collaborative course development educause southeast regional conference 2002 libby v. morris,...

Collaborative Course DevelopmentEducause Southeast Regional Conference 2002

Libby V. Morris, Associate Professor, UGA

Wendy Bedwell, Project Coordinator, USG

Haixia Xu, Graduate Student, UGA

Collaborative Course DevelopmentEducause Southeast Regional Conference 2002

Copyright [L. Morris, W. Bedwell, H. Xu] [2002]. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

What Is eCore? Electronically-delivered core

curriculum, completing the first two years of an undergraduate degree

Developed by USG faculty, designers & programmers

Taught by USG faculty Offered by USG institutions

eCore Target Audience Non-Traditional Students

Full/Part-time Employees Parents/Caregivers Delayed or Returning Undergraduates Rural Populations

Anytime/Anywhere Curriculum Delivery

eCore Standards Consistent “Look & Feel” ADA & Interoperability Standards Pedagogical Standards Interactivity Multiple Learning Styles Helpdesk Support

eCore Course Environment WebCT 3.1.3

Web-based, HTML Format Flexible Course Management System Variety of Built-in Instructional Tools Detailed Student Tracking Function Constantly Evolving Delivery System 33 USG Institutions Use WebCT

http://webct.com

Purpose

To better understand collaborative course

development and implementation process

for electronically delivered courses.

The Course Development Team Development Teams

Faculty Disciplinary Experts Advanced Learning Technologies

(ALT) Project Coordinator Web Instructional Development

(WebID)

5 step process Preparation Planning Development Review Implementation

Course Development Process

Course Development Process Preparation

Contacting team members Setting up project website

Course Development Process Planning

2-day face-to-face team meeting Write course objectives Set up course structure Develop topic outline Set up lesson structure

Course Development Process Development

Write content Instructional design Rapid prototyping (programming) Usability testing of content All done online in project website

Course Development Process Review

Editing content Revising content/structure Partially done in project site, but

mostly accomplished in another face-to-face meeting

Course Development Process Implementation

Uploading the completed course to the system server

Research Questions What was the faculty member’s

motivation for getting involved in this process?

How do faculty perceive their roles and the involvement of instructional designers in the process?

How do project coordinators conceptualize and implement their roles?

Research Questions How do faculty describe the

collaboration among the team?

How effective was the organizational process (i.e., face-to-face meetings, online worksite, developing courses) for this collaboration?

What are the challenges of the process?

Research Questions How would they compare

collaborative course development with individual course development?

What are the benefits of this experience?

What was their overall experience?

Research Design Observation of Planning Stage for

World Literature I Observation of online course

development for World Literature I Face-to-face interview of course

developers Faculty members (n=10) Instructional designers (n=5) WebID (n=5)

IRB Approval (February 15, 2002)

Motivations Values (Intrinsic)

Interested in providing access to a broader population

Believe in distance learning Skeptical of online instruction

Technology (Extrinsic) The opportunity to include multimedia

Professional (Extrinsic) Consider it a faculty development

opportunity Push from institution

Role of Faculty Disciplinary Expert Course Structure Instructional Activities Assessment Activities Congruent

Faculty Composition Necessary characteristics of

faculty in the process Flexible: willing to adjust and

compromise Sufficient time A level of technology sophistication Being skeptical of distance learning is

not necessarily a bad thing

Role of ALT Staff Instructional designer is central Three roles

Group Facilitator/Moderator Resolve Conflicts or Concerns

Instructional Design Expert Clarify Content & Suggest Alternate

Approaches Recommend Multimedia Strategies

Project Coordinator Schedule Meetings/Set Timelines Ensure Project meets assigned deadlines

Collaboration Faculty interact with each other,

but not as much as expected Workload/Time commitment Eager for peer review Status issues

Project Coordinators (ALT) work well with faculty Different conception of model may lead

to potential conflict Issue of disciplinary background Status issues

Organization 3 facets: face-to-face

meetings, online collaboration, and developing course Works well and is essential Influences interaction among faculty 4 is considered a good number Consider mixed composition a plus Alternative: Summer project

Challenges Faculty

Perception of staging of final product Willingness to make changes

throughout process Project Coordinators (ALT)

Deadlines Difficult to hold faculty accountable

Quality of courses No piloting Impact of teaching faculty on course The more content, the better

Collaborative v. Individual Course Development

Dimensions Collaborative

Individual

Source of Pressure

Peer Students

ContentNegotiated Flexible

More Inclusive More Idiosyncratic

Workload Intensive Variable

Target Audience

Across the System

Within Single Campus

Structure Consistent Less Consistent

Benefits to Faculty Reconsideration of course

development

Reconsideration of teaching

Faculty Development

Future Directions: Components Comparison of Collaborative

Course Development with Individual Course Development Purpose and Objectives Content Learners Instructional Resources Sequence Instructional Process Evaluation

ALT & IHE http://alt.usg.edu

Wendy Bedwell: wendy.bedwell@usg.edu

http://www.uga.edu/ihe Dr. Libby Morris: lvmorris@uga.edu Haixia Xu: haixia@uga.edu