DTP Online: Course Design
Approach and Duration
This online course is delivered over a period of two weeks encompassing a series of self-paced activities organised in asynchronous and synchronous sessions (three short live sessions). The training is preceded by a two-day preparatory engagement and an open ended post-training period.
Who can participate?
Academics who are interested in drawing on technology and pedagogy to broaden the learning space and to create and deliver exceptional learning moments for their students online. Those interested in pursuing a journey - from simple to complex, reinforcing what they know and exploring new tools, strategies and multimedia resources to create meaningful learning experiences that are immediately transferable to their courses to impact student learning outcomes positively.
Expected Outcomes
The course is expected to enhance the capacity, confidence, values and attitudes of academics to adapt innovative pedagogy online and in blended mode. It will motivate and sustain active and inclusive online communities of academics that promote continuous learning in and outside classroom walls. An enriched and stable teaching and learning experience is indispensable for accelerating the attainment of 21st-century skills, maximising learning outcomes among students and producing quality graduates.
Course information | DTP Online: Course Design | SOMAS
Below is the course content. You can click on any section here and it will take you through to this section of the course. If you are signed in and enrolled on this course we can track your progress.
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This course invites you to share your experience of designing courses that you would like to deliver online. It draws upon your variable experiences to immerse you in various tasks that are fundamental to designing a course in a Learning Management System (LMS). Whether course content has already been placed on a LMS in your university or not, this session will enable you to discover and use a number of tools and resources that unlock your creativity. The session will provide an opportunity to chart and follow a personal learning map consistent with your vision for your course and your students. What learning experience would you wish to create for your students? What learning outcomes do you expect them to achieve by the end of the course? The programme? It all begins here, with the choices you make in designing new or redesigning existing face-to-face courses for delivery on a virtual platform. The digital tools, strategies and resources you adopt during course design will determine what happens before, during, and after class.
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Students mustMake a submission
Please identify one course that you are teaching or will soon be teaching and start the process of redesigning it for online delivery. During this training, you will redesign at least one topic or content for one session or module of the selected course using the attached Course Design for Online and Blended Courses template.
Download the template (click on it below and it will go to the Downloads folder on your computer where you can then easily access it). Follow the guidance provided to complete the sections of the template you are able to during this training. Complete the sections with as much information as possible. We will use this template throughout the entire training, refining the sections as we work through various tasks. During the post-training, we will continue the course re(design) process to re(design) additional topics.
How to
- Click Add Submission (at the bottom)
- Choose your file from the computer
- Click Save Changes
- Click Edit Submission
- Click on the File you Uploaded
- Select Delete
- Choose your file from the computer
- Click Save Changes
* Upload editable Word files, not PDF files.If you need to replace the file with another
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Task 1: Share
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Task 2: ExperienceWe would like to know whether you have used an LMS before so as to build on your experience or the lack of it, to support your learning map. If you have used an LMS previously; please click below to identify the LMS you are familiar with.
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Task 3: Learn -
It is clear that there is a wide range of LMS; some are Open Source (such as Moodle, Canvas, Sakai) while others are proprietary (such as Blackboard Learn, Desire2Learn, Edmodo, Schoology). This section focuses on: How to Set up a Learning Management System and Develop your Course in the LMS. It enables you to select, learn, reinforce your knowledge and utilise this knowledge to create your course in the LMS. Click on this package for a tutorial that will guide you to create your course in a Learning Management System of your choice. The next Task gives further instructions on exactly what you need to do.
Time required: 1 hour -
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Task 4: Do -
Students mustMark as done
Please apply the knowledge and guidance accessed through the above video tutorial to author your course in the LMS. Follow the step-by-step guide below:
- Select one LMS which you will use throughout the training, and prepare it to start authoring your course (Note: If you have already uploaded your course(s) in your institution's LMS, you do not need to prepare a new LMS. If your institution does not have an LMS or you do not have the rights to edit your course, please use the tutorials below and choose either Moodle or Google Classroom to create your course).
- You will put the objectives, course activities and resources found in the tutorials in the next topic-authoring your course. Please revisit this tutorial to complete that task. At this stage, you just need the LMS with your course set up with its name.
- Click the checkmark button on the right against these instructions when you have completed setting up your LMS.
Time required: 1 hour
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Task 5: ExperienceBefore you commence authoring your course online; we would be happy if you could share any previous relevant experience. Click on the activity below to select any of the tools you have used to author your course in the past.
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Task 6: Learn -
This session aims aims at two main objectivies. Firstly, enables the participant to reconsider course design format, linking expected learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment. Secondly, it introduces you to further tools that you can use to enrich multimedia content into your course.Constructive Alignment, Blooms Taxonomy and 21st Century SkillsThe first limb introduces the concept of Constructive Alignment, Blooms Taxonomy and 21st century skills. All assessment tasks and teaching and learning experiences must be linked to the desired learning outcomes within a unit of study.Use this content to refine your Course Objectives, Learning Outcomes, Activities, Methods and Assessments on your Course Design Template introduced in the Pre-training.Click here to access this materialIn addition to the functions available on the LMS, this section also introduces further tools that you can use to enrich your course with multimedia content. These tools range from very simple techniques like how to convert your PowerPoint slide into an interactive course to other popular software such as H5P, Adobe Captivate and Articulate 360 that you can use to create more content for your course.NOTE: If you are using Google Classroom, these tools will not work with your LMS. This is because the SCORM format that all the other LMS use with these tools is not supported by Google Classroom. The material however includes other ways you can make your Google Classroom interactive, such as Stream.Click here to access this material.
Time required: 1 hour -
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Task 7: Do -
Students mustMark as done
This activity is a hallmark of your learning map. You will now be able to create the content of your course on the LMS. Please use the tool/software you have mastered to insert text and multimedia content (this may include pictures, charts, videos, files and a folders) in the course you are designing on the LMS. Commence with the content and multimedia resources for one topic and move gradually to integrate content as well as digital teaching and learning materials in other topics of the course (Note: If you have already have been allocated a course in your institution's LMS and you have editing rights, you can choose to use the LMS to edit the course).
These steps are summarised below:
1. Select one topic from your course to be designed for online delivery
2. Create this topic in your online course and add learning outcomes for that topic considering the Constructive Alignment and 21st Century Skills 3. Add different types of content of your choice - such as videos, pictures, text, assignments etc as you have planned on your course template. If you feel confident enough, you can try using course authoring software covered above, but this can also be done at a later stage if you wish. 4. Click the checkmark button alongside this instruction when you have created your course on the LMS. Time required: 1 hour
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By now you have completed all the steps involved in designing an online course. Reflect on all the elements of the course; what did you consider in combining these elements into your course?
Please review the principles of designing excellent online courses by clicking on: An Overview: Designing Online Courses below.
Time required: 20 minutes -
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Task 8: ReflectReflect on the online course you have just created. Is it consistent with these principles?
Time required: 15 minutes -
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Women and men learn differently; they also have preferences for different things. Among the women and men, some have disabilities, others are introverts, orphans, poor, rich, of varying ethnicity, and other distinguishing characteristics. It is therefore imperative that a combination of teaching and learning resources, pedagogical practices, assessment strategies and references that capture the attention of all your students are integrated in the course you are designing.
The activity below will help you to share your plans for mainstreaming gender in the design, development and implementation of your course with your colleagues. Discuss your planned strategies in the respective forums below.
Time Required 40 minutes -
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Task 9: SharePlease click on the two forum links below to discuss questions on gender considerations in the curriculum
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Students mustMake forum posts: 1
Please use this group forum to discuss Activity 2.2. Respond to your respective group. Contribute by clicking on Discuss this topic. You can only see the question related to your group.Discussion topicIn your groups discuss what you would do as a facilitator to mainstream gender at the following stages of teaching and learning: -
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Task 10: ExperienceWe are interested in learning from you; please share one way in which you have addressed gender in your course.
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Students mustSubmit feedback
Time required: 7 minutes -
As you designed your online course, did you reflect on its quality? Established eight research-based Course Design Quality Standards for online courses are presented here.
Click on Course Design Quality Standards below to access this material.
Time Required: 20 minutes -
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Task 11: DOUpload your Course Design Template for Online and Blended Courses which you have been working on here in order to complete this course. The next Course in this series is PedaL Online: Facilitation.
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Time required: 5 minutes 
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Micro-Credentials
Completing the course, you will earn a Recognition Badge or Certificate.
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