Workflow for a New Course Design

Workflow for a New Course Design

Starting with a new course design involves some basic approaches. These may differ based on the different subject domains, curricular needs, learning context, and learners, but the following provides a basic overview.

Defining the Scope of Work

One initial angle is defining the amount of work of the curriculum design project. A certificate program with a series of courses will be a much larger scope than creating a series of modules for one particular and limited introductory course, for example. A curriculum that will be delivered nationally to thousands of learners will have a different scope than a digital "short course."

Besides work scope, curricular complexity will add another level of challenge to the design and development work. Complexity may come from the digital builds: for example, if a simulation needs to be built, if raw digital images need to be collected, if research information needs to be collected, these will all add deeper levels of work for the development team. If the curriculum is made for a variety of learners, then there will need to be more "versioning" between the types of assignments and digital learning objects. Also, if there is much customization or personalization of the assignments, that may also add more complexity.

The larger a design team of subject matter experts and of stakeholders to the project, the more complexity there likely will be. A general understanding is that these individuals will have contributions to the project, and all feedback will add nuance and richness but also challenge.

If there are a range of e-learning standards for the new course--based on domain standards, accessibility guidelines, quality rubrics--then there will need to be more design time and resources invested in the project.

Knowing the scope of a project is important in the definition of several aspects to the project:

project staffing and expertise project budgets and resources project timelines

and

project deliverables.

Pedagogical Theory and Processes

Some design builds are more heavy on theory than others. Academic courses often do rely on pedagogical theory. Some common pedagogical theories that apply to the e-learning space include cognitive theory, multimedia theory, situated cognition, zone of proximal development, experiential learning, and others. The choice of pedagogical theory depends on the curriculum and the learning objectives and goals.

Some systems focus more on defined process than on educational theory. The ADDIE Model and other applied models may be used to help some instructional designers work through this process. Processes are more of a main focus in corporate pedagogical designs.

Instructional Design

The actual instructional design for a particular course will differ and may result in equally effective final courses, short courses, modules, or trainings. The concept of "equifinality" may well apply.

An instructional design involves the definition of the following factors:

the course objectives; the course learners and their various demographic and learning profiles; the course syllabus; the course structure(s); the course technologies and modalities; the learning contents; the accessibility strategies; the intellectual property strategies; the course assessments; the standards for evaluating course quality, and other relevant factors.

Oftentimes, the instructional design may be captured in a design "stylebook" that sets the standards, the pedagogical understandings, the technological standards, and other elements.

Courses that are designed for inheritance by other instructors will be designed and developed differently than for a course that is more "owned" by one instructor.

Development Work

The development work refers to a range of factors:

information research audio captures digital image captures screen captures screen shot captures tutorial captures videography

and others.

Once the raw contents are captured, these may be processed and integrated to create digital learning objects, learning modules, lectures, assessments, and the more highly processed elements that will be brought together coherently as a course.

Technology Tools

Technology tools will vary based on the "installed base" of users for the particular technology, the technological infrastructure, the connectivity speeds of the learners, and other factors.

Workarounds for those with slower connectivity may include using "tangibles" to collect and distribute information--which include CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, downloadables from websites, and others. There need to be adjustments for low-tech situations all the way through high-tech situations.

Mobile learning may involve the uses of mobile devices, laptops, head-mounted displays, and dedicated specific devices for particular learning.

Third-party and freeware may also be used for Web 2.0 services, learning, and learning / course management systems (L/CMSes).

Defining Assessments

Assessments may range in terms of "value" to learners. Formal high-value assessments are those that involve credentialing, graduation, and summative evaluations. Less formal, lower-value assessments involve practice opt-in assessments. Or these may be formative assessments that enhance the learning. These do not affect learners' standings in a class in the way high-value assessments do.

Working with Quality Standards

E-learning courses, modules, and trainings are built to some standards, whether defined or assumed. Purposive design is preferable in most formal course builds.

There are a number of established rubrics that may be used. (Quality Matters Rubric In-institutional guidelines may also be integrated into the quality standards of a course design and build. Special values in particular domain fields are also important to consider.

Quality standards of a course will involve ethics, professional standards, accessibility, learner interactivity, intellectual property, fair assessments, and a range of other aspects.

The ways to assess the quality of a course depend on the learning objectives, the efficacy of the learning, learner feedback, and a range of other metrics that may be taken. It often helps to design the learning outcomes early on before even starting the course build, so that the build may be done to standards. "Retrofitting" an extant course build to new standards may be as time-consuming as the original course build and may be less effective because ineffectual pieces will have to be removed, redesigned, re-captured, and re-developed. The protectionism of an extant curriculum by the original design team may also be another hurdle.

Staying Legal

Legal requirements for online courses involve accessibility compliance Accessibility per the Americans with Disabilities Act [ Section 508 compliance @ http://www.section508.gov/ ].

All intellectual property Intellectual Property guidelines also need to be followed. Liabilities for infringing on others' intellectual property often falls to faculty based on university policies.

Most online courses need a copyright policy in place also to protect the digital contents in that particular course. Faculty will need to document the rights releases that allow them to use particular materials.

Understanding Learner Needs

Those who would access a curriculum will be in flux. They have changing demographics, first-languages, and learning backgrounds. They may have different "learning styles."

Some course designs involve the building of premodules to prepare learners for the online experience. Others involve postmodules to help them transition to further learning (whether formal as in a course sequence or program or informal as in self-discovery learning).

Learning Activities

Learning activities may be customized to meet the respective needs of different learners in different cultures, geographical locales, nations, and contexts. With learner co-creation of assignments, more "applicable" learning may be designed for a more diverse learning audience.

Supporting the Creation of Learning Communities

In academia, the development of learning communities with a range of experts and amateurs may be created to enhance the learning. Various technologies--wikis, social software--may be employed to enhance these connections between co-learners.

Updating a Curriculum for Continuing Relevance

All curriculums will age out, some sooner than others depending on changes in the field. It often helps to have an updating plan for when the curriculum will be revisited. It also helps to continually collect ideas for improving and updating a course curriculum.

See Also

References