Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

In response to the worldwide spread of COVID-19, most erstwhile face-to-face and hybrid courses have now transitioned into remotely delivered ones. In these new educational spaces, designing for student success poses some specific challenges, especially because many faculty have had to plan and design to teach remotely at relatively short notice. While instructional designers and technologists are doing their best to help faculty transition to remote teaching during this challenging time, there appears to be relatively little discussion about designing courses for maximizing student success. During these times (perhaps especially now), we need to intentionally design for student success, leveraging tools and pedagogical strategies to support the success of all—especially struggling students.

MOOCs, shorthand for massive open online courses, have been widely critiqued for their miniscule completion rates. Industry reports and instructional designers alike typically report that only between 5 to 15 percent of students who start free open online courses end up earning a certificate.

This does not necessarily make MOOCs a failure. However, since 2012—when MOOCs gained widespread recognition—instructional designers have made significant strides in designing scalable learning experiences that people successfully finish.

Over the summer, we updated our online general education syllabus template using learning theory, universal design for learning (UDL), plain writing, and accessibility principles. Recently, Dave, Tara, and I presented this process at the Symposium on Universal Design for Instruction and Learning.

As we heard from Tara in An Overview of Universal Design for Learning, UDL principles provide a framework that removes barriers to learning by helping us:

Have you ever considered the difference between a course that teaches knowledge versus one that teaches skill? For most of us, the distinction may not seem all that important, but it actually has a significant impact on how we teach an online class.

I do like the idea of a linear course, of being guided between key elements in a predictable path, of getting assurance that I’m progressing well and understanding the essential concepts. I do like the idea of this, but I fully fail to engage with the programme!

Design a beautiful VLE, full of useful functionality and interactive elements, make the module structure easy to follow and offer ample opportunities to collaborate with the instructor and my peers. Or don’t. Throw together some hellhole of a website with links that go nowhere, looking like it had a design by-pass in the late 90s. Either way, I’m going to do three things. I’ll go straight to the assignments section to see what you’re going to mark me on, then I’ll find a way to gather all the reading materials and print them (I know, how Twentieth Century!), finally I’ll head to the calendar to schedule webinars, meetups and find out what reading we’ll be discussing and when.

Use your storytelling powers wisely and you’ll watch your students flourish. Successful consumers of stories love to talk about them, so use your new storytelling skills to create student ambassadors for your online school.

For every pilot flying an aircraft today, there is an instructor who made it happen. Teaching someone to fly an aircraft involves multiple layers of skill and ability, psychological intuition, courage, and logic. Online course design can benefit from what we have learned about teaching someone to fly.

Today, pilots can accomplish all knowledge-based training online and complete all airline jet flight training in a motion-based simulator. This technology is so realistic that a new First Officer joining an airline will begin flying passengers without having ever been in the actual airplane beforehand.

An expert guide through the entire process of creating and authoring a course — from the initial roadmap to final content distribution. It includes tips and tricks, pitfalls to avoid, and time savers to get your eLearning project done in an effective manner.

We are generally mindful that PowerPoint presentations (PPTs) are utilized widely in organizations. But, do we utilize this material in places other than meeting corridors? PowerPoint presentations are considerably more than simple packs of valuable data – they are valuable sources of learning content that can be utilized to produce very viable online courses. Most of the time, these PPTs are used in classroom training sessions and later sent via emails to learners. However, we need to look at what the criteria are for deciding whether face to face course really is convertible to eLearning.

If you’ve never created an online course before, you may not be familiar with the term “instructional designer,” but that’s exactly what you’re about to become!

Instructional design is the act of creating of educational resources. It’s the functional application of design aspects like color theory, typography, and user experience to the goal of teaching.

A student’s initial introduction into higher education can be exciting and frustrating, especially when the student is enrolled in their first online class. This year I taught a newly created first-year experience course at a vocational based higher education institution.

An online learning community is the backbone of any successful eLearning program. It gives your learners an online platform to share their thoughts, questions, and concerns, and to receive the feedback they need to achieve their goals. However, in order to cultivate a strong corporate learning culture, it’s imperative to support your online learning communities on a continual basis. This can be challenging, as you must allow them to speak their mind and share their opinions, while still ensuring that everyone's voice is being heard and respected. Fortunately, there are 7 tips that can help you maintain a thriving online learning community.