The Online Course Design Institute (OCDI) is an intensive workshop run over two half-days to introduce instructors to the process of developing an online course as part of a collaborative team. The workshop introduces faculty to the concepts of skills and competencies for online educators, instructional design models and models of learning, online course development approaches, alignment and authenticity in online learning environments. It also addresses strategies for engaging online students in deep learning activities, online communication strategies and building communities of learners, assessment in online courses, and evaluating quality of online course designs.
This is a hands-on, intensive series where instructors will use guided planning tools to begin developing their own online courses. The OCDI is normally offered on-campus with multiple experts available to answer questions. Those participants who successfully complete both half-day workshops will be awarded a certificate of completion, and successful completion can be applied as credit to the Certificate in Online and Open Learning.
Workshop 1- Designing Your Online Course: Rough sketches for grand designs
On the first day of the OCDI, we will introduce you to the process of designing, planning, developing, delivering, and evaluating your online course. You will explore some of the key challenges and benefits of online teaching and learning, then we’ll introduce the concept of constructive alignment for improving the quality of online teaching and learning. We examine a few theoretical underpinnings of online course design such as associated learning theories and commonly-used instructional design models. We also walk you through the administrative process for creating and running online courses, drawing your attention to the policies and guidelines that you need to follow. Finally, we provide you with introduce a variety of tools for planning online lessons to get you started on your rough sketch to design your online course.
Workshop 2- From Design to Implementation: Filling in the sketch
On the second day of the OCDI, we explore standards to evaluate the quality of online courses. We then turn to the nuts and bolts of assessment, communication, and engagement strategies in more depth within the context of your online course. We discuss how you can design for learning communities online and look at examples. You will begin filling in details on your rough sketch and planning your work with the course design team to achieve your vision. This includes lesson planning, storyboarding, prototyping and reviewing course materials, as well as designing an evaluation strategy to inform future iterations of the course. You will also hear from instructors who have been through the process who share their experiences, and give insights on what you can expect.