Workshop Topic Detail
Best Practices for Design, Delivery, and Student Success When Teaching Online Courses
Description
Now more than ever, students are choosing to take their courses online, often enticed by access, flexibility, and the desire to continue their studies while working and raising families. As institutions and individual faculty members, we can collectively respond to this trend with well-designed courses that are delivered in engaging ways and that leverage evidence-based pedagogies for the virtual learning environment. During this workshop, specific approaches to structuring online courses that align with best practices for quality online teaching are shared. These approaches traverse Learning Management Systems such as Canvas, Blackboard, and D2L. Through hands-on activities, participants are exposed to examples and models that highlight several relevant and engaging delivery methods. The workshop ends with a summary of next steps via an action plan that details what faculty can specifically do to develop their online courses.
By the end of this workshop, participants know or be able to:
- Develop a strong foundational understanding of best practices for the design and delivery of online courses.
- Explore various best practices and exemplars related to course activities, assignments, and assessments for the online environment to adopt in their classrooms.
- Construct course elements in their institution's Learning Management System and complete an action plan outlining next steps for course development.
Plans for Audience Participation and Interaction:
Participants are engaged in a variety of ways, including large- and small-group conversations; reviewing exemplar or model course activities, assignments, and assessments; and hands-on opportunities to jumpstart developing technology and pedagogical skills for building engaging online courses. More specifically, this workshop provides a facilitated discussion setting for participants to share collegial information sharing around best practices for course design and delivery and intentionally designed activities to begin the process of course creation within their institution's Learning Management System.
Facilitator(s)
Elizabeth A. Mosser Knight, PhD (Beth; she/her) completed her initial graduate work in educational psychology at The Ohio State University where her research focused on student self-regulation and the assessment/reflection cycle. Her doctoral work at Notre Dame of Maryland University focused on faculty development and organizational growth with specific emphasis on the tenets and structures that best support faculty in deepening their teaching skills. During her time as a faculty member, Beth taught a variety of psychology and educational philosophy courses across modalities and continues to be an active proponent of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach to curriculum development, having facilitated many UDL-related workshops, conference presentations, and keynote addresses on the subject. Beth shares a firm commitment to the mission of community colleges and student success in whatever form that may take for each individual–and holds a professional goal of positively contributing to an inclusive student experience. She believes in challenging students to learn new ideas and evolve as scholars and professionals in their fields, and in the importance of authentic and relevant experiences that leverage innate abilities and encourage the development of new skills.
Currently Beth serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs for Austin Community College District. In this role, Beth provides student-focused and inclusivity-minded leadership and oversight of college credit academic transfer as well as adult education courses and programs. She provides leadership for collegewide initiatives and priorities in support of the college’s strategic plan and academic master plan. In addition, Beth provides leadership in improving student persistence, retention, and successful completion of college access courses and programs; transitioning of students into college credit courses and programs; and increasing equity of student success in all college-level courses and programs.