An Innovation in Online Course Development - Leveraging Faculty Development to Support Quality Course Design

Session Time Slot(s): 
Institutional Level: 
Higher Ed
Abstract: 

Come and explore a new approach to online course development realizing high quality course design, effective faculty development and support, and capacity building within your instructional design team. At Wilfrid Laurier University, we are building more online courses and programs by supplementing the front-end on-boarding process with a just-in-time resource.

Extended Abstract: 

Come and explore a new approach to online course development realizing high quality course design, effective faculty development and support, and capacity building within your instructional design team's workload. At Wilfrid Laurier University, we are building more online courses and programs by supplementing the front-end on-boarding process with a just-in-time online course specifically designed to meet the needs of faculty developers. Faculty experience the online learning environment as students while they are going through the course and creating deliverables that will form the framework for their own online course developments. The course takes faculty through the building of an online course blueprint, roadmap, syllabus and draft first lesson. The course models and trains faculty concerning online:

  • accessibility considerations,

  • collaborative methodologies and community building

  • copyright requirements,

  • digital fluency,

  • student engagement strategies,

  • online evaluation tools and assessment options,

  • OERs,

  • online pedagogies, and

  • quality course design

     

    The approach for this session includes:

  • Discussion of the problem of needing to design more online courses and programs….better

  • Showcase the online development course and discuss how it supports the development of faculty

  • Allow participants to get hands on experience going through the course in order to experience the expertly designed student engagement strategies and multimedia

  • Share faculty feedback, institutional impact information, realized efficiencies to the development process, and the exponential growth of Online Learning at Laurier

  • Engage in discussion with respect to online development bottlenecks and faculty support and development requirements

     

    Session Outcomes:

  • Demonstrate an innovative online course development approach that delegates can replicate at their own institutions

  • Illustrate an effective faculty development strategy that supports faculty online design competency and flexible support

  • Describe the gains in institutional capacity in terms of instructional design and online course development quality

Position: 
2
Conference Session: 
Concurrent Session 4
Conference Track: 
Professional Development and Support
Session Type: 
Discovery Session
Intended Audience: 
Administrators
Design Thinkers
Faculty
Instructional Support
Training Professionals