Jump-Starting Your Online Course Using Existing Content

Presenters Jan Engle, Center for Online Teaching and Learning Carla Burruss, College of Business and Public Administration Rick Baisa, College of Arts and Sciences

Interaction: The Heart of the Online Course Student-Content Interaction Student-Instructor Interaction Student-Student Interaction

Online - Original Resources PowerPoint Presentations Viewlets Written ‘lecturettes’ Audio or video components Content: Existing or Original? Original resources require – Time to develop Often a certain level of technical expertise if the instructional objects produced are to be of a ‘professional’ quality

Existing Content Text Books E-reserves Existing Resources on the Internet Publisher “E-packs” or “Companion Sites” Publisher “Courses”

Using Texts Common strategy for putting courses online Excellent strategy for initial venture into online learning. Online development focuses on building learning activities that engage students with the content and with one another.

Very good courses can be developed with a text as the primary content resource and an emphasis on learning activities: Case studies Discussion Projects Collaborative Activities

E-reserves Links directly to full-text digital articles Library prepares materials Develop page with links to articles for journals available online Scan articles, book segments that are not available in digital form Assure instructor is in compliance with copyright laws All you have to do is provide the link within your course to your e-reserve page.

Using Existing Resources on the Internet Wealth of information available Good strategy for disciplines in which content is rapidly changing Excellent way to add current content to supplement text Can be a good way to add multimedia inexpensively if you can locate appropriate audio/video materials, animations, etc.

Downside Finding the resources amidst the millions of ‘hits’ on a search Sites change frequently, resulting in ‘broken’ links – much double check links before each course offering Using Existing Resources on the Internet

Where do you find existing content? Resource Repositories on the Internet Linkable ‘learning objects’ ("any digital resource that can be reused to support learning" ) Wide range of content and quality Most are free, need only be cited in order to incorporate the resource into your course.

Examples of Repositories Merlot The World Lecture Hall CAREO Wisconsin Online Resource Center The Global Campus VCLIT Learning Object Repository Shared Learning Objective Portal Environment MIT OpenCourseWare The Gateway to Educational Materials

Sample U.S. Government Resources Federal Resources for Educational Excellence Federal Resources for Educational Excellence National Institutes of Health National Clearing House of Drug and Alcohol Information National Clearing House of Drug and Alcohol Information Government Online Learning Center Library of Congress

Example: Using Existing Material as the Primary Source of Content Drugs and Society: Controversial Issues Text Plus Internet Resources Facilitating Online Learning Internet Resources Only

Publisher Materials Publisher Courses Carla Burruss Linking to Publisher materials within an ‘original’ course shell Rick Baisa

Publisher Courses – Carla Burruss Management 401 – Publisher Version Management 401 – Restructured Version

Using Publisher Web Site Materials - Rick Baisa Biology 306A – Biological Foundations