STRATEGIES FOR E-LEARNING SUCCESS

Aimee Guerin

Northcentral University

PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING

Why plan?

• Planning and organization are central to all teaching, but they are especially important when teaching at a distance (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).

KEY ELEMENTS OF PLANNING

Instructional design Systemic planning Evaluation

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN / SYSTEMIC PLANNING

How does one effectively redesign a course for online delivery?

1. Identify the course elements / content.

2. Organize the topics into modules.

3. Create a set of measureable objectives for each module.

4. Determine what the learner and instructor will do to accomplish these objectives.

5. Select appropriate tools for delivery and interaction (student-content, student-student, student-instructor).

6. Determine the assessment tools and techniques.

EVALUATION How does one effectively determine the

quality of an online learning environment?

Build evaluation into the planning process by using a program such as Quality Matters.

EVALUATION What is Quality Matters?

Quality Matters (QM) is a program based on research literature and national standards of best practice.

E-Learning institutions and instructors can develop courses according to QM standards.

QM provides a peer-review process for quality assurance and continuous improvement in e-learning courses.

An e-Learning course can be submitted for a formal QM peer-review.

E-Learning courses that complete this process are QM certified, assuring a high level of quality.

QUALITY MATTERS STANDARDS

What are the Quality Matters Standards?

Standard 1: Course Overview and Introduction Standard 2: Learning Objectives

(Competencies) Standard 3: Assessment and Measurement Standard 4: Instructional Materials

QUALITY MATTERS STANDARDS

Standard 5: Learner Interaction and Engagement

Standard 6: Course Technology Standard 7: Learner Support Standard 8: Accessibility

E-LEARNING CHALLENGES

Evaluating the Instructor Knowing the Learner

E-LEARNING DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES

The Sloan Consortium (http://sloanconsortium.org/)

Sloan-C effective practices EDUCAUSE (http://www.educause.edu/) Quality Matters Rubric for Online and Hybrid

Courses (www.QualityMatters.org) Bates 12 “Golden rules” for the use of

technology in education (in Simonson, et al., 2012, p. 172)

Canvas (www.instructure.com) Punya Mishrya (http://punya.educ.msu.edu/) TECH21 (www.tech21.org)

REFERENCES

Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J.O. (2009). The systematic design of instruction (7th ed.). New York: Longman.

Diez, V. & Strickland, J. (2009). Mapping your course: re(designing) a course into modules for blended delivery. [Blended learning in Mariciopa: MCLI Summer workshop].

Heinich, R. (2004). Technology and the management of instruction. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Hofman, J. (2003, September). Creating collaboration. Learning Circuits. Retrieved from http:/ / www.learningcircuits.org/ 2003/ sep2003/ hofmann.htm

MarylandOnline. Quality Matters Rubric for Online and Hybrid Courses (2011). Retrieved from http://www.qmprogram.org/rubric

Moore, J. (2011). A synthesis of Sloan-C effective practices. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 16(1), 91-115.

Orellana, A., Hudgins, T., & Simonson, M. (2009). Designing the perfect online course: Best practices for designing and teaching. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and Learning at a Distance - Foundations of Distance Education (5th ed.) (K. Canton, Ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.