Course Design

In designing online experiences for courses, several factors have to be re-imagined. The first is the idea of attendance, and what that means. One way to think about attendance is to reframe it as engagement.

Ben Spanbock has created this statement to replace the idea of attendance in online courses:

A Note on Attendance and Course Engagement:

Attendance isn’t regulated in our online course. However, course engagement is still critical to your success as a student. This means that if you cannot make it to a scheduled class session, it is your responsibility to reach out and ask for recordings of whatever you missed, and that you are responsible to complete any required tasks you missed in a timely manner. Engagement counts for fifteen percent of your grade. There is no one way to show engagement, but in general it can be demonstrated through: participating in class sessions and being alert when you are present (even if your camera is off), participating in group work and revision groups, in-session freewriting, in-session writing assignments and activities, note-taking, avoiding non-class related technology tasks during class sessions, meeting with me during office hours, corresponding with me by email, asking questions outside of class sessions, or demonstrating interest through pursuit of information on your own. Punctuality for full-class and group meetings is also important.

In creating policies for your own students, think about what engagement means for you and your students. What should students demonstrate in order to show their engagement with course materials?

In Small Teaching Online, Flower Darby recommends "backward design," or thinking about your outcomes and goals first as you create a path to those goals for students.

In the online environment in particular it is important for students to know what the expected products and outcomes for the course is. There are a few ways to achieve this:

• Introduce final assignments early in the term--this helps students keep the final goals in mind early

• Provide a rationale for each assignment in terms of the final assignment. In other words, how do each of your assignments help the students build necessary skills to complete the final assignment?

• Create a schedule for all assignments (with the proviso that things could change if needed), and create a shared calendar or instruct students to set up calendars for themselves

Regardless of what types of materials your course will use, and where they will be accessed, help your students as much as possible in understanding where they can find the required materials for their course.

Scott Wallin, for his R4B course, includes a statement of where materials can be found, including links when available:

All written texts, except for Bogad, L.M.'s Tactical Performance (2016), will be available through this course website.(Bogad's text can be purchased through Amazon.com (Links to an external site), other online bookstores, and in various public libraries. If you haven't already obtained a copy, please do so now.) All videos are available through links on the assignment pages.