Weathering the storm by using the Rapid Development Prototype model in online course design

Abstract

In 2020, higher education institutions (HEIs) globally were faced with a new storm and none were adequately prepared to sail it. As Travis Meadows puts it: “Peace is not found in a calmer storm, it’s found in a better boat”, so too did HEIs have to look for better “boats” to weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic. To rapidly adjust from the traditional face-to-face modes of delivery to online learning, many HEIs had to adopt a model of rapid online course development. The shift to online learning fundamentally altered the environment in which institutions offering distance forms of higher education function — having a knock-on effect on their practices. This chapter provides a brief overview of the Rapid Development Prototype model and the experience of using it in online course design at a Namibian higher learning institution — the University of Namibia. Through the rapid model, instructional designers were better able to deliver the current needs of students at a rapid process to minimise interruptions to their learning.