Overview
Audience: Upperclass, degree-seeking students majoring in Business at Georgia State University
Responsibilities: Project management, LMS administration, pedagogical coaching, course mapping, content strategy
Tools Used: Desire2Learn LMS, Google Suite, HTML pages, Kaltura Video, Wrike, VoiceThread
Products: 16 week course based in social constructivism, four-part case study unit, five concept infographics, assessment strategy aligned with course goals, formative evaluation instrument
Process: ADDIE, Backwards Design
*Although the course is only available to students, I've included a video walkthrough and links to the project documents by clicking the document pictures *
Summary
My faculty partner for this project was a part-time instructor who had minimal experience teaching online. He began teaching after a 30-year professional career in Marketing. The instructor was tasked with converting his lecture-heavy, face-to-face course into an engaging asynchronous one. His goal was to highlight the transfer of the concepts into professional work the way he had in his lectures.
I developed a project plan using ADDIE as the design process. I provided the instructor with recommendations for his course design based on the best practices in online education throughout the project. Additionally, I trained the instructor on course design practices, skills for building in a LMS, and how to use reporting to track student engagement and progress.
We partnered with other specialists including a graphic designer, a videographer, and a learning technologist to create artifacts for the course.
I provided support through a development semester and the first semester of the course's implementation. We used his original project goals and student feedback to evaluate the efficacy of the course. Additionally, we created a plan for how he could improve future iterations of the course.
Process
Analyze
After the initial goal-setting meeting, I created a project plan using ADDIE to guide our process. I began analyzing the learners by finding out their general demographics and academic backgrounds. I consulted the instructor to also learn which areas of the course are usually the most difficult or have the poorest performance. This allowed me to see where we could focus our design efforts.
Next, I reviewed the instructor's syllabus for the f2f course. We discussed his instructional goals and identified his expectations for student outcomes. He identified that he wanted to highlight engagement in the asynchronous environment. He wanted to ensure the students could engage with him and that the content could be hands-on. This is where we decided to take a constructivist approach to designing his course material.
​
Lastly, I worked to establish our communication protocols for the project. I introduced the instructor to the project home where I would share meeting notes and where all of the links and resources for the project could be found. I created a weekly email template that outlined the deliverables for each project partner. I also organized a collaboration space in a shared Google Drive so that we could work on items together.
​
​
Design & Develop
I created a course map to align the instructional goals with the learning objectives for each of the modules we created. I trained the faculty on how to use condition, performance, and criteria to write measurable objectives. We developed an assessment strategy that allowed students to practice their new skills and receive low-stakes feedback before the course's major assessments. We scaffolded the final project deliverables to align with the introduction of the accompanying concepts throughout the course schedule. Additionally, we created and scripted a four-part case study unit that introduced a character who needed to conduct research and make product management decisions. We used the instructor's industry experience to guide these prompts.
I worked with the instructor to identify the pedagogical ways that media could support the concepts that students were struggling with. I created a guide for the graphic designer to explain the instructor's desired format for the infographics. I developed a scripting template for the instructor to use for the case studies and the weekly condensed lecture videos. We also worked with the graphic designer to create banners for the content pages that unified concept themes. We did this as a way to help with the cognitive development of schema around these foreign concepts.
​
Next, I built modules, submodules, and lesson content pages in Brightspace Desire2Learn LMS. The instructor provided me with powerpoint slides that he used when teaching his f2f course. I worked with the instructor to identify which content was in alignment with the assessments that we created. Additionally, I created a strategy for organizing content on each page that highlighted key concepts and included media when necessary. For this process, I created over 50 HTML pages for the course. I trained the instructor to review and edit the pages so that he could maintain the course in the future.
Implement and Evaluate
Before implementation, we developed a course communication plan for the instructor. I set automatic announcements and group check-in assignments up in the LMS to help the instructor manage the delivery of the course. We met bi-weekly and as needed to discuss the student's engagement and the instructor's experience. We would use the LMS analytics functions to review student engagement with certain content. We used this to brainstorm ways to further iterate on the design in the future.
We created a mid-semester survey to gather feedback from the students about the course, the instructor, and specific media items. Our multimedia team wanted some anecdotal feedback about the efficacy of the case study videos and infographics. The instructor noted an improvement in student performance over previous semesters of teaching the course. Additionally, the goal to make the asynchronous version of the course engaging was successful.
​
​