Academic Exchange Quarterly Winter 2008 ISSN 1096-1453 Volume 12, Issue 4
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A Learner-Centered Online Course Design
Karen Hornsby,
Karen Hornsby, Ph.D., is an Assistance Professor of
Philosophy and member of the History Department.
Abstract
In all types of academic institutions, online course enrollment continues to increase. Converting traditional classroom pedagogies to an online environment however, is often difficult. Using experience gathered from developing numerous online courses, this article discusses successful learner-centered online pedagogies and reviews strategies for overcoming some typical problems encountered in digital classroom environments.
Introduction
In all types of academic institutions, online course enrollment continues to rise, with improved student educational access and increased overall graduation rates cited as the top objectives motivating online education’s growth (Allen & Seaman, 2007). For residential campuses, where students typically return home during winter and summer sessions, online courses afford learners options for continuing to earn degree credits and departments a method for increasing student credit hours. Escalating gas prices are also impacting student enrollments in online courses (Young, 2008). Converting traditional classroom pedagogies to an online environment however, is often difficult because of the challenges presented by asynchronous instruction to faceless student participants. This article considers preliminary design decisions for online course development and offers specific examples for applying Chickering and Gamson’s “Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (1987) to a digital course environment. Using experience gathered from a decade of developing online courses, I will discuss successful learner-centered online pedagogies and review strategies for overcoming some common problems encountered in digital classroom environments.
Preliminary Design
Prior to writing online course content, creating learning
objects, or constructing student assignments, three preliminary design
decisions will help decrease student frustration and promote overall learning. Most
higher education institutions have adopted some type of e-learning course
management system (Blackboard, Angel, WebCT, Moodle, Desire2Learn, etc.). Whichever virtual learning environment (VLE)
courseware is used, a cautionary rule of thumb is to avoid implementing
technology simply because it is available.
The first design decision is to select which digital tools to
incorporate into your online course. Since VLE courseware is designed for
multiple disciples and users, many advanced features are routinely available.
Use only those “bells and whistles” that promote student learning and are easily
adaptable to your course objectives (Elbaum, McIntrye, & Smith, 2002). Advanced instructional technology features
often bring increased student access problems and may exclude lower-end
computer users from course participation. Audio and video streaming
instructional materials, for example, are unworkable via dialup Internet
connections.
A second related design decision involves the actual course
site structure. With most VLE
courseware, everything that a professor could possible use is automatically activated
when new courses are created. Similarly,
VLE courses emerge with a standard set of menu button names. To promote student
learning, customize your course site by appropriately naming menu buttons and
deactivating unused features. If quizzes
and exams are instruments that you will use to assess students’ learning, then
rather than imbedding these test materials within a standard “Information” or “Documents”
area of the course, rename a button “Quizzes & Exams.” Once course buttons
are renamed, click each button and turn off any courseware features that will
not be used (address book, homepages, electronic chalkboard, etc.). When students can readily find materials
within the course site, they can spend more time on task.
Finally, student learning styles should be considered when
designing online courses. Traditionally digital courses heavily rely on
students reading and writing about a particular topic. To accommodate other
learning styles in a “VARK” typology, instructors need to intentionally vary
learning activities (Fleming & Mills, 1992). Relevant graphics, audio materials or short video
clips can engage students with visual and aural learning styles. Course activities with a “hands on” feature,
that require students “do something” are well suited for kinesthetic learners. Designing
a course with multi-sensory learning experiences can help engage all students
and keep them motivated.
Content Focused on Good
Practice
Although an
ever-expanding body of literature exists on best practices for promoting
student learning in traditional face-to-face classrooms, pedagogical best practices
for the VLE are still emerging. A
much-revered framework for evaluating pedagogical excellence, Chickering and Gamsom’s “Seven
Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (1987) has been recently
retooled for online course application (Graham, Cagiltay,
Lim, Craner, & Duffy, 2001). Drawing from these two best practices inventories,
what follows is an adaptation and attempt to provide concrete examples of how
instructors might implement student-centered pedagogies in a VLE.
Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages
Student-Faculty Contact
Online Application: Students
need explicit guidelines for communication. In a VLE, meeting this first principle of good practice is easily
accomplished by four simple measures.
First, make sure that instructor contact information is clearly
delineated within the course site. If
you are teaching a summer course and will not be accessible via phone or hold
on-campus office hours, include these details on your contact page. Second, stipulate and maintain timelines for
responses to email communications. A
statement such as “All emails with be responded to within 12 hours,” on your
contact information page lets students know that you will not be at your
computer 24 hours a day. It also establishes a point at which students should
resend communication in case a digital glitch has transpired. Third, convey instructions on where various types of communication should be directed. For example, “email questions about any
software or hardware problems to tech support not the instructor.” Or “the main discussion forum is for
questions or comments that are of interest to the whole class; concerns about
specific exam questions or your grade should be directed to me privately via
email.” Finally, know how to reach your
students in a timely manner if concerns arise. Within the first few days of
class, my online learners submit a “Student Information Sheet” with email
addresses, phone numbers, employer and work hours, etc. for extra credit
points. This document is stored within
the VLE and provides me with various methods of contacting my students. If a complex question arises, verbal
conversations are sometimes more productive than repeated email messages.
Principle 2: Good Practice Encourages Cooperation
Among Students
Online Application: Well-constructed
discussion assignments and balanced instructor participation promote student
cooperation. Asynchronous discussion
board activities can transition a group of students from “virtual” strangers into
a cohesive learning community. To promote
students’ social connectedness and the free exchange of ideas, instructors must
become a discussion facilitator not leader (Waltonen-Moore,
Stuart,
For the first discussion assignment, an “ice-breaker”
question helps students become comfortable with their virtual classmates. A task requiring learners to introduce
themselves to the class, explain why they are taking the course, and identify
two things they hope to learn by the end of the semester, is a low stakes
conversation that encourages student engagement. Subsequent discussion
exercises should focus on a central concept or topic covered in the course
material. To promote a learner-centered
environment, the course syllabus should clearly articulate what constitutes
satisfactory discussion participation and provide specific examples of quality
and quantity expectations.
Principle 3: Good Practice Encourages Active
Learning
Online Application:
Students should participate in diverse, engaging assignments. The VLE is ideal for varied pedagogies and innovative
active learning activities. Digital
course portfolios, for example, are challenging, provide evidence of student
learning and are easily constructed using open-source programs like the Keep ToolKit. Learning objects are reusable,
web-based, interactive tools that facilitate student learning of specific
concepts. These digital materials can be readily integrated into the VLE and
are freely available through sites such as MERLOT and MLX Learning Exchange.
Case studies are an additional
method for motivating and engaging learners.
Instructors can integrate sample cases for evaluation by student groups
or let learners collaboratively construct narrative cases relevant to the
course subject matter. Quandary software is another free resource tool for educators
to design digital decision-tree, problem-solving, learning activities. A learner-centered course design requires
that students do more than simply read, write and discuss; active learning activities
are needed to foster virtual student engagement.
Principle 4: Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
Online Application: Students
need ongoing acknowledgment feedback along with formative and summative assessment
comments. Acknowledgement feedback
verifies receipt of an assignment or a request.
In my online courses with a term paper requirement, I send all students
a confirmation email indicating that I have received and I was able read their
submitted paper attachment. Similarly, when students send questions/requests
that require further research, instructors should initiate a reply indicating
that they have received the question/request and a response is forthcoming.
Formative assessment is
a classroom tool designed to provide students with feedback about their
learning prior to conducting any graded evaluations. The purpose of formative
assessment is to improve student learning and allow students to practice self-assessment
and thus these types of activities are almost always ungraded. Summative assessments are graded activities evaluating
student mastery of particular learning objectives.
Many formative classroom
assessment techniques (CATs) originally designed for
traditional face-to-face learning environments are readily adaptable to the
VLE. Two easily transferable CATs are the “Minute Paper” and the “Muddiest Point”
(Angelo & Cross, 1993). After
completing a small unit of material (one week or less), students in the VLE can
write an anonymous “Minute Paper” essay responding to two question prompts: 1)
“What was the most important thing that you learned from this material?” and 2)
“What question remains unanswered?”. Student
responses can be collected using a survey format or through an assignment tool.
This CAT provides manageable student data with minimal time and energy expenditures.
Instructors can digitally collate student responses and immediately ascertain
if learners are clear on major concepts, ideas, or significant themes while assessing
students’ abilities to think holistically and synthesize information. The
Minute Paper will also reveal ambiguities in course content and provide a snapshot
of material that may require further clarification.
The
Practice exercises are a third type of formative assessment tool that provide students prompt feedback about their learning. These ungraded activities can include multiple-choice quizzes, fill-in-the-blank exercises, or crossword puzzles. In my online courses, I “track” the links/pages students access and practice exercises are by far the most popular formative activity. I use Eclipse software, an open-source crossword puzzle generator to design JavaScript interactive activities that I then upload to my course website. The Eclipse tool is very easy to use and requires absolutely no programming or html skills. Hot Potatoes is a second source for creating interactive, student exercises and is available free to all non-profit educational institutions. The Hot Potatoes software enables instructors to design interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for online use. Some textbooks also have “companion websites” where students can read chapter summaries, take tutorial quizzes, review learning objectives, and access relevant web links. Rather than direct students to these websites outside the VLE, I create links within the course site that will open in a new window once clicked. This linking method prevents students from having to repeatedly reauthenticate into the online course and allows learners to engage with publisher formative activities while still having access to course site materials.
Since learning is a life-long process, providing students prompt feedback on summative assessments is also important. Many course management systems include a “feedback” feature for quizzes, assignments, and exams. This tool is activated during the creation of the assessment and allows instructors to write a “correct response feedback” comment and an “incorrect response feedback” comment for each question. When essays are assigned, course management software often generates a “feedback” textbox for instructor remarks back to the student. These course management feedback tools can be implemented incrementally as you build your student-centered course materials, but students must be instructed to revisit the quizzes/exams after grading so that they can read these feedback comments.
A second option for providing summative feedback is the use
of rubrics during the grading process. Projects
and term paper assignments are especially well-suited for rubric feedback. Rubrics communicate detailed explanations of
what constitutes excellence for a given task and thus should be distributed
along with the initial assignment instructions.
Because rubrics set forth precise criteria, instructors can show
students exactly how their work is being evaluated. RubiStar
is an excellent online resource for rubric construction or as part of the
learning process, instructors might include students in the rubric creation.
Principle 5: Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task
Online Application: Online
courses need deadlines. Students often
associate online courses with a self-paced, independent study learning
environment. But for asynchronous
education to promote deep, meta-cognitive learning rather than surface
memorization and regurgitation of information, students need time to evaluate,
challenge, and make meaning of course materials. The reflective
process is essential for higher-order thinking and a hallmark of pedagogically
designed online courses (Palloff & Pratt, 2003). Regularly distributed deadlines promulgated
on the first day of class encourage learners to spend time on task, help students
mediate busy schedules, and deter perpetual procrastination. Yet many students select online courses
because they need flexible timelines to balance child-care responsibilities or
work schedules with educational obligations. An equilibrium between unrestricted
timelines and rigid due dates is easily achieved by adopting ranged deadlines.
Students in my online and hybrid courses have a four-day period to take all digital
quizzes; so quizzes that begin at
Principle 6: Good Practice Communicates High
Expectations
Online Application: Challenging assignments
and promulgated standards of excellence communicate high expectations. Educational demands inferior to those found in face-to-face
courses and a lack of academic rigor are criticisms often lodged against online
coursework. With planning, however, VLEs can be just as formidable as traditional courses. Online delivery of course materials does not
require simplification or “dumbing down” of content. Additionally,
the course syllabus should stress academic expectations. Policies
and penalties for missed assignments, academic dishonesty, procedures for technical
problems, and discussion participation expectations must be spelled out and
firmly applied. Final grades in my online courses are based solely on
cumulative point totals and students are referred to the syllabus grading scale
throughout the semester.
Principle 7: Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents
and Ways of Learning
Online Application: Allow
students assignment or topics choices. Term paper topics in my online courses are student
selected from a required Taking Sides textbook allowing learners to choose any two opposing viewpoint
articles for the assignment. This method
affords students options; but because the source materials are limited, it also
impedes plagiarism and paper reuse. For exams, students also have two essay
questions that they can select from. A VLE that incorporates multiple
assignment choices permits students to select activities that enhance their
learning styles.
Conclusion
The design
suggestions and pedagogical best practices tips provided in this article cover
only a few options for constructing learner-centered online courses. As we learn through our traditional classroom
teaching experiences, however, trial, error, and practice spark innovation. A
gradual transition from a blended to fully online course allows instructors to incrementally
build digital materials and VLE pedagogical proficiencies. Once preliminary design decisions are made
about digital tool selections, course site structure and multi-sensory
learning experiences, content designed
with student-focused pedagogies can help optimize student learning.
References
Allen,
http://www.soan-c.org/publications/survey/pdf/online_nation.pdf
Angelo,
T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A
handbook for college teachers.
Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z.
(1987). Seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education. AAHE
Bulletin, 32, 3-7.
Elbaum, B., McIntrye C. & Smith,
A (2002). Essential elements: Prepare, design, and teach your online course.
Eclipse
www.eclipsecrossword.com
Fleming,
N. D. & Mills, C. (1992). Not just another inventory, rather a catalyst for
reflection. To Improve the Academy, 11, 137-155.
Graham, C., Cagiltay, K., Lim, B., Craner, J. & Duffy, T. (2001). Seven principles of effective teaching: A practical lens for evaluating online courses. The Technology Source. Retrieved June 22, 2008 from http://sln.suny.edu/sln/public/original.nsf/0/b495223246cabd6b85256a090058ab98
Hot Potatoes http://hotpot.uvic.ca/
Keep ToolKit www.cfkeep.org
MERLOT www.merlot.org
MLX Learning Exchange http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/index.php
Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2003). The virtual
student: A profile and guide to working with online learners.
Quandary software http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php
RubiStar http://rubistar.4teachers.org
Waltonen-Moore, S., Stuart, D.,
Young,
J. (2008, July). Gas prices drive students to online courses. The Chronicle
of Higher Education. Retrieved July 8, 2008 from http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=vvpdDwzbwxsj6yBxSzZfKHxWqfbRYWXj