A glimpse at how to develop a self-paced online course for the without instructor presence.
Join us for a presentation on developing self-paced courses in higher education. Self-paced courses have a different set of standards from the traditional online courses. Students have no direct instructor guidance or input, and there should be no required discussion components. Students can move through the course at their own pace, with the understanding that they must complete all of the assignments and tests by the end of semester. The course must be developed with automated assignments and grading systems. Feedback will be incorporated into the automated assignments. Students will use the feedback in pre-tests and independent assignments to prepare for the formative evaluations required to satisfy the course accreditation.
The student is virtually (pun intended) on their own. So, the question arises; “how can we develop these self-paced courses for a learner who is limited to student-to-content interactions and are essentially learning independently using the instructor’s prescribed content, suggested activities and homework assignments, as well as preparing with low-stakes practice assessments?” These learners will still want to be interested in the content, so it is important to make these courses stylistically engaging.
With instructor-provided curriculum, we have developed courses based on our standards and best practices to chunk the curriculum into modules. These modules then serve as opportunities to reflect on their progress in the course, plan their next step and connect their learning throughout the modules. Modules are made up of readings, lecture presentations, videos, assignments, and assessments. Join us, as we navigate through the process we used to create self-paced courses which are both user-friendly and effective for today’s busy online learners.
Takeaways from this presentation would include:
- Mapping out the course
- Bringing in instructor presence, without an instructor
- Presenting engaging content
- Making the course navigation user-friendly
- Making the course visually and graphically appealing to students