Blended by Design: Designing and Developing a Blended Course Jennifer Strickland, PhD, 1

Day 2 Course redesign and engagement 2

Objectives  Continue with the module design process  Describe instructional design techniques used to organize content  Identify course activities suited to the online or classroom environment  Review some classroom technologies  Explore strategies and techniques to infuse student- student and instructor- student interaction and engagement 3

Why (re)design into blended?  Ensures your design facilitates your course  Engage students in dynamic and vital communities  Students take more responsibility for content and learning  Students learn through active participation and inquiry  Assessing the Role of Teaching Presence from the Learner Perspective Dr. Randy Garrison, Dr. Norm Vaughan. Available at Blended Learning and Course Redesign in Higher Education & Learning and Course Redesign in Higher Educationhttp://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI07159.pdf

Mapping Your Course, Part II  Give us a quick overview of how your face to face course maps out  What do you think will “translate” most easily?  What do you think will be most difficult to “translate”? 5

5 Principles of Successful Course Redesign 1.Redesign the whole course. 2.Encourage active learning. 3.Provide students with individualized assistance. 4.Build in ongoing assessment and prompt feedback. 5.Ensure sufficient time on task and monitor student progress.

4 Basic Redesign Steps 1.Identify course content for a module 2.Write learning objectives and develop instructional modules 3.Select course (re) design strategies: determining which strategy is most appropriate for your course 4.Integrate course content activities in classroom and online environments: determining what is best suited in either the online or classroom environment

Why Objectives?  Clear statement of what students will be able to do when they are finished with an instructional component  Focuses on student performance  Provides structure: beginning, middle, and end  What are the core concepts your students must learn for each module?  What do they need to know?  What do they need to be able to do?  What will they know as a result of my instruction?

Support Objectives by  Integrating learning technologies  Classroom technologies  Emerging technologies  Online resources  Developing diverse assessment techniques  Infusing active learning, interaction, and peer engagement

Why Modules?  Easier to find course content  Support consistency  Allows students to focus on content rather than form  Content becomes manageable  Prevents information overload  “7 +/-2 rule” Source: Blending In, March 2007

Meeting Objectives  Source: Blending In, March 2007 Objectives Learning Activities Instructional Strategies Assessment Techniques

Course Organization  Dates  Topic  Readings  Section  Unit  Module

The Organization  Course content broken down into “chunks”  Course structure in a repetitive manner allowing for easy navigation  Content organized in conceptually related blocks  Consistent, logical, clear, common sense, apply past experience, let the content set the chunks Source: Blending In, March 2007

Mapping Your Course Part II  In your chunk or module  What does the instructor do?  What does the learner do?  What can stay in the classroom?  What can happen online?  What is the relationship between the two?  Apply Bloom’s levels

Building Community among Students 15

What makes a successful community?  Individuals feel safe  Get questions answered  Have conversations  Get resources/information  Support  Friendship  Produce a product  Individual and shared identities 16

Jane Livingston, 2006, Building Community in a Blended Course, Educause 17

Building Community  Start early  Make it relevant  Identify connections  Create opportunities for engagement  Encourage participation 18

Collaboration Benefits  Passive to interactive  Increase retention of class materials  Develops critical thinking skills  Knowledge construction  Builds community  Team building  Interpersonal skills  Importance of emphasizing the relationship of interactive activities to “content” 19

Power Law of Participation Ross Mayfield: 20

In Class: Student Collaborative or Interactive Activities  In class writing activities  5 minute discussion questions  Scripted scenarios for role playing  Think-Pair-Share  Note Check  Case Studies  Discussions  Group Projects 21

Online: Student Collaborative or Interactive Activities  Case studies  Discussions  Forums: Panel or Symposium  Experiential Learning  Group Projects  Role-play  Games & Simulations  Demonstrations  Online Presentations  ogy/instructionalstrategies.asp ogy/instructionalstrategies.asp 22

Activity  Keeping your module in mind, develop a community-building activity for use online or in the classroom  Report out 23

Break 24

Facilitating and Assessing Online Discussions

Please think about and answer the following questions.  How do you use classroom discussion in your current courses?  How do you assess students?

Written Communication in the Online Environment  Netiquette:  rerules.html rerules.html

Discussion boards must be graded with substantial points assigned

Ways to Use a Discussion Board  Prepare for upcoming in-class discussion (pre- assignment)  Reading  Review of literature  Follow-up to in-class discussion (continue discussion or post-assignment)  Extension of in-class discussion and assignments (exploratory, will not be covered in class) Source: Teaching Online A Practical Guide by Ko and Rossen

Ways to Use a Discussion Board Continued  Question and answer forum (to create an FAQ page)  Pose a problem and have students generate possible solutions – discuss those solutions  Students post homework or projects and get classmate feedback  Case study Source: Teaching Online A Practical Guide by Ko and Rossen

Ways to Use a Discussion Board Continued  Students critique classmates’ work using provided evaluation guidelines  Find/evaluate web resources on lesson/topic and discuss results  Invite guest speakers/lecturers  Debate about topic

Quick Tip!  Consider allowing students to self assign groups that will take charge of and moderate/track a particular week’s interaction  Facilitate  Summarize  Record  Track participation  Lead discussion

Questioning Techniques  “Name and describe three social systems theories that apply to community development.”  “What theory of community development did you find yourself relating to most? Why? How would you apply that theory to our learning community?” Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching, Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt (pg. 121)

Moderating and Facilitating Online Discussion  Encourage participation  Ensure that some students don’t dominate  Keep discussion focused  Bring out multiple perspectives  Summarize highlights  Do not dominate or be over-involved in the discussion Source: Gregg Kearsley Online Education: Learning and Teaching in Cyberspace, Wadsworth: 2000, p. 85 Source: Tom Nolan, Sonoma State University

Discussion Boards in Your Hybrids  How will you use the discussion board?  See Discussion Board Ideas handout