I Designed a New Course This Summer - Here is What I Learned

Since I began the Online Teaching and Instructional Design program at Lenoir-Rhyne University this past fall, I have been learning different elements of course design. I have learned about tools to use for creating content, I have learned about how people learn, and I have learned about different instructional design models that can be used to help to plan a course. This summer I got a chance to put it all together by taking a course that I have been teaching in some form or another (a freshman level, college Information Technology course) and redesigning it completely. I used a combination of Merrill’s First Principles and Understanding by Design (see my earlierpost on this mash-up) as my instructional design model. It was definitely an iterative process. I listed each of the topics that I wanted to cover in the course, then for each topic I figured out what I wanted the students to understand and what I wanted them to be able to do. Based on this list, I began creating content and assignments for the course (I opted to get rid of the textbooks and create my own content).

I think that my favorite part of designing the course was giving myself a blank slate to work with. When I got permission from the department to redesign and go book free my idea started running wild. I originally was going to try to gamify the course, but I couldn’t come up with a storyline that I felt would work, so I put that idea on hold. In the end I decided to design the course as an internship. The beginning of the course is an orientation and all of the assignments are work that an IT intern might reasonably be asked to do. The content that they learn is designed to give them the “training” that they need to be able to complete their assignments. The course design really allowed me to be creative and the assignments are set up to allow the students to be creative as well.  Instead of writing papers or giving presentations, they are creating Prezis or podcasts or flyers/posters. I actually piloted the course this summer and then worked on improving the course and making it better using the techniques that I have learned in my summer classes. Having a chance to try out my course with actual students gave me good insight into what worked and what didn’t. The students seemed to like the format of the assignments and the quality of work that I received was much better than what I was used to getting for equivalent assignments in the previous version of the course. I think that framing the assignments as part of an internship really helped the student to understand the reason they were doing the assignment and made it more meaningful.

In case you are curious, here is an example of an assignment:

And if you click this link you can see an example of a student’s submission for this assignment.

I got to play with a lot of technology when I was creating this course. I used Blendspace to create all of the content for the course. Each Blendspace was the equivalent of a chapter in a textbook and contained all of the information that the students needed to be able to do the assignments. The Blendspace contained links to web pages, video, or content that I created (click here to see what the Hardware Blendspace looks like). If I couldn’t find the content that I needed online, I used Prezi and/or Camtasia to create it myself. I also used Thinglink and Piktochart to create a lot of the content that I used in my Canvas site for explaining the details of the course. I had a lot of fun letting my creative side take over as I was generating the content for the course.

The element of the course that I am most proud of and the one that was probably the most difficult for me was the grading policy. Since I began this (On-line Teaching and Instructional Design) program I have been reading a lot about how the traditional approach to grading is not necessarily the most conducive to learning. I decided that I would take a non-traditional approach to grading in this class. The idea came from the concept used in a gamified classroom, where the student begins the course with a 0 and works up to the grade that they desire. I combined this with mastery based learning to come up with a grading policy that is intended to maximize student learning.  There is a no-fail policy on all assignments. If a student turns in an assignment that doesn’t demonstrate a mastering of the topic, they are given feedback (in the form of text comments or a video) and asked to re-do the assignment. They can keep re-doing the assignment as often as required to demonstrate that they understand the concepts.  I actually developed a mission statement for the course that I placed on the home screen so that the students will see it whenever they log in:

When I originally designed the course I wanted it to be flexible. I didn’t want to have a set schedule because that isn’t compatible with mastery based learning (some students will master concepts very quickly while others will require more time – this is one of the problems with a traditional classroom). What I learned is that having no schedule inspires the students to do no work. I ended up creating a “suggested” schedule to keep the students on pace. If they needed to work on a topic for a longer time, that was okay, but at least they understood where they stood with respect to completing their assignments in the time that they had. The other area that I ran into problems with was actually introducing the new grading concepts to the students. I did not have enough of an introduction to this for the students in my summer course and what I did have required them to do a lot of reading. I used what I learned in my courses this summer to develop an interactive syllabus that gives the students everything that they need to know about the course in a friendly, clickable format with videos and infographics explaining what they need to do. Here is the syllabus that I created (I used Thinglink, Piktochart and Camtasia to make it):

(If the links don't show up when you click on the above syllabus, you can get to it through this link)

Creating this new version of my course was a lot of work and a lot of fun. As I am finishing up the summer semester teaching with the first version of this course, I am very pleased with the results. The past two summers I have had very poor results in my summer online courses. Most students did very poor quality work, put in minimal effort, and in the end learned very little despite my best efforts. From my experience a lot of these problems were because the student hadn’t taken an online course before and didn’t know what to expect and typically over-scheduled themselves (either with work or vacations or both). This summer, I am happy to say that everyone who took the time to complete the course learned something. The grades and the participation were much better and the questions that I got from students showed a level of engagement that I haven’t seen before. I am very much looking forward to teaching my new updated version of the course in the fall.

An Application of MUD

Last month I posted a mash-up of two different instructional design models, Merrill's First Principles and Understanding by Design. I felt that the model was a really good fit with the way that I approach instructional design, and was please with the result. The last assignment for the Instructional Design: Theory & Research course was actually a case study that let us apply everything that we learned in the course. I decided that it would be fun to test out the mash-up that I created and see how it worked. I had such a good time doing this assignment, that I thought that I would share the results here on my blog. The actual submission is a 20 minute video of me narrating the analysis using Prezi, but I will include a link to the Prezi itself in case you prefer to look at it at your own pace. I am also going to include a video of just the mash-up (this video is actually part of the 20 minute video) for anyone who might be interested in the application but pressed for time. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did!

The Case Study

Here is a link to the Prezi

The Application of the Mash-up

Current Reearch in Instructional Design - A Creative Trend

I have been reflecting lately on why I am enjoying the classes that I am taking in online learning and instructional design so much. What I realized is that to do them well requires a certain amount of creativity. I am by nature a creative person, so this career is a good fit for me. Perhaps it is this recent reflection that made the concept of creativity jump out at me when I was analyzing our class's meta-analyis spreadsheet of current research literature.

The purpose of the meta-analysis spreadsheet was to have the students analyze current research literature on instructional design models and share what they learned with their classmates. After doing my own research and reading the analysis of my classmates one thing that stood out for me was that while instructional design models are intended to be a framework, to use them effectively requires a certain amount of creativity.

I think that creativity is becoming more important in the world of instructional design because education is no longer considered to be a "one-size-fits-all" proposition. Following a basic formula for the design of a class just isn't good enough. Things that need to be taken into consideration include: different learning styles and abilities of students, different methods for delivering content, and different technology that is available.

One area of research discussed in the meta-analysis looked at a very traditional model: ADDIE. In one study researchers looked at ways to adapt ADDIE for use in creating blended learning classrooms, another looked at how it could be used to help teachers to design and implement an engaging online course. A third study suggested reassigning roles for the designers to make it a more creative job. Instead of Instructional Engineer and Instructional Manufacturer (both non-creative "jobs" that are very descriptive of the current approach) they recommend having the roles be Instructional Artist, Instructional Architect, Instructional Engineer, and Instructional Craftsperson. These titles imply and encourage a more innovative approach to designing a course. Yet another study looked at applying ADDIE to an interactive multimedia learning module. Again, this is applying an older model to a new approach to teaching. There was even a study that looked directly at how to add more creativity to the ADDIE process, giving tips and tricks for being more creative in every step of the process.

Universal Design for Learning is already a model that lends itself to creative course design. Because of its focus on the "How," "What," and "Why" of learning it already takes into consideration the fact that different students learn in different ways. The UDL studies tended to encourage planning, and multiple assignment options in particular. Another area that was addressed was the fact that students are now accessing online content through mobile devices, so consideration should be taken when designing an online course for the way that the content will be viewed. This allows for new and creative approaches to course creation.

An interesting study applied Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction to a video game to see if instructional design principles applied. Their analysis showed that all 9 events (Gain Attention, Inform Objectives, Stimulate Recall, Present Stimulus/Lesson, Provide Learner Guidance, Elicit Performance, Provide Feedback, Assess Performance, Retention and Transfer) were present in the game. The fact that people will keep playing and working at the game until they have mastered it led them to wonder if courses could be designed more like games. It would take a very creative and time intensive effort to succeed at this endeavor, but the fact that the video game apparently used the instructional design model at some level makes it an interesting prospect. If the amount of time, talent and money was invested in Instructional Design that is currently invested in game design, the education system would be completely different. Imagine what it would be like for students to be as excited to come to school as they are to play on the computer.

I am personally very excited to see this trend toward creativity in the instructional design process. I think that it is something that all learners will benefit from. School will be a more interesting place for students who don't know what to expect each day when they come to class - will it be a game? a video? role playing? discussion? The educational environment will be truly learner friendly when they break away from the same old way of doing things to embrace new and innovative ways of teaching and learning. 

Clearer than MUD – a Mashup of Merrill’s First Principles and Understanding by Design

When I first started reading about different instructional design models, I was instantly attracted to Understanding by Design. The “begin with the end in mind” philosophy makes a lot sense. If you have a strong sense of what you want your students to know at the end of the course, it is a lot easier to figure out what you need to teach them in order to make sure that they know it. I also found Merrill’s First Principles to be very helpful in figuring out the best way to get students to learn regardless of what is being taught. Combining these two approaches to instructional design has the potential to make an even stronger and more effective way of planning courses that will teach and engage students.

Below is a piktochart I created that illustrates what a blend of these to ID models would look like:

What and Why?

As you can see, the first step in the process is to figure out what you want the students to learn and help them to understand how it relates – to the rest of the course and to life in general, if possible. Students learn better if they can connect what they are learning to “real life” and can see how it is relevant. Giving them ownership of the big picture, not just the pieces of the puzzle can be very motivating. If the instructional designer has a list of what the students should know and what they should be able to do as the starting point for their planning, they are much more likely to design a course that is engaging and successful.

How Will We Know?

Once you have figured out the “what and why,” the next step is to figure how to know if the students have learned what they were supposed. Having a solid grasp of how you will determine if understanding happened can help you to figure out how to teach the material. It is important that the students be able to apply what they have learned to solve problems – not just regurgitate facts.  You want them to be able to take what they learn to the next level. Some of the ways that you can do this is to ensure that the problems that you give for practice and assessment match the desired outcome. If you are wanting students to be able to recall specific material, then you should make sure that the assignments include practicing recall. This is true regardless of what you want the outcome to be. In addition to recall, it could be locating parts, identifying examples, or solving problems. Another way that you can know that your students are progressing is that they should require less coaching from you. When you first introduce a new problem, the students may need a lot of help to solve the problems that you give them, as they begin to grasp the material, they will be able to solve more complex problems with less input. Finally, students should be able to transfer the knowledge so that they can solve different kinds of problems using the material that they learn. This is the difference between “knowing” and “understanding” that Understanding by Design strives to achieve.

How Will We Get There?

Finally, when you know what you want the students to learn, and how you will know if they have learned it, it is time to start figuring out the best way to help the students learn. Combining the concepts of UbD and Merrill’s can lead to an effective and efficient way of planning lessons.  Here is a list of things that can help the students learn:

1.     Give them an understanding the big picture – teaching the students how the content fits together will help motivate them to learn all of the parts.

2.     Build on what they already know – by gaining a feel for what the students already know, the teacher can use that as a foundation and organizational tool for future learning.

3.     Show the students – don’t tell them – use examples and non-examples, demonstrations, and visualizations in your teaching to help the students make connections. Use alternative methods of demonstrating concepts to make sure that you can connect with all learners.

4.     Give the students time to reflect on, revise, and critique what they have done – evaluating and review their own work can help the students to see what they might have missed or to realize that they have expanded their understanding. Taking time to ponder and revisit  can also help reinforce learning.

5.     Help them to organize what they are learning – a disorganized student is a distracted student, learning how to organize materials can be as important as learning the materials. It makes it easier to find information when you are reviewing or solving problems.

6.     Let them get creative – everyone is different, therefore letting the student apply what they have learned in a way that makes sense to them is going to be more effective and reinforcing that learning for the student.

Conclusion

As you can see, these two Instructional Design models are very complementary. By combining the strengths of both, you can use them to come up with lesson plans that have a high likelihood of engaging your students, and of having students who don’t just know the material, but actually understand it and can apply it. Use this process and your lessons will be clearer than MUD. J

References

Hawker Brownlow Education. (2013, July 17). What is Understanding by Design? Author Jay McTighe explains [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8F1SnWaIfE

Merrill, M. (2002). First Principles Of Instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2003). Overview of UbD & the design template. In Understanding by Design. ASCD.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Chapters 1 and 3. In Understanding by design (Expanded 2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Using UDL to Develop an Online Course

I have been busy the past few weeks redesigning the course that I teach (Information Technology) to incorporate a lot of what I have been learning in my Online Teaching and Instructional Design program. A lot of what I did ties very nicely into the UDL instructional design model. Below are a few of the ways that UDL has come into play in my course design, and some areas that I need to work on:

I.                 Provide Multiple Means of Representation

a.      Because my content is so timely, I decided to go textbook free this semester and rely completely on Internet resources. Content is supplied to the student using Blendspace (click for example), and is a mix of text, videos, graphics, and Prezis. I tried very hard to match the content to the style of presentation. They “read” the textbook by working through the different parts of the Blendspace.

b.     I have had a lot to do to put this course together and not a lot of time to do it in. For this reason, much of the content (within Canvas, the LMS) is given in text format. I hope that by the next time I am teaching the course I will be able to have audio or video content as well.

c.      When I am teaching how to use the application software (Excel and Access), explanations are given in text format, with video demonstrations, so that the students receive the material two different ways.

II.               Provide Multiple Means of Expression and Action

a.      For most of the assignments in the class, students are given several options for what format they will use to complete the assignment. Depending on the nature of the assignment, these options include screen casts, word documents, presentations, podcasts, or infographics. The choice is up to the student, although they are encouraged to “mix it up” and make different choices for different assignments.

b.     Each unit of the course begins with the students being given a (link to) a sheet explaining the desired outcomes for the unit. This includes skills and  knowledge outcomes.

III.             Provide Multiple Means of Engagement

a.      Students are treated as IT interns for the company of their own choosing, all assignments are given from me their boss and serve a purpose for the company.

b.     Once the foundational units are completed, students are allowed to work through the course in whatever order and pace they choose (Note: a sample schedule was provided to help the students with pacing). They also have control over the grade that they receive

c.      The class employs mastery based learning. There are no 0’s allowed. All assignments must be completed at an appropriate level to receive credit. The student’s grade begins at a 0 and builds. There is a list of assignments that must be mastered to earn a C. There are additional assignments required to earn a B, and even more for an A.

One area where I haven’t really had any success is with fostering collaboration and community. I believe that in part this is due to the mindset of many students who take online courses, and in part due to the content that I am covering. The self paced way that I have set up this class also makes collaboration difficult. It is an area that I am looking to do better with in the future. One thing that I have tried with this course is to have 2 pinned discussion boards where the students can discuss what is happening in the class and ask questions and current events related to course content. Participation is completely optional, but they were told that participation in these forums could help to bump up a grade that is on the bubble.

I also looked at the syllabus evaluation rubric and realized that while my syllabus makes the grade in some areas, there are others where it could stand to be improved upon. I basically used the syllabus template provided by the University to create the content in my syllabus. I had hoped to improve upon that to make it more inclusive and interactive, but since it had to be complete before the class started last Wednesday, I ran out of time. I am keeping a copy of the rubric to help make my syllabus a better tool for my students in the future.

I really feel like the course that I am teaching this summer could be a case study for the use of UDL in the classroom, based on all of the positive things that I read when I was investigating UDL for this blog post, I am optimistic that it will have a good outcome for my students.

When I was looking at information for this blog post, I got most of it from the links that were provided as part of the assignment, however, I found an interesting blog that looks at UDL and the flipped classroom. It doesn’t directly apply, since you can’t truly “flip” and online course, but I am looking to use the same content when I teach my course face-to-face in the fall and am wanting to flip it when I get there. Below is a great graphic that illustrates how the two can work together from the blog post UDL and the Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture (link).

Gamification as a tool in the online classroom

 What is Gamification?

For years the tradition in higher education was for the teacher to lecture and the students to listen and take notes. There may have been some discussions, but much assessment took place in the form of tests, quizzes, and papers. While this format is still in play in many college classrooms, more and more professors are beginning to change their approach in an effort to better engage and motivate the students. One tool that is being tossed around as a way to improve things in the classroom is gamification.

According to Andrzej Marczewski in his book Gamification: A Simple Introduction & a bit more, gamification is “the application of gaming metaphors in non-game contexts to influence behavior, improve motivation, and enhance engagement (2013).” Gamification is not playing games in the classroom, but it is adapting elements of game play and using them to make real world tasks more interesting and engaging. If you are interested in learning more about the use of games in the classroom and how that is different from gamification, you can watch this prezi. It includes an interesting video on gamification in general.

Many people think that gamification is simply adding things like badges and points to something and making it a competition. While these are certainly an element of gamification, if this is the only tool that you use, your gamification attempt is not likely to be successful. Points and badges tend to provide extrinsic motivation, and while they can be successful in engaging people in the short term, they won’t necessarily provide sustainable interest. Points and badges are especially popular tools in marketing. If you are interested in where this trend is heading, you can watch this video called Gamepocalypse. Points, badges and leaderboards tend to be a quick fix, not a long term problem solver. All games have some way of keeping track of points and positions, but they are only a minor element of the game itself, and don’t result in meaningful gamification. As Scott Nicholson said in his paper on gamification “the concept of meaningful gamification is that the primary use of game layers is not to provide external rewards, but rather to help participants find a deeper connection to the underlying topic (2013).”

What is it about games that make them so appealing? If you have ever played a video game, you know that there are several things that keep you playing. You have control over your character and get to decide the path that you take through the game. If you die, you can start over and try again. They are challenging, but if done right, you will progress to a level just above what you are actually capable of – you are pushed to stretch and grow, and if it is a multi-player game you are doing it in conjunction with other people. Marczewski uses the acronym RAMP to explain what it is about games that can motivate people. 

In this video he explains and clarifies how these can be used as motivators:

How to Use Gamification in the Classroom

There is no one right way to implement gamification in the classroom – every class is different as are the strengths off the teacher. There are several things that need to be taken into consideration. To begin with, points and badges are important, but should not be the only tool that you introduce. The excitement generated by these tends to be short term and cannot sustain interest in a class for the whole semester. Also, students may find leaderboards demoralizing if they aren’t near the top. Knowing how far behind they are can cause them to give up. Also, because a grading system based on points is probably new to the student, they are likely to get confused especially if the correlation between points and grades is not explicitly clear. 

Allowing the students autonomy to choose their own path through the course can be very motivating for the student. Although more work for the teacher, giving the student choices in what they do and how they learn can give the student a sense of ownership that gets and keeps them engaged. This could be implemented in different ways depending on the classroom. You could have alternatives for the way an assignment is presented (paper, presentation video submission), or you could give some control over what order the students complete the work that they are doing. Closely tied to this is permission to fail. Allowing the student to continue to submit an assignment until they have shown mastery of the subject, and/or not allowing them to progress until they have demonstrated a certain level of mastery is a great way to ensure that learning takes place. Many classrooms today are run on a schedule. Material is covered for a certain amount of time, the students are tested on it, then the class moves on to the next topic. If a student didn’t master the material in the time allotted, they were out of luck. This would never happen in a well designed game – the players have to master the skill set before they can beat the boss and progress to the next level. It is through failing that we learn, and unfortunately our current educational system seems to have forgotten this. 

If you can build a social element or sense of purpose into your gamified class, it can even further enhance the experience for the students. If they are working together to “defeat the boss” (even if the boss is just a big test), they will be supportive and encouraging of each other. This is a wonderful environment for the classroom.

 

An Example of Gamification in Use

More and more teachers are starting to try gamification in their classroom and many are blogging or writing about their experience. Scott Nicholson presented a paper called “Exploring Gamification Techniques for Classroom Management” at Games+Learning+Society 9.0, in 2013 where he shared his experiences. He decided to apply what he was learning about gamification to two courses that he was teaching. One was and online,, asynchronous course called Meaningful Gamification, the other was a fact to face course on public speaking. 

He structured his  Meaningful Gamification class as a points based gamification system where students designed a character then “played” the game by earning points for the different tasks that they did. Eventually the leaderboard became dominated by a few players and everyone else had quit trying. After 6 weeks he gave the students the option of continuing with the system or changing. They voted overwhelmingly to change. He allowed the students to design how the remainder of the class would go. They developed a meaningful game narrative and each student chose their own path to the desired learning outcomes. Although frustrated at first, the students learned first hand what makes a gamified experience meaningful.

His other course was not game related and a majority of the students were not gamers. He tried several of the methods recommended in Lee Sheldon’s book “The Multiplayer Classroom.” He found that having an overarching narrative was a great way of getting and keeping the students engaged. Also, rewarding students for in class participation helped motivate them to prepare. He also allowed students to redo assignments on specific dates. Based on this approach, he recommended assigning grades as A, B, or redo. Areas that didn’t work as well were mostly associated with grades. He used the start at 0 and earn your way to an A method that Sheldon used, but this frustrated the students because they didn’t know where they stood in the class. He also made assignments above those required for a C optional (meaning that if you successfully complete only required work you get a C even if you get an A on all of the work submitted. If you want an A or a B you must complete the optional assignments required to take you to that level). This generated a lot of confusion for the students.

To summarize his findings:

• Not all students are gamers, so keep this in mind when introducing game elements into your classroom. 
•  A narrative can be useful and motivating if it is relevant, but can otherwise be a distraction and source of frustration. 
• Choices are empowering. Options are not – especially for weaker students. 
• Failure based models work especially well for weaker students. 
• Gamification is more work for the teacher.

For another example, you can check out how Michał Mochocki gamified his classroom. His situation is completely different because where he teaches, lectures are optional. He wanted to find a way to get more students involved and engaged in the learning process. The following three posts explain how he did it:

·        How I Gamified My Lectures

·        Gamified Lectures: What Went Right

·        Gamified Lectures: What Went Wrong

Gamification is currently a hot topic in both business and education and is not likely to disappear any time soon. When implemented thoughtfully by a a teacher who is willing to shoulder the increased burden that gamification tends to cause, the tool can result in a real win for students.

References

Marczewski, A. (2013). Gamification A simple introduction & a bit more [E-reader version]

Marczewski, A. (n.d.). The Intrinsic Motivation RAMP. Retrieved April 11, 2015, from http://www.gamified.uk/gamification-framework/the-intrinsic-motivation-ramp/

Nicholson, S. (2013, June). Exploring Gamification Techniques for Classroom Management. Paper Presented atGames+Learning+Society 9.0, Madison, WI