When thinking about hybrid/online courses, what types of frustrations, concerns, problems, or issues come to mind? In my experience, things like missed deadlines, buried information, and information overload are consistent problems. In short, students often miss important information that they need to be successful.

    In this course, you will be learning how to use a new Moodle theme and template to create an environment that is easier for students to use, navigate, and learn in. As students in the NRS grad program grow to expect consistency in the way their courses are organized and presented, the will gain efficacy in navigating courses and discovering key information, tools, or deliverables. This can empower students to learn more effectively by decreasing extraneous cognitive load and reducing uncertainty and anxiety.

    But, none of you can do this alone. Creating a standard will take cooperation among all faculty in the program. Here are a few simple best practices to follow:

  • Use the Snap theme. For a variety of reasons that you will be learning about in this course, the Snap theme can greatly enhance the learning environment you create for your learners. 
  • Use the Common Course Format. You will still have the flexibility to teach the content you want to teach. Using the CCF allows you to go about organizing your resources and activities in a consistent and logical way. In general, it involves creating a brief weekly overview that explains learning goals and/or deliverables for the week, a label for “passive” learning resources, and a label for “active” learning activities.
  • Place readings, forums, and assignments in the Weekly section by which they are due. Some instructors currently add all deliverables to a central location such as the Course Home. I discourage this practice. Using the weekly topics in conjunction with the CCF template will allow students to navigate your course in a more natural way; they should get a much better sense of your course structure and cadence when they able to see in one place what they need to read, watch or learn for the week and what they will be expected to produce or turn in. This does not mean you shouldn’t add prompting or encouragement for students to get started on upcoming deliverables. On the contrary; if it’s important that they spend time this week planning for next week or the week after, you should explicitly communicate this.
  • Use the course calendar. Any Assignments you create as Moodle activities with a due date will automatically be added to the calendar. You can easily add other important dates and deliverables.

Last modified: Friday, 4 August 2017, 12:05 PM