As mentioned before, <Replace - Course Title> is not only meant to prepare you for online/blended course design and delivery, but it will also help you to work towards developing a specific online or blended course. Upon completing <Replace - Course Title> , you will walk away with an online or blended course already in development, which gives you a head start in teaching your future course. To help you do this, <Replace - Course Title> includes a few major activities and assignments to help you develop your new online/blended course. Below you can find a brief description of these course planning and development activities and available resources. Additional details are provided with each specific assignment.

Course Preparation and Culminating Activities

During <Replace - Course Title> there are mandatory activities that must be completed to help you prepare for your <Replace - Course Title> experience and successfully earn the credential to design and build online (W) courses.

Course Preparation Activities:

The mandatory course preparation activities that must be completed are listed below. Details to complete the activities will be provided with the assignment instructions.

Course Culminating Activities:

In addition to the mandatory course preparation activities, there are also two mandatory culminating activities: the IDL6543 Virtual Showcase and the Final Review. Details regarding the two mandatory culminating activities for <Replace - Course Title> are provided below:

<Replace - Course Title> Virtual Showcase

The Virtual Showcase happens during the final week of <Replace - Course Title> and provides an opportunity for you to showcase elements of the course you will begin to design and develop during the IDL6543 course, while also highlighting how you implemented the strategies you will learn throughout the course. It is also an excellent opportunity to view the work of your peers and share ideas with your colleagues as you celebrate the completion of <Replace - Course Title> .

Final Course Design Review

The digital artifacts created during the <Replace - Course Title> will undergo a mandatory Final Course Design Review by an Instructional Designer. During the last week of the <Replace - Course Title> course, an instructional designer will review the design of your developed digital artifacts against a set of course design standards that align with the <Replace - Your Institution> core quality design standards, which are based on nationally recognized rubrics and align with the state quality initiative.

If the digital artifacts created, meet the <Replace - Course Title> course design standards specifications, you will have met this requirement.
If the digital artifacts created, do not meet the <Replace - Course Title> course design standards specifications, the ID will provide recommendations for improvement. You will then have one week to make improvements to your development course (based on the ID recommendations) to meet the provided design standards.

Course Design and Building Activities

Throughout <Replace - Course Title> you will find several course design and building activities. These activities are specifically designed to help you meet the course development goal you set for yourself as you begin this course. The goal is for you to complete, through these activities, a Syllabus, a Student Orientation module, and two modules of instructional content (including objectives, interaction, activities, and assessment) by the end of this course. Depending on the semester you plan to deliver your course, you may decide to set a goal to develop more than this minimum requirement during <Replace - Course Title> .

Planning Worksheets

Teaching online, as with any instruction, requires careful planning and organizing. <Replace - Course Title> has provided an Online and Blended Course Design Planner and various planning worksheets that are meant to help guide you through the strategic planning process for online/blended course design and development.

Build Your Course Activities (BYCAs)

To help you successfully prepare for the showcase, the course has broken the course development tasks that you will need to complete into smaller activities called Build Your Course Activities (BYCAs). These activities are distributed throughout<Replace - Course Title> to help you meet your course development goals. At a minimum, you will need to develop:

A course orientation module (including a course syllabus, course/instructor introduction, and course expectations)
Two (2) units of instructional content (including objectives, instructional content, and assessments).*

*Depending on the semester you plan to deliver your course, you may decide to set a more aggressive goal to develop more than this minimum requirement during <Replace - Course Title> . An agreement of what will you plan to complete during <Replace - Course Title> should be reflected in the Faculty Course Completion Plan (FCCP) and signed by your department chair.

Peer Review and Self-Assessment

An integral aspect of effective instructional design is feedback, evaluation, and improvement. Throughout the course, you will have multiple opportunities to review the course materials you are developing against research-proven standards as well as get feedback from your fellow <Replace - Course Title> peers. This will allow you to make targeted improvements to your course design and development.

In-person and Online Discussions

As the course progresses, think about the ways that your <Replace - Course Title> cohort is building community. In these discussion posts, you will be expected to respond to your peers with substantive comments, constructive analyses, and insights to further the staggered conversation. To facilitate conversation, consider:

Adding new information
Sharing resources
Challenging strategies or responses using related content
Highlighting tangential or quality information

Your goal, in these scenarios, is to help drive the conversation while you also consider the ways that you will encourage your own learners to build their own community through interaction and engagement.

Content Knowledge Checks

During <Replace - Course Title> , you will be exposed to a wide array of knowledge regarding instructional design and pedagogical strategies. As such, there will be various opportunities to check your knowledge of the concepts covered and improve your mastery of those concepts. The knowledge check activities are typically short auto-graded quizzes or interactive games. To encourage mastery, you will have unlimited attempts at these knowledge check activities.

ID Consultations

As you progress through<Replace - Course Title> , you will meet with your instructional designer at least four (4) times to review and discuss the course design and development activities you will complete throughout the course. It is important that you complete the weekly assignments before meeting with your instructional designer. At the consultation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback regarding the Build Your Course Activities (BYCAs) as you progress through <Replace - Course Title> .

NOTE: Throughout the course, there may be additional graded and non-graded activities that will allow you to further interact with the course content, your peers, and/or the course facilitators.

Development Course

To support your course development, you have been provided with a <Replace - Institution's LMS> course shell called a development course. This online course section, independent of the IDL6543 course section, is where you will complete the BYCAs. Think of this as a “sandbox area” where you can begin to develop your actual course. During week 10, you will submit your development course for review by an ID during the Final Review. After IDL6543, you will be able to copy what you have created in your development course into your live online or blended course once it is available on <Replace - Institution's LMS>. Review Accessing Your Development Course for more details about your development courses.

Templates

For many of the course development activities, templates are available to you in your development course to help you create content. These templates contain some basic information for you to use as you start building your course content. The templates are formatted for effective usability and accessibility (e.g., headings, bulleted lists), and are chunked and divided into smaller sections or pages. During the <Replace - Course Title> course, be sure to work with your Instructional Designer to figure out which templates are right for you.