure you have a way for non-resident students to contact you either by phone, during office hours, or via online chat sessions.
Modifying your class for online instruction
Having students read the text and then posting your PowerPoints from your classroom class online in Blackboard is usually a poor idea for an engaging and effective online class. Adding audio to your slides with several examples and illustrations instead of slides of text will make a more engaging experience for your students. Supplement this with active learning exercises, group work, and discussion topics posted on the discussion board. Try to think of interesting ways to engage your students.
Using PowerPoint effectively
DO NOT use slide after slide of text that you expect students to read. Chunk the information into small units and use audio, illustrations, or examples supplemented by text or projects.
Take care when adding illustrations and photos to your PowerPoint file as this typically greatly increases its size making it difficult to watch online or download. If file size becomes a problem, you can bring the file to the Delphi Center for compression. You can also buy an inexpensive program called NX PowerLite that can compress your PowerPoint file.
Navigation
Make navigating your course easy for your students by the way you structure the class online. Organizer your course in a clear and consistent manner. The easiest way is by date. It is also best to tell your students what to do first when they log in to your course in Blackboard. You could do this with an announcement on the first page or with a "Start Here" button in the left hand navigation panel. If there are buttons on the left hand navigation panel that you will not use in your class, take them out. Try to post things under buttons that seem logical and intuitive. Ask people who are not familiar with your class to look at the course and see if they think it is easy to navigate. Ineffective navigation and poor organization of your course can be extremely frustrating for students.
Using discussion boards - Things to consider
Discussion boards give your students time to think and compose an answer to a question or make a comment. As the instructor, it is not necessary for you to respond to each student. The best strategy is to pose an open-ended question or discussion topic and have the students interact among themselves while you interject comments periodically to keep the discussion on track, or address any issues that need clarification or correction. Make sure you are very clear about your expectations for posting to the discussion board up front. Let students know you expect them to "discuss" without expecting you to comment on every posting.
Sometimes discussion boards can even be better than a class room discussion because shyer students who typically will not speak up in class will participate in a discussion board. International students may also feel more comfortable because they have time to write an appropriate response which is not possible in a fast paced verbal conversation.
Discussion Board Grading
To encourage participation by all students in the discussion board, it is useful to include participation as part of the student's grade. You will need to establish guidelines on what you consider to be an acceptable posting and how often you expect them to post a response. In other words, would posting, "yes, I agree" be a sufficient post for their participation grade? Tell students you expect a thoughtful response building on the ideas of other students' postings.
A good book for further reading on this topic is "Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators" by George Collison.
Track students using the Performance Dashboard
It is a good idea to make sure all students are participating in the online course. You can check the Performance Dashboard in Blackboard to make sure all students are logging on and participating. For more information on the Performance Dashboard, contact the Delphi Center at 852-8833.
Netiquette
It is a good idea to tell students what you expect for their online communication with you and with their fellow students. In other words, being in an academic setting is different than corresponding with friends. For example, it is not acceptable to use Instant Message abbreviations; instead students should use proper English and correct grammar. See our Netiquette webpage for other suggestions.
Using online chats - Things to consider
Chats are very fast paced. Students who are not strong typists can find this frustrating. Chats can also be difficult to follow since posts are coming from multiple people at the same time. Students read a post and by the time they type in a response, it could be several posts later or the topic could have changed. Also, the nature of chat sessions negates many of the advantages and reasons students take online courses since it requires that all students be online at the same time. Some students invariably will not be able to attend, so consider this when choosing to do a chat session.
On the other hand, chats may be much more suitable for small group work between students within a class or for online office hours where you will be corresponding with one student at a time.
Group work
Group work can be an engaging experience for online learning. Students will not easily form groups on their own, so you should expect to assign students to groups.
Updating your course
Once you put all the work into getting your course up and running online, that is just the beginning. You will need to make sure your materials and things such as web site links are kept up-to-date, especially if you will teach the class another semester.
Other available technologies for your online class
There are several types of technologies you can use for your course. Here is a brief description of some things you may want to use and how to get them.
- PowerPoint - Most people are familiar with PowerPoint. To learn best practices on pedagogy and PowerPoint, sign up for the "Pedagogy of PowerPoint" class offered monthly by the Delphi Center.
- Breeze- Breeze is an add-on to PowerPoint. You need to have PowerPoint installed on your machine to use Breeze. You can get Breeze free at www.adobe.com . Breeze allows you to easily record audio to go along with your PowerPoint presentation. Once your audio is recorded, you must publish the file on Delphi 's Breeze server to make it work properly in your Bb course. Sign up for the "Using Breeze/Connect Presenter" class offered by the Delphi Center .
- Podcasting or MP3 files. You can make audio or video files in an MP3 format that can be accessed via a PC or downloaded on an MP3 player such as an iPod. This is a good choice for content that students need to review or repeat such as foreign languages or technical content students may want to hear more than once. It is also a good idea for interviews with guest speakers and can be reused for subsequent classes.
- Second Life (SL) - Second Life is a virtual 3D world. The Delphi Center has purchased an island in SL for teaching and educational purposes. This type of environment is most useful for virtual tours of places difficult or impossible to visit in real life. It is also useful for role plays, collaboration, programming, and building environments applicable for architecture, science, and engineering. Sign up for the "Second Life Building Basics" class offered by the Delphi Center.
- Text to Speech is software that allows you to take a text document and convert it to an audio file that can be listened to online or downloaded to an MP3 player. This can be useful if you have a large amount of content you want to convert to audio. Even if you do some of the recordings yourself, it can be useful to have different voices for variety. Voices are available in male, female, and several different languages. For more information, go to www.textaloud.com. If you are teaching an online class and have files you want to convert, contact Leslie Bennett at the Delphi Center at 852-4319.
- The Delphi Center can also convert your video tapes or DVDs to a video streaming format. Contact the Delphi Center at 852-4319 if you are teaching an online class and need to convert content to a video streaming format.
Copyright
Although the Delphi Center can assist with copyright issues, you will ultimately be responsible for any copyright discrepancies arising from the use of material for your class. For copyright questions contact Dwayne Buttler at 852-6745.
Getting Help
Be sure students know where to get help if they have technical problems during their online class. The Delphi Center offers a Blackboard Frequently Asked Questions list for assistance with Blackboard questions. If they need additional help with Blackboard or any other technical issues, they should contact the IT help desk at (502)852-7997.
Be sure you know where to get help if you have technical problems during your online class and design. The Delphi Center offers a Blackboard Best Practices and FAQ's list for assistance with Blackboard questions. If you have any technology needs for your class such as streaming a video, recording audio, scanning an image, using Breeze or Second Life, contact the Delphi Center at 852-4319 on the Belknap campus or 852-8833 on the Health Science Campus.
If you have questions or would like to discuss instructional design issues specific to your class, contact Leslie Bennett at the Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning at 852-4319.
For additional guidelines and help for online learning, see Quality Matters at www.qualitymatters.org . For a quality matters rubric, contact Leslie Bennett at the Delphi Center.