Collaborating Online in Christian Course Design: A Case Study

Strengthening Online Education Approaches in Institutions of Higher Learning

The forced modality transition to online learning created panic and concern about the quality of education received by students worldwide. While eLearning and distance learning are not new practices, most faculty did not have the training or resources for the appropriate design of online courses to promote student success. The pandemic pedagogy created by COVID-19 placed students and faculty into an unfamiliar online realm filled with uncertainty, technology failures, and equity issues. This chapter will review the design of authentic online courses amid a pandemic, including a brief case study of an institution given three days to transition to online learning. The transition from a lecture-based, in-person course to a fully online course with social distancing is challenging, though faculty and students can excel in the course through proper training, design, and pedagogy.

While much has been written about the pedagogy and challenges of online learning, there is comparatively little research that advises how online course design competencies can be achieved. Certainly a growing range of course design resources is being created and made openly available, but there is a need to evaluate their actual impact on practice. This predominantly qualitative study describes the impact of two learning interventions – open online tutorials and a design and development workshop – aimed at introducing the fundamentals of online course design. Four online course developers at an Irish university were interviewed about their experiences creating multimedia-based online courses. Two of the developers were given access to targeted learning interventions and were subsequently interviewed about their experiences using those interventions. The main findings were that novice online course developers can potentially learn and apply design principles through a dedicated introductory phase, techniques that promote discussion of effective pedagogy, and ongoing collaboration in course design. These strategies could be adapted to specific contexts elsewhere.

Introduction. In the present, the issues of digitalization of education continue to form the agenda of leading international organizations (UN, UNESCO). It is recognized that the use of digital technologies makes it possible to diversify the means of involvement in the learning process, taking into account existing differences in individual educational needs. It was also noted that there is still a problem of the lack of clear guidelines for the implementation of technologies in practice, which determines the relevance of issues of the quality of digital content in terms of its accessibility, compliance with various educational needs, including those with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to identify the key requirements and principles for designing an online course for students with disabilities in the modern digital space of the university. Materials and methods. Methods of analysis, synthesis, extrapolation, and document analysis were used in the study. The systematic approach allowed us to formulate an important methodological principle of the relationship between the requirements and conditions put forward for the design of online courses for students of different groups with disabilities. To achieve this goal, we relied on the regulatory framework of the Russian Federation on the accessibility and quality of the digital educational environment for people with disabilities, data from the NAFI analytical center on the assessment of the level of digital competencies for the period from 2018 to 2022. As one of the examples, we relied on a study conducted among students and graduates with disabilities in a number of universities in the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Kurgan regions. Results. Debatable issues in the light of the digitalization of the university still remain: the predominantly formal nature of the creation of digital environments, their demand in the educational space, taking into account the individual needs of target groups, etc. The research problem consists in explication of general approaches and requirements, principles of designing online courses for students with disabilities in the context of the development of the modern digital space of the university, which will allow creating (correcting) a universal constructor of such an educational resource that ensures the implementation of the educational route for students inclusively. The article shows that when designing an online course, the following conditions must be taken into account: technological, psychological and pedagogical, organizational and methodological. Of course, special attention should be paid to providing methodological requirements for the development of content by users with hearing and vision impairments. This should be reflected in the structure of the organization of educational content. It is necessary to take into account the psychological and pedagogical features of such a contingent of users. Conclusion. We believe that the immediate tasks in designing online courses for students with disabilities at the university, taking into account the digitalization of the educational space of the university, will be: conceptualization of the digital educational space of the university, taking into account the principles of universal design; regulatory and legal support of the process of integrating online resources into the educational environment of the university; methodological support and content filling.

As online education continues to grow, instructors from traditional classrooms are being asked to design online courses. In this study, data from interviews with thirty-three public four-year college and university instructors, who had experience designing online courses, were used to understand the instructor’s perspective on online course design. Using grounded theory, data were analyzed, sorted, and coded to uncover the strategies instructors use to design online courses. Results revealed instructors adapt to the online environment by using strategies to mimic elements of face-to-face courses: in essence, adaption comes through assimilation. Instructors expressed interest in helping students navigate online to encourage active participation in courses. They described using technology and learning management system (LMS) features (e.g., videos, discussion forums) to “hear” and “see” students, as a way to increase interaction and presence, familiar elements from face-to-face education. They spoke of creating authentic assignments to increase student engagement. The implications of this study include effective design and instructional strategies for online courses, as well as understanding the motivation of instructors who design online courses. The study results are relevant to a broad audience including online instructors, instructional designers, LMS organizations, and administrators.

The existing steady and continual rise of online learning in higher education has been accelerated by COVID-19 and resulted in a move away from solely on-campus teaching. Prior to the pandemic, online education was providing higher education to students who were returning to study to up-skill, are employed full-time, caring for family members, living rurally or remotely and/or for whom otherwise face-to-face campus learning was not a preference or option. To understand how we can better support online students in their unique circumstances and create an optimal learning environment, we must understand the factors associated with academic achievement within an online setting. This systematic review involved a search of relevant databases published between January 2009 and May 2021 examining factors and constructs related to academic performance in online higher education settings. Across 34 papers, 23 (67.6%) explored factors and constructs related to student characteristics including cognitive and psychological, demographic, university enrolment, and prior academic performance. Twenty-one (61.8%) papers explored learning environment factors including engagement, student experience, course design, and instructor. Our overall synthesis of findings indicates that academic performance in online learning is most strongly associated with motivation (including self-efficacy), and self-regulation. We propose three main implications of our review for online learning stakeholders such as educators and designers. Firstly, we argue that the wellbeing of online learners is important to understand, and future research should explore its impact on students’ experience and success in online higher education. Secondly, we emphasise the importance of developing and designing online courses utilising relevant frameworks and evidence-based principles. Finally, we propose an approach to promoting improved student cognitive and psychosocial experiences (such as self-efficacy, self-regulation, and perceived support) could be achieved by creating and incorporating an online learning orientation module at the commencement of enrolment.Systematic Review Registration: (website), identifier (registration number).

This multiple case study investigates instructional designers’ perceptions of online course quality, their use of cognitive load strategies when designing online courses, and whether utilization of these strategies contribute to online course quality. The participants of this study were instructional designers ( n = 5) who worked in various campus programs at a large Midwestern university. Data sources included pre‐interview survey, semi‐structured interview and sample course design documents. Employing a pattern matching technique, the results showed that instructional designers (a) define online course quality based on established standards and rubrics; (b) apply cognitive load strategies intuitively while designing online courses; and (c) consider CLT design strategies as an element contributing to course quality. The results also showed instructional designers’ use of cognitive load strategies mainly focused on reducing extraneous cognitive load. Implications for practice and research as well as directions for future research are discussed. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Cognitive load theory (CLT) provides empirically tested strategies to manage cognitive load in different settings CLT strategies has a positive impact on student learning processes and outcomes When designing online courses, it is important for faculty to collaborate with instructional designers to manage cognitive load and improve online course quality There is a need to investigate instructional designers’ perceptions of online course quality and their use of CLT strategies when designing online courses What this paper adds Provides a deep understanding of instructional designers perspectives on online course quality, application of CLT strategies while designing online courses and how application of these strategies contribute to the online course quality Although instructional designers identify multiple CLT strategies from their work and perceive CLT strategies as an element contributing to course quality, they apply these strategies innately Implications for practice and/or policy Multiple stakeholders should be involved in determining online course quality Collaboration between faculty and instructional designers is essential to manage cognitive load and increase online course quality CLT and related theories should be emphasized in instructional design programs Future research should focus on how instructional designers integrate CLT strategies into the systematic instructional design process and instructional designers’ decision‐making process through think‐aloud and/or journaling efforts

Objective – The aim of this study is to assess and compare the metacognitive awareness of university students in online and in-person learning environments. Secondly, the study aims to explore the students’ preferences for online and in-person learning to compare themetacognitive awareness of students based on their preferences. Methods – A total of 79 university students completed the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, providing self-reported data on their metacognitive awareness. The study used a paired sample t-test to compare mean scores of metacognitive awareness between online and in-person classroom settings. Additionally, participants evaluated their experiences with online and in-person learning using a pairwise comparison as a scaling method. Results – The t-test results indicate statistically significant differences in metacognitive awareness between online and in-person classroom settings. Specifically, significant differences were found in declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge, planning, information management strategies, monitoring, debugging strategies, and evaluation of learning. Students showed higher levels of metacognitive awareness across all facets in traditional in-person learning setting. Descriptive analysis of scaling pairwise comparison revealed that online learning was strongly preferred for comfort, while in-person learning was preferred modality for motivation to study and active participation. In oppose to t-test results, ANOVA did not reveal significant differences in metacognitive awareness based on students’ preferences in online nor in traditional learning settings. Conclusions – The results provide valuable information on the metacognitive awareness and preferences of the students in two different learning environments.

Online course has become an increasingly important part and long-term development strategy in higher education. Studying the Art and Design online course of the University of California, Berkeley, It aims to analysis the part, characteristics and models of American art design online courses. Finally It will provide new ideas and methods to Art and Design higher education in China in future.

This design-based research (DBR) study had both local and general goals. Its local goal was to increase active learning in the online courses offered at a large research university in the midwestern United States. Its larger goal was to define active learning design principles for online courses in general, so that they might be used to improve the learning experience for wider audiences. While the principles of active learning can be applied to courses in any mode of delivery: flipped classroom, blended, or fully online, the importance of active learning in online courses is highlighted because active learning course design requires numerous upfront considerations. Moreover, because the pedagogical model is structured throughout the online learning environment and thus is made visible, online courses present a unique opportunity to review what is core to the principles of active learning. The design intervention (an innovative course review method) incorporated the principles of authentic e-learning. The study addressed two major research questions: (1) “To what extent does the intervention—a new course review method—indicate the extent to which active learning is present in the design of an online course?” and (2) “How do the principles of authentic e-learning incorporated in the new course review method need to be refined?” To address the first question, the online course review intervention was used to evaluate the learning activities and assessments of 75 undergraduate online courses against these authentic e-learning principles, resulting in an active learning (AL) score for each course. To address the second question, we surveyed the learners in these 75 courses about what made learning meaningful and coded the learners’ feedback in reference to the active learning design principles. The practical outcome of this DBR study is a pedagogical course review that quantifies active learning in online courses. The theoretical outcomes of this DBR study are refined active learning design principles that can serve instructors, designers, teacher educators, and administrators in enhancing the design of online courses. The findings of this study affirm that the authentic task principles as well as newly identified learner-centered design principles together can serve as evidence-based principles to define and refine active learning in online courses.

The growth of online programs has been substantial over the past decade; such growth has required that an equally substantial number of faculty become proficient in the pedagogy of online learning and the best practices in online course design. At the same time, universities are being called on to provide evidence of student learning and satisfaction. The literature review shows that the design of online courses can have an impact on the student learning experience; therefore, knowledge of these practices and the ability to use them when designing an online course is critical for faculty. The literature review also provided an overview of evaluation theory, as well as specific cases of online course evaluations. Design research was used to inform the methodology of this study in which five online courses were investigated. Faculty teaching the courses were asked to complete an evaluation of the design of their online course using the Quality Online Learning Checklist (Hosie, 2005), derived from the constructivist-based Situated Learning Model (Herrington & Oliver, 2000), and a matrix aligning course learning objectives with elements in the online course design. Participants were then interviewed about their experience evaluating the design of their online course. The study found that faculty need more information and training about online learning pedagogies when designing and evaluating courses. In large part, this is due to the fact that responsibility for the design of the online course falls on the faculty, who often have little or no background in design or online pedagogy. Overcoming this challenge, however, becomes difficult given that faculty in this study were averse to a collaborative approach to the design and evaluation of their online course. Until a culture of collaboration is fostered and rewarded, it may be difficult for faculty to design high quality courses using research-based best practices.

This study examines the effect of an important cultural dimension—power distance index (PDI)—on learners’ perceptions of their online learning experiences. PDI refers to the degree to which a learner’s response to another individual in a learning setting is inhibited or otherwise negatively altered when the other individual holds a position that is superior or inferior to the learner’s own position. This study aims to generate guidelines for better design and facilitation of online courses that can effectively engage all students in the learning process. Research findings are particularly relevant to researchers and practitioners who are interested in the cultural aspects of online learning. This study contributes to the current knowledge base about designing effective online courses and about practicing culturally responsive teaching in an online setting.

The School of Business online course designers panel will share ideas of what tools have worked when building engaging yet rigorous and meaningful online content that is applicable across all disciplines. Topics covered will include creating meaningful discussion forums and group projects, integrating outside resources (publisher generated) into online courses, making recorded lectures more engaging and strategies for reducing cheating on quizzes and assignments. Participants will leave the session with tangible ideas for developing engaging online content. They will also walk away with a meaningful start on converting some of their own content to online. _____________________________________________________________ FULL ABSTRACT: No matter what tool you use in your online classroom it is about student engagement and synergistic learning. The role of the instructor involves connecting students with the content in an effort to bring it to life. In online learning this connection can be lost if learning and assessment activities are not designed properly. It is important be intentional about the content and the scaffolding of the material. Blackboard and other learning management systems provide many options and tools to create engaging content. Yet many of these tools take significant time investment on the part of the instructor to create while the more imaginative tools require some technology knowledge and capability. The members of the proposed panel are all participants in the SOUPR course development program and have gained valuable insight and knowledge about creating engaging course content. Each panel member will address a separate tool or topic that is of interest/use to faculty from across the university. Individual topics include: Katherine Rosenbusch, Assistant Professor, Management – Integrating Outside Resources Using outside resources can enhance the learning experience for the student. There are several tools and resources that can be utilized to enrich your course including McGraw Hill Connect, Smartbook, Cengage Learning Mindlinks, CourseMate, Mindtap, and others. As instructors, it's important for us to understand that there is so much more to students than the life they lead in class, and it is important to show interest in a student and connect the content to their life. These tools can assist in making that connection. Jim Harvey, Associate Professor, Marketing – Managing Online Group Projects

The steady growth of online education has created increasing demands for faculty to design and teach online courses. At issue is the limited pedagogical preparation of higher education faculty hindering motivation to participate or the quality of their online teaching experiences. To address this issue faculty development supports are needed to help faculty transition into online teaching. This article provides an overview of related issues and a sample of emerging faculty development models followed with a description of a promising model integrating design, pedagogical, use of technology, and assessment considerations and adult development, learning, and planning principles. Emerging trends stemming from the review of related issues are also highlighted.

Online learning has been widely adopted in higher education but there is a need to better understand the nature of student engagement with online courses. For example, there are questions about whether students engage with courses as educators intend and what features of online courses engage students to enhance learning. Bringing together student and educator perspectives, this article reports on a study that identified ‘pedagogical touchpoints’ – opportunities within online courses for student engagement – to ascertain whether a better understanding of these could improve online course design and student engagement. Data were collected across three undergraduate online courses. Data analysis produced three key findings: mapping pedagogical touchpoints against dimensions of engagement reveals patterns that may inform enhanced course design, students’ engagement with pedagogical touchpoints varies according to their learning needs and desires, and mapping pedagogical touchpoints can inform course design at both conceptual and practical levels. Discussion of the findings highlights that purposeful design of online courses, including strategic planning for pedagogical touchpoints, can maximise the potential for student engagement and consequent learning.