What are the Practical Implications of Instructional Design at a Wesleyan University?

I've been doing a bit of thinking over the past several days about my job here at Southern Nazarene University. I work as an instructional designer. Honestly, I had no idea what that job should look like when I first started working. I was a practitioner, not really a theorist. Now that I have been working for a while, I have come to understand that as a designer, I fall somewhere in the middle. According to Wikipedia, instructional design is the "practice of creating instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing." This definition originates with Merrill et. al (1996). I probably should have spent some time looking at that before taking this job. I need to be familiar with all of the learning theorists. That group includes the "old" ones: Bloom, Gagné, Papert, Piaget, Skinner, and Vygotsky. I also need to be current in new ideas in learning theory, including the later models from Clark, Marzano, and Sweller. Some of the current models include technology and some do not.

Today at lunch I was visiting with some colleagues and my dean. We were discussing academics at our university. We usually use this opportunity to talk about ways we can innovate but today the conversation took an interesting turn: "What are the practical implications of being an instructional designer (somewhat of a predeterministic mindset) in a Wesleyan-tradition educational setting.

SNU is a private, Christian, liberal arts university-a service of the Church of the Nazarene. If you do not know anything about Nazarenes, we are a Christian (followers of Christ) denomination that rose out of a branch of the Methodists and Pentecostals. We are not quite as liturgical as the Methodists and not quite as "radical" as the Pentecostals (we don't believe you have to have the gift of tongues as evidence of the Holy Spirit). We follow the Wesleyan tradition in that we believe in a life of holiness: an in-filling of the Holy Spirit, also called sanctification.

Contrast Nazarenes with those of the Calvinist tradition. The major difference between Nazarenes and Baptists is that we are Wesleyans and they are Calvinists. We believe that you have "free will" - your fate is in your hands. However, Calvinists believe in the idea of predestination or predeterminism - the idea that events of your life are already determined.

So what's the point? As an instructional designer, one who uses a rubric to evaluate courses, am I giving my faculty free-will in what their course should look like? Or is the outcome of their course predestined to "look a particular way"? Rather, does it even matter? Maybe we are more like the Catholic Church in that we hold the traditions and scriptures in the highest esteem? "My course has always been this way, so there's no way I could change it to put it online! That's educational blasphemy!" As the instructional designer, is there a sense of determinism? Is the course going to turn out such that the free-will of the course designer is lost?

I wonder if my very being here contributes to this problem, raised by Nicholas C. Burbles at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign:

"The search for one best way of teaching has preoccupied philosophers in the West since Socrates. Today this search is more typically couched in the language of scientific efficacy and efficiency. In the process, teaching in many schools is becoming less and less creative, personal, and rewarding. The scope of options for teachers is becoming more constrained; their subject matter and purposes more determined by the decisions of others; their outcomes measured more mechanically and impersonally."

Maybe. Probably. Yes. I feel like I do. However, how do we ensure top quality programs and courses without some kind of oversight and evaluation?

So where do I go from here? How does this question guide my practice? I'm not sure. I would really like to re-design our course evaluation rubric so that it is scored and there would be a minimum score a course would need to "pass" and we would recognize courses with an exemplary score. Would that create a situation in which course designers would not be able to have their "fingerprint" on the course?

Here's a better question: how can I as a teacher (sometimes) not act in a manner that fits with the Wesleyan doctrine? Doctrine states that we are to focus on personal faith and holiness. As a teacher, should I not strive to be my best in my teaching practice (personal faith) and work toward perfection for my in that practice for my students (holiness)? As a christian, I recognize that I am forgiven, not perfect. However, Christlikeness is my goal. I strive to better tomorrow than I was today. I fall short, but that does not mean I should quit striving for the goal.

I would posit that if I am not working to be my best in everything I do, not working to be better tomorrow than I was today, including the areas of teaching and instructional design, I come dangerously close to sin (in my opinion). Maybe my metaphor breaks down at this point. I'd gladly hear some criticism on it; but please be gentle. I'm no theologian. I'm "just a teacher."

Streamline Online & Hybrid Course Development Without Sacrificing Quality - Renee Cicchino

Streamline Online & Hybrid Course Development Without Sacrificing Quality

The culture of a university influences your online learning program. Additionally, the attitudes of a faculty member can influence the outcome of an online learning program, specifically in the course development phase.

What are some challenges in Course Design?

1. Siloing
2. Institutional Policy
3. Quality Oversight
4. Tech Competency
5. Faculty Development
6. Time (Release Time for Faculty)
7. Rank and Tenure
8. Funding

How do we address these challenges?

1. Utilize a Template
2. Give exemplar courses - highlight faculty work! Change this course out every year. 
3. Use QM and/or SLOAN-C resources

Do we fail occasionally? Yes. 

1. Low quality learning objectives or not measurable
2. Course design and navigation
3. Converting F2F materials directly to online/hybrid environment
4. Time Management
5. Tech Competency Issues (you don't even know what you don't know)
6. Time Management
7. Faculty and Student dissatisfaction

What lessons have we learned?

1. Tech skills among faculty vary
2. Online teaching experience vary
3. Look for strengths in faculty - Read CONTENT
4. Address the teaching and technology needs
5. Remove the fear of the unknown
6. Promote quality
7. Community of learning and support

As we've done at SNU, a best practice is to create your template in Word (be sure to include the measurable objectives worksheet) and let them create the course there (however, no one seems to be using it at this time). It is then much easier to move it to the LMS. 

In the model presented here, faculty ONLY do content and the Instructional Design Team does the technical side of it (putting it into the LMS).  This isn't necessarily viable for everyone, but there are certainly components of this which will work for us at SNU. 

Best Practice for Designing and Assessing Online Discussion Questions - McCourt, Yarbrough, and Tanner

What would happen if you went into a classroom and you were asked to "Describe an interesting educational opportunity"? This could create a monologue, rather than a discussion. Rather, what if you had to describe "the last time a student said 'this lesson changed my life'"?

So what are some specific steps that will stir communication in the classroom?

1. Ask Good Questions - The better the question, the better the interaction. Students should know immediately what the instructor wants them to do. (not necessarily what the answer is). Consider open ended questions.  Provide opportunity for students to incorporate personal experience. Also, create relevance through questions. Need to allow students to learn from one another AND problem solve. MUST be tied to course topics and course outcomes. No tangents!! Use Bloom's Taxonomy to consider levels of learning and how to elicit specific thinking from students on your target levels. 
2. Foster Meaningful Discussion - Require participation and provide some guidelines of what that should look like, e.g. 3 different posts on 3 different days of the week. What does a substantive post look like? Not everything needs to be "research-based." Feel free to have students share, rather than regurgitate. Students need an instructor to model good, substantive responses. Some faculty have issues with "having to" do something. Requiring that they have XX number of discussion board or you are not allowed to have XX number of discussion boards. 
3. Consider the type of communication you want to happen and design the questions accordingly:

• Student to Student
• Student to Professor
• Professor to Student

4. Provide clear guidelines for length, word count, number of posts, etc. Use a rubric!!

Create an Effective eLearning Environment with Confidence

Create an Effective eLearning Environment with Confidence

by Dr. Tami Moser and Ms. Karen Sweeney

Abstract: 

Join us as we build confidence in effective eLearning instructional design. As instructors we have subject matter expertise and that does not necessarily translate into an effective eLearning environment without coupling the expertise with sound design knowledge. This presentation offers attendees an opportunity to learn about the fundamental principles of sound e-Learning design.

Opening thoughts: 

The hard part is engaging students and helping them understand what the "rules are that you've set up for online learning."

Creating a Class: 

When you create an online class, use the instructional designer. (that's ME!)

Start with a template that's been created by a competent designer. There's a stigma associated with "online rigor." At least in F2F courses you know that students were "there." They were in the class (physically). 

Template:

Welcome

These are the 5 things you need to do to be successful in this class.  

• partcipate
• turn in all assignments on time (can't proceed until they have, even if it's not for credit)
• apply feedback to future
• ask for help
• read all instructions carefully 

(JB - these are all included in our template under online expectations)

PDFs of everything are included. This could be more comfortable for students. 

Lay the course out linearly. It should be in chronological order. 

If you put dates in the course (and we don't at SNU) do so only in specific places so that you can update later.

Standardize dates for assignments. Plan ahead!!

Create a syllabus quiz that ask questions about the things listed above. 

Each module should include: 

• Outcomes - Goals of the course/module
• Objectives - what you will do to meet the goals (activities must tie to this!!)
• Assessment and Activities 
• Planning for disaster? (What to do in case of emergency, aka Life Happens) - Staying on track is key. Setting high expectations is key. 
• expectations for assignments - it's okay to say these things over and over
• Optional - what does it look like to think critically in this course? Maybe a link...
• Communicating with the prof (set up virtual office hours - think about setting an expectation for weekends - so include an expected response time) What if the student doesn't get a response? What then?

(JB - Think carefully about the process for opening a course. Maybe encourage an email from faculty to students? What would that look like?)

• Engagement by students - Build a foundation for good discussion in your instructions. Give examples like: "Based on xxx in the reading by xxx, I see that XXX and this is what I think that means..." or "I also read xxx, but what I take that to mean is XXX..."
• Assignment Checklist

Consider putting resources from the library in the course (instructor loads them in to the course and students can download without going to the course)

• Module Introduction (consider this as a video instead of reading), include resources here
• Activity Instructions - maybe tell them what you are specifically looking for in the assignment (think about that this looks like in a live classroom - instructions lead to questions, which leads to more questions, so anticipate)
• Include rubrics for SELF ASSESSMENT
• Module Wrap-Up (what we are calling weekly transitions) (JB - I like for this to be fresh for each iteration of the module. That way it can be personalized). 

Action Items for JB: From our online template, create a word document that has all of our components of that template and have it for faculty to use for development. Then they can use that to go in and put it on Moodle. Split it up into sections: Syllabus, Week 1, objectives, assignments (tie to objectives), instructions.