In today's higher education environment online education has become an important form of delivery for instruction. The need to use instructional designers in the process of creating online instruction has been a key element in the process. However, faculty subject manner experts still need to be the driving force for the online or hybrid course development process. Time is another factor, since courses need to be developed or redeveloped in a quick and effective manner without sacrificing quality.
The approach needs to be a collaborative effort between faculty and the instructional designer to develop online courses in a rapid and effective manner using an instructional model; however, many of the instructional models don't take into account the partnership and processes used today for course development in higher education institutions.
Our instructional model and approach does just that. It provides a creative and informative roadmap for course design and development in the changing academic environment using four stages (1) assessing, (2) training, (3) creating, (4) evaluating.
In this first stage, the background information is reviewed and decisions are made on how much development or redevelopment needs to be done. This stage is primarily handled by the Instructional Designer. This stage of the model addresses the project management aspects of course development, which include content development, scope, delivery date, payment amount and issuing course development contracts.
Most of the focus is on determining and answering who, what, and when so the development can begin. All the tasks within this stage must be completed before advancing to Stage II: Training.
The second stage focuses on the creation of an effective educational environment for student learning. The instructional designer (ID) leads the course developer through the University master course standards and how online learning works. The ID introduces the course developer to a variety of approaches and engages her in creatively thinking about content development and the educational experiences delivered in an online course. ID mentors and works closely with the course developer on identifying and choosing instructional strategies that best engage students towards successfully achieving course/programmatic outcomes.
In this stage the instructional designer ensures the course developer has access to the course development training course. Based on the instructional strategies chosen, the ID trains the content developer on the appropriate and available technology for designing content. The ID trains the content developer on how to use the design document in the creation of the unit, lectures, multimedia, and communication tools. The instructional designer will also train the course developer on writing measurable performance objectives, creating practice activities, and developing authentic assessments. It is critical in this development stage that the ID and the course developer stay focused on the outcomes of the courses and the students' learning.
In this third stage, the instructional designer will continuously coach the course developer in the creation of the design document units (instruction), development of the multimedia activities, lectures, and insertion of the content and materials into Blackboard.
In this fourth stage, the Instructional Designer and the Director of Instructional Design evaluate the course. The evaluation is conducted to ensure that the course meets the university's master course standards and that it is instructionally sound, providing a motivational experience for the student. The APM and corresponding Dean may also be notified and given access to provide feedback.
Once the course has been reviewed and found to meet all applicable standards, the course process is completed.
Goals
- To summarize the Post U course development model
- To differentiate how each stage works in a collaborative effort
- To demonstrate how this model uses a project management approach for measuring milestones in the development stages
- To construct how using our model produces a communication tool between the faculty subject matter expert and the instructional designer to produce consistent and engaging online courses
