Ask ADDIE Archives - Page 2 of 4

February 8, 2022August 23, 2023 by Addie

Essential Work or Essential Workers: Who Can Tell? (Issue 25)

Dear ADDIE,

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) now requires that all online courses for which students may use Title IV funds (federal financial aid) include regular and substantive interaction (RSI) between students and instructors. There must be “scheduled and predictable” opportunities for instructor/student interaction in course design. As proponents of online learning design, my colleagues and I thought that we could work with any policy requirement for student access, accessibility, or interaction by leveraging innovation and delivery with design thinking. However, this need to address instructor/student interaction through course design, and the related guidance for implementation are new. Putting it bluntly, we’re stumped! Should we include the RSI in course-design consultations or share the requirement as a quality item and leave it to the faculty to create these opportunities through course facilitation?

Signed,

Stumped Proponent

Dear Stumped,

You have brought an exciting concern to the fore. As we continue into these pandemic times, faculty and instructional design relationships become more complicated. Course design often addresses in-course interaction by facilitating student engagement with the content and with each other. While the online instructor guides the process through facilitation, course design should also address scheduled and predictable instructor/student interaction opportunities. The new regulations from the DOE, which went into effect on July 1, 2021, update the definitions for correspondence education by using RSI to distinguish distance education courses for which students can utilize Title IV funds. The RSI requirements in the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies), & University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) (2019) report provides a broad context for consideration that is supported by the reports of the individual agencies of WCET (2020) and UPCEA (2020). In short, the consensus is that since the instructor must primarily initiate the RSI, it can best be addressed by both structured course design and quality course facilitation.

Proactivity & productivity in course design are crucial to align with policies for student/instructor interaction.

RSI includes engaging students in teaching-learning and assessment that incorporates the course content and aligns with the course learning objectives. Course design that supports RSI must provide direct instruction by presenting content in meaningful ways to meet the needs of diverse learners. Instructors must provide feedback to student queries about the content and give critical and focused feedback on their coursework and assignments. In cases where the course design includes a collaborative activity, the instructor must provide information for the group’s engagement and feedback on group tasks.

Recommendations for course design that establishes this interactive structure may include:

Be proactive and interactive. Create opportunities for connecting with the content and instructor through active learning design. Proactively place learner considerations at the center of the design approach with opportunities for regular and consistent student interactions. Focused interactivity begins with the syllabus design in which the instructor can identify options for intentional engagement.
Create social and collaborative engagement. Build pathways for developing an instructor-led learning community by encouraging diversity awareness and respect for the ideas and skills of others. Establish substantive discussion and engagement guidelines for students. As the instructor, engage substantively through monitoring and increased responsiveness.
Acknowledge tensions between policies and practices. Quality assurance requires course design to foster a connection between the curriculum and compliance expectations and tie these into the course in meaningful ways. Connect students with helpful resources by incorporating institutional and departmental policies, links to learning advisors, and program or department resources.

It is crucial to be proactive and productive in the course design phase to align with the RSI policy for student/instructor interaction. Several Learning Management Systems (LMS) have built-in affordances or intelligence agents that support effective instructor-initiated course facilitation. These agents can facilitate an interaction structure for small and large courses through:

Course assessment policies
- Incorporate practice opportunities and peer reviews
- Develop question banks for online quiz randomization
- Create rubrics and collaboration expectations
- Provide guided feedback on student coursework
- Create automated quiz (re)views that correct erroneous information, provide answers, and directions for further study
Effective time management practices
- Message students who did not visit topics, have been absent for xxx days, have missed assignments
- Preset announcements to launch on specific dates
Meetings and office hours
- Create appointments for whole-class engagement
- Provide regular opportunities for one-on-one meetings

What other policies or practices for incorporating regular and substantive interaction through course design have you applied or are exploring at your higher education institution? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

References

Online Learning Consortium (OLC), WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies), & University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). (2019). Regular and Substantive Interaction: Background, Concerns, and Guiding Principle. In Online Learning Consortium. Online Learning Consortium.

November 9, 2021August 23, 2023 by Addie

What’s the Objective Here?: Using Module-based Objectives for Student Success (Issue 24)

Author(s): Nicole Stahl

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

Are module objectives all that important to create? I don’t want to spend time creating something that students don’t read, but I always hear that establishing objectives are something critical to do. I’m not sure what’s the best way to save time for myself and still help my students.

Signed,

Trying Not to Take the Easy Way Out

Dear Trying,

Thank you for the care that you have for your students. Everyone faces the challenge of “is the effort that I’m putting in worth it” when creating content. While it certainly may not seem like your students are actively reading your module objectives, students tend to ask “why” they are doing the work you assign. Having your module objectives clearly listed for your students is a first step in getting them to understand why they are learning what you have provided and why you are asking them to complete specific assignments.

According to Adelphi University, establishing module objectives will allow you to clearly think through and organize what it is that you want students to learn not just in your course, but throughout each module (2020). By understanding the individual pieces of the puzzle that make up your course, the design process will run smoother than before. While it may feel as if you are spending time and effort in determining these objectives, in the long run you are making the design process go by faster because you will know what needs to be covered in each module for students to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to achieve by the end of the course.

Additionally, a quality course design includes objectives and assessments that are in alignment. Many higher education institutions are promoting Quality and/or High Quality designated courses. If you are interested in designing and developing a quality course, course and module objectives are a component to this process.

The rubric above is a snapshot of the rubric criteria used by Quality Matters. Learning Objectives, Competencies, Assessment, and Measurement are key factors in quality course design.

"Module-based objectives...can serve as a kind of checklist that spells out what [students] should know and be able to do..." (Adelphi University, 2021)

When students are clearly able to demonstrate their understanding and comprehension through a completed activity, then the objective and assessment are in alignment. Without a module objective(s) to guide them through the process, both you and the student would be left wondering if they successfully accomplished the goal of the activity and learned what they needed. This sense of dissatisfaction can lead to poor academic performance and disengagement with the course. In turn, listing the objectives of a module is a subtle way of illustrating to the student how they are progressing through the course and the knowledge that they are building along the way. Objectives that are student-centered and focused will lead to better learning outcomes.

If you are struggling with sharing your own objectives or understanding the importance of module objectives, I recommend reading these two Design with Quality in Mind blog posts: Measurable Module Objectives and Align Module Objectives. The Eberly Center also provides a quick guide on composing strong learning objectives that are measurable and use action verbs (2021).

Once you have an understanding of the objectives that best fit your course, you can also use this Objective Builder Tool to ensure you are creating quality measurable objectives. There are also mnemonic tools that you can follow, such as SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-Orientated, Realistic, and Time-Based (Writing Module-Based Learning Objectives, 2020).

Ultimately, while it may be frustrating having to come up with both course objectives and module objectives, in the long run both you and your students will benefit from this information. Establishing clear objectives will guide you through the design process, and having a list of objectives will help the student successfully navigate through your course. And the more you practice writing objectives, the easier it will be!

What other ideas or tips for writing creative and powerful objectives do you use at your higher education institution? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

Resources

Design with Quality in Mind a. (2021, September 1). Align Module Objectives with Assessments. Center for Distributed Learning. https://cdl.ucf.edu/align-module-objectives-with-assessments/

Design with Quality in Mind b. (2021, August 6). Measurable Module Objectives. Center for Distributed Learning. https://cdl.ucf.edu/measurable-module-objectives/

Eberly Center. (2021). Design & Teach a Course, Articulate Your Learning Objectives. Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives.html

Quality Matters. (2021). QM Rubric & Standards. https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/rubric-standards

Writing Module-Based Learning Objectives. (2020, August 10). Faculty Center for Professional Excellence. https://www.adelphi.edu/fcpe/programs/online-and-blended-course-development/resources-for-planning-and-development/course-mapping-and-learning-objectives/writing-module-based-learning-objectives/

July 14, 2021August 23, 2023 by Addie

Getting Started with Digital Badges (Issue 23)

Author(s): Dr. Beth Nettles

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

There’s been a lot of talk at my college about using digital badges in our online courses. I’m not sure I understand why or how our faculty would use them. We don’t have an institution-wide infrastructure that supports badging. What advice can I give my faculty who are interested in trying them?

Signed,

We don’t Need no Stink’n Badges

Dear Stink’n,

I’m happy to hear there is interest in digital badges at your institution. Digital badges are a great way to incorporate student engagement into an online course. They are also a graphical way to support an achievement. Unfortunately, many lack the background information about badges to understand or justify their use. To that end, let’s address the ‘what’ before we get to the ‘why’ or ‘how’.

A digital badge is a visual symbol of accomplishment, interest, or competency. First introduced in 2011 with the launch of the Open Badges Project, digital badges have been used to note accomplishments in a video game, recognize a presenter or participant at a conference, or acknowledge the completion of professional development or training. Digital badges have also become popular for professional development and teacher training.

Also known as micro-credentials, digital badges have the most value to the recipient when they validate and provide evidence of an acquired skills or competencies. In higher education, badges typically represent proficiency not shown on a transcript, “such as skills gained from internships, volunteer work, and other co-curricular activities.” An excellent example is UCF’s MELTS program: Micro-credentialing of English Learner Teaching Skills. Public school teachers learn and then demonstrate teaching skills needed to work with English learners. There are 10 individual key instructional skills for which participants can earn a digital badge. Earning all 10 badges awards the participant a “Master” badge. Once a badge has been earned, the teacher can attach their earned badge to their LinkedIn profile, add it to their badge portfolio, and share it with their administrator.

Digital badges are a form of micro-credentialing, which provides a way to recognize and evidence accomplishments acquired through learning experiences.

Issuing digital badges so that the recipient can accept them requires a platform. There are a number of options, including Badgr, Credly Acclaim, and Accredible. Some platforms, like Badgr, also integrate with learning management systems (LMS), like Canvas. Check with your LMS Admins to see if they enabled digital badges in your school’s learning management system. If your institution doesn’t offer a digital badging solution, your faculty can create their own account to issue badges. Most are easy to use and many are free.

Digital badges are more than just pretty images. A good digital badge platform will also collect metadata about the badge. This information includes the badge name, a description, criteria for earning the badge, an issuer, and the date issued. An optional element is the “Evidence of the Achievement” for the digital badge and often it is a link to a page that provides more detail about the badge. Let’s not forget, digital badges are meant to be shared. As you create your badge, keep in mind the different stakeholders who will see it – issuer, recipient, employer — and the value they will derive from it.

When discussing digital badging with your faculty, first try to determine the purpose of the badge. What is its value proposition? Is it simply a fun way to engage students with the course content? Is it to recognize the completion of a task, assignment, or module? Or is the goal to validate specific skills learned? These questions address the potential complexity of digital badging and thoughtful preparation that should be done before issuing that first badge.

The following are three examples of how faculty can incorporate digital badges into their course.

Create Easter eggs. Placing Easter eggs throughout online course content encourages active exploration and discovery. Faculty can place one in their syllabus, in a lengthy reading, or at the end of the unit. The Easter egg itself can be a digital badge or set up so that students would collect some number of eggs to earn a digital badge.
Completing a module. The easiest option is to issue a digital badge at the conclusion of a module or unit of study. Many LMSs, like Canvas, allow you to integrate (or add) a digital badging platform, like Badgr, into your course. Badgr Support provides directions for automatically issuing badges in Canvas, including a document preview provided by the Instructure Community. When creating the badge for the unit, use the badge description to provide details about what students have learned and use the criteria field for requirements needed to issue the badge, e.g., scored 80% or higher on the module assessment.
Learning a specific skill or mastering a specific topic. Over the span of a semester, courses can cover a great deal of material and students’ final grades do not necessarily reflect the content they have mastered. When you can, identify specific skill sets and recognize those learning achievements with a digital badge. For example, suppose your faculty requires their students to do a presentation, but doing so means students have to learn a software package. You might give students a digital badge for demonstrating competency with that program.

Digital badges can provide students with an engaging, motivating, and encouraging experience with online course content. There are many ways to use digital badges; I suggest you think big, start small. Encourage your faculty to do something simple to get started. I hope you feel better equipped to discuss digital badging with your faculty in your efforts to find fun and engaging ways to enhance student engagement in their courses.

What other ideas or plans for the use of badges have you applied or are exploring at your higher education institution? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

Resources

Dyjur, P., & Lindstrom, G. (2017, March 10). Perceptions and uses of digital badges for professional learning development in higher education. AECT Tech Trends

Markowitz, Troy (2018, September 16). The seven deadly sins of digital badging in education. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/troymarkowitz/2018/09/16/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-digital-badging-in-education-making-badges-student-centered/?sh=1690e10170b8

Raths, D. (2013, June 20). How badges really work in higher education. Campus Technology, IT Trends. https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2013/06/20/How-Badges-Really-Work-in-Higher-Education.aspx

May 11, 2021August 23, 2023 by Addie

Hyflex, Blendflex, Asynchronous, Synchronous: Decoding Modalities (Issue 22)

Author(s): Dr. Amanda Major

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

The shift to remote teaching during the ongoing pandemic has prompted faculty to deliver creative online experiences for their students, combining different modes of delivery and using new technology tools. My university needs a way of categorizing these different mode options so that faculty will know the parameters of how to deliver their courses, students can make informed course enrollment decisions, and internal staff can have a common language to support faculty and students’ efforts for success. Could you use your decoder expertise and help us decipher between the different modalities?

Signed,

Caesar Cipher

Dear Caesar Cipher,

I can understand your confusion. Students need to understand the course modalities for which they are registering so they may plan their semester schedules or determine if the mode meets their learning preferences or specific life circumstances. Faculty need to know the parameters of each modality so they may deliver the course in a method consistent with students’ expectations. Internal higher education staff, who may support teaching or learning activities, need to have a common language so they can make recommendations consistent with the course modality, technology tools, and instructional techniques that best complement learning experiences.

When many campuses switched to remote learning over late Spring 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many faculty members unfamiliar with the Learning Management System (LMS) utilized video conferencing sessions or video streaming to deliver their lectures. They learned as quickly as possible how to store their instructional content and create assessments on their institution’s LMS. Some faculty couldn’t help but offer the bare necessities for course delivery, and others found creative ways to deliver their courses, i.e., repurposing a clear shower door as a lightboard during video sessions and creating lab kits customized to the course to send to their students. These examples went above and beyond most faculty members’ efforts, as many faculty spent enormous amounts of mental and physical energy during that unprecedented time managing their own lives, like determining how to school and care for their children while they had to work from home.

"A choose-your-own adventure faculty development program will serve innovative modality-attribute combinations."

As higher education institutions re-opened, administrators introduced HyFlex and BlendFlex modalities as a method for following CDC recommended guidelines and to accommodate stakeholders (parents, students, faculty, local businesses, and others) who have strong needs and preferences for remote or in-person course delivery. In its pure form, HyFlex is conceptualized as a student-directed method because students choose which option suits them best, online or face-to-face instruction. It’s designed to serve on-ground and online students with limited resources, especially relevant for emergency situations, via multi-modal delivery (Beatty, 2019). Essentially a HyFlex approach to learning, BlendFlex affords students the option to seamlessly move between experiences of face-to-face and online synchronous or asynchronous instruction to complete required elements of a course (as described by Carol Lee in Liebermann, 2018). Both modalities imply that there is both an online and face-to-face version of the course designed, developed, and delivered. Empathy is due to faculty, as well as those who guide and support them (project managers, faculty development coordinators and facilitators, instructional technologists, multi-media specialists, and instructional designers), as they attempt to live up to Hyflex and Blendflex ideal standards while also managing extenuating life circumstances during their institution’s campus re-openings.

For these reasons, describing the different modalities in terms of whether instruction has certain space or time requirements, as well as the degree of flexibility between space or time, makes the most sense. The following chart may clarify modality differences, which was inspired from instructional designer dialogue at the University of Central Florida but does not reflect any official definitions from the University.

	*Required Elements* *for Students*
Modality	Physical classroom	Live, Synchronous Sessions	Online, Asynchronous Instruction	Video, Asynchronous Instruction
Blended, Mostly Online	Up to 20%	Possibly*	More than 50%	Possibly*
Blended, Face-to-Face	More than 20%	Possibly*	Up to 50%	Possibly*
Web-based	No	Optional Only^	Yes	Possibly*
Face-to-face	More than 50%	Possibly*	Optional Only ^	Optional Only ^
Video	Possibly*	Yes-	Possibly*	Yes-
HyFlex	Possibly*	Possibly*	Possibly*	Possibly*
Extended Reality	Possibly*	Possibly*	Possibly*	Possibly*

“Possibly” denotes that those components may be required if the synchronous or physical classroom components are scheduled in advance.

^ ”Optional only” denotes that the element can be designed/delivered by faculty but must be offered to students as an optional activity, not as a requirement.

-“Video” denotes that completion of synchronous or asynchronous learning activities are required by viewing recorded video. The required amount of each type of learning activity (synchronous or asynchronous) must be communicated to students prior to enrollment so they may schedule their time appropriately.

A quick description of required elements is warranted. The physical classroom requirement means that students and faculty must attend in-person at a physical space on campus. That may include individuals using robotic proxies; live, synchronous streaming; or video recordings for accessibility reasons or excused absences. Often, synchronous sessions substitute for already scheduled face-to-face modes in which a student is required to be physically present. Live, synchronous sessions require students and faculty to be online at the same time but not in the same location, occurring during a video conferencing session, collaborative environment, or video streaming (if not recorded for later viewing definitive of asynchronous video instruction). Asynchronous instruction does not require faculty nor students to be in the same location, at the same time. Typically, online asynchronous instruction is delivered over a platform, such as an LMS, communication platform, or website.

The modality is defined by time and space requirements, i.e., when students must be present and where students must be located to receive instruction. The reason for defining course modes is so students and faculty know where to be and when. For this reason, some would argue that Video and Extended Reality (e.g., as the use of augmented reality like Pokemon Go, mixed reality like via Holo Lens, and extended reality that provides simulated experiences) are attributes of instruction that could occur in any modality, when students are face-to-face, or asynchronously or synchronously interacting.

Attributes offer a common language as well as a set of best practices for faculty and professionals supporting or guiding their efforts to source materials and adapt instruction. Attributes may occur in instances or permeate an entire course. Designers are intimately familiar with these attributes: mastery, experiential, service, gamified, technology enhanced, personalized adaptive, immersive, project based, case based, active, appreciative, inclusive, internationalized, team based, and so on.

The faculty development implications of having a variety of modalities, as well as attributes, provide a smorgasbord of options from which faculty may pick and choose— a decision made best in congruence with their instructional preferences, their students’ preferences, and their program’s niche. For instance, a group of language arts faculty members are designing a series of courses on an adaptive platform so students may enjoy a personalized learning experience that outshines popular language learning apps. These faculty members need to know the basics of instructional design, teaching online courses, and basics of mastery learning. They, however, need more in-depth procedural knowledge about the adaptive platform and associated teaching methods, inclusive teaching and responsive systems design. As another example, for faculty planning to teach online using the institution’s LMS, all they need to know are the essentials of the platform as well as best practices for designing/teaching online. For the outcome of faculty learning nuanced skills to deliver innovative courses, a one-size-fits-all approach to faculty development is no longer relevant. Creating a faculty development ecosystem that supports a program-approved, choose-your-own-adventure credentialing system will serve an array of innovative modality-attribute combinations.

Ultimately definitions for instructional modalities, and support provided for each, must align with the designated accrediting bodies as well as the institutions’ vision, mission, infrastructure, and resources. For other ideas of how instructional modalities may be defined, take a look at Azus Pacific University’s Instructional Modalities, and the University of Central Florida’s Course Modalities and Attributes. For pros and cons of synchronous, asynchronous, and combination courses, see Kansas State University’s Keep Teaching Online Modalities. If you’re re-designing your faculty development ecosystem to enable course innovations across modalities and attributes, you may glean some ideas from TOPkit’s Examples of Faculty Development Pathways.

What other modalities or attributes have you applied or are exploring at your higher education institution? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

References

Beatty, B. J. (2019). Hybrid-Flexible Course Design (1st ed.). Ed Tech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/hyflex

Lieberman, M. (January, 2018). Introducing a New(-ish) Learning Mode: Blendflex/Hyflex. Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/01/24/blendflex-lets-students-toggle-between-online-or-face-face

November 6, 2020August 23, 2023 by Addie

Getting Engaged: Marrying Together Faculty and Online Student Success (Issue 21)

Author(s): Dr. Jenny Sumner

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

Looking across the higher education landscape, I see a strong and growing focus on student success as a holistic approach by faculty and staff from across the campus. At my large, metropolitan university, there are many student services and support resources designed to support students’ retention, progression, academic success, and completion, both inside and outside of the classroom. In fact, when the global pandemic hit in spring, it was impressive to see how these services mobilized to ensure that students had the resources and supports that they needed to successfully continue their academic journey.

As a newer, online faculty member, I wonder how I may be able to engage more, both with and for my students, and to support them even beyond my classroom. Do you have any tips or suggestions as to how online faculty can become more involved in serving students in online programs?

Signed,

Eager to Engage

Dear Eager,

Great question! While, historically, the lines between faculty/academic affairs and student affairs were delineated, in recent decades there has been a shift toward partnering together to impact student success.

First, to be clear, faculty are already involved in student success! In fact, while “all institution constituents share the responsibility of enhancing retention and student success…faculty members play the single most important role in student learning and may have the greatest impact on student persistence.” (McCormick & Lucas, 2014). Faculty are the core of any institution’s mission, and faculty are on the front lines of student success by providing outstanding instruction and learning.

However, growing research also indicates that informal engagements by faculty inside and outside of the classroom can make meaningful and impactful impressions on students (These engagements can also be impactful on you, as well!). There are many opportunities for you, as a new, online faculty member to engage with and serve students in your online programs. In fact, I would argue that your involvement with students, especially online students, is a critical component to their success!

Here are some of my recommendations of how to engage differently with and for your online students:

#1: Demonstrate Approachability. This is the first step when engaging with your online student. While you may be an approachable person, students, especially online students, may be hesitant to approach you, or even know how to approach you. I would suggest that you experiment with innovative technologies and/or to work with an instructional designer to create fun and exciting ways to connect with your online students. Online students, who feel that they have a connection with their online faculty and that their online faculty cares about their success, are more apt to complete your class successfully, and reach out to you when other issues arise.

Growing research indicates that informal engagements by faculty can make meaningful and impactful impressions on students.

#2: Connect with Your Students Through Your Discipline. Survey research indicates that students, especially online students, value an understanding of how their course content/major content applies to their future goals. As the expert in your field, you have the unique opportunity to connect with your students through your discipline, engaging in activities ranging from low-time commitments to long-term relationships. As a faculty member, you could:

Establish High Impact Practices (HIP) as curricular or co-curricular activities
Serve on welcoming or orientation committees, and help to welcome new students to your campus and to your discipline/major
Judge students’ presentations at symposiums/conferences
Review students’ research proposal/thesis/dissertation
Establish a “mentoring meeting” schedule where you meet with students informally to discuss varying topics of interest outside of the classroom
Invite students to participate in your research activities
Co-author a paper with your student(s)
Serve as a faculty advisor to a student association, club, or organization
Serve on a thesis/dissertation committee
Serve as a formal faculty-mentor

#3: Partner with Key Resources on Your Campus. Institutions have many student affairs and student resource offices designed to support students in different ways at every point in their education journey; offices such as financial aid, accessibility, tutoring, counseling, wellness, career, experiential learning, and many more, offer wide-ranging and specialized services to students.

A great way to increase your involvement in support of your online students is to partner with these offices, and, together, create synergies for student success. Student affairs personnel need the knowledge of faculty, and their understanding of what students are experiencing in the classroom; conversely, faculty need the knowledge of student affairs professionals about what students are experiencing peripheral to their academics. Through cross-collaboration, we create holistic student supports.

#4: Get Engaged in the Conversations. Many departments support student success, and I would bet that your institution has many ongoing initiatives as well. Various committees, strategic teams, and work-groups develop to explore opportunities to enhance student success, and frequently lacking in these conversations is the voice of online faculty. I would encourage you—for professional development, networking, and outcome-focused reasons—to serve on and engage with these types of groups, and to share your insights from an online faculty perspective. I assure you that you would be a welcomed member to the conversation!

There are many ways to get involved with your online students and with others who are working across your campus to impact online student success. My hope is that you do, and that you have fun with it! This is certainly an exciting time to be in the online education space, and to creatively engaging on behalf of our online students!

I’m sure there are many more tips that others in the community have found useful. What strategies or recommendation do you have for how online faculty can get involved in supporting online students? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

August 31, 2020August 23, 2023 by Addie

Full Throttled Out: Running on Fumes for Fall Faculty Development Efforts (Issue 20)

Car doing drifting, and doing a burnout.

Author(s): Dr. Amanda Major

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

Ever since the Spring, my colleagues and I have shifted gears to help faculty teach in a virtual or online format while working from home! The global pandemic has popularized virtual/online teaching, consequently, increasing demands for our virtual/online course design, development, and facilitation know-how. We continue to selflessly give knowing that our help facilitates students learning and faculty teaching at a distance to remain free from COVID-19 exposure.

We do, however, realize that there is an extent to our race to nowhere fast. My colleagues and I are suffering from Zoom fatigue, mixed up sleep patterns, and concerns for balancing rapid course development with course quality. On top of work stressors, our family members are either needing extra care, working from home, or completing school from home. They depend on us to meet their needs. We are in full throttle, running on fumes, with no expectation of hitting the brakes any time soon.

Now, as Fall begins, we are running out of energy. Please help us curtail burnout!

Signed,

Running on Fumes

Dear Running on Fumes,

You are experiencing stress and anxiety in uncertain times. You are on the verge of burnout if not already experiencing it.

What is burnout and its symptoms? According to the Mayo Clinic (2020), job burnout is marked by physical or emotional exhaustion with a reduced sense of accomplishment and personal identity. Symptoms could include any combination of these work related reactions: cynicism, trouble getting started, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, reduced satisfaction with achievements, feeling disillusioned, or impatience with colleagues, staff, faculty, or students. You may also experience a change in sleeping habits or unexplained physical symptoms. Some may use substances to feel better.

Whether or not you and your faculty development colleagues are experiencing burnout, you likely have experienced a range of emotions as you addressed faculty development needs during this pandemic. During the onset of the pandemic, many higher education institutions closed campuses and faculty mass transformed their courses into a virtual format. Though those in your profession had the requisite knowledge for the transition, it was a transition nonetheless and likely extra work, especially navigating the changes the pandemic brought to your lifestyles.

Taking care of your body, mental well-being, and spirit or connection to the universe if essential to feel better and optimally perform.

The type of work accomplished by consultants, technical problem solvers, coordinators, and facilitators of faculty development combined with the increased demands has real effects. Those who prepare faculty to teach virtual, online, or hybrid courses engage in emotional labor, regulating their emotions in order to take care of the faculty with whom they are helping, similar to that of healthcare professionals caring for patients.

The task demand for those in our profession during these times required fast-tracking faculty development and speeding up course production while ensuring quality courses. Though, few additional resources were likely allocated towards those efforts, thereby workloads likely increased. You may have been counting on summer for some rest, but work demands were such that you could not use that time to rejuvenate. Nights of late work or anxiety due to the stressors of the transformation may have taken a toll on your circadian rhythms, now your sleep patterns are off. No wonder you are exhausted!

Burnout is a real phenomena in this line of work, because we tend to be passionate about what we do until we do so much that we aren’t sure that we are making a real contribution. Continuing to work while feeling depleted may put your job performance and health at risk.

I, myself, have grappled with managing stressors related to burnout throughout my career in digital learning. I have found that engaging in self-care practices empowered me to sustain my professionalism throughout the years.

Taking care of yourself during these times is paramount. Taking care of your body, mental well-being, and spirit or connection to the universe is essential to not just feeling better but also to optimally performing to help others. According to Huijser, Sim, and Felton (2020), this is a call to action.

I offer this list of tips to prevent burnout.

Harness the power of social connection. Surround yourself with nurturing people. Debrief with a trusted friend. Seek solace from supportive, hard-working colleagues. Stay connected to supervisors who have trust in you.
Work for a progressive unit. If you have a choice, choose to work for an institution that is forward-thinking, has clear strategic goals and priorities, and offers resources to support these.
Create autonomy over your activities and schedule. This may mean taking breaks and being okay with work products that are good enough rather than pursuing a nebulous state of perfection. Definitely let go of non-essential tasks. Make some room for engaging activities that are intrinsically motivating for you or professional development opportunities related to your career growth.
Enjoy and find satisfaction in your work. Know that you provide a valuable skill set. Make your work your own and enjoy collaborating with supportive colleagues when possible.
Take care of your physical self. Exercise, eat right, sleep well, and listen to your body. When it is time to stop and get up from your computer, do so.
Practice self-care. This may mean taking a day off work, conducting daily reflections, connecting with nature, engaging in spiritual practices or meditation, or practicing gratitude.
Seek professional help. Look into your Employee Assistance Program or health insurance plan for a counselor, therapist, or psychiatrist that meets your needs.

In the words of Parker Palmer (2000),

“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”

We owe self care to ourselves, to others, as well as to our profession.

Though demands of events triggered by the pandemic have placed extraordinary demands on professionals in our field, we are finding ways to take care of ourselves. Many more strategies for self-care and preventing burnout likely exist that particularly address the unique situations of those who prepare faculty to teach online during these unprecedented times.

What strategies have you found effective for taking care of your body, mental well-being, and spirit or connection to the universe? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

Reference

Palmer, P. J. (2000). Let your life speak: Listening for the voice of vocation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

May 6, 2020August 23, 2023 by Addie

The Road to Instructional Designer Credibility (Issue 19)

Author(s): Dr. Rohan Jowallah

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

I am new to the instructional design profession. I got this job–which I love–because I taught online, used flipped classroom strategies, and redesigned my course several times—not because I have any training or education in this field. I also did not have the support I needed with my first supervisor (who has since left). I’m looking to re-image myself because my faculty see me and automatically think “Oh you just want me to teach online!” OR “You demanded I take a survey. Who are you to tell ME what to do?”

What do you suggest? I really want to help my faculty move toward the 21st Century in higher education.

Signed,

Reformation in Progress

Dear Reformation,

Thanks for your question! First of all, I hope you are keeping yourself safe. Even in the best of times, the scenario you present is challenging – yet quite commonly encountered. During the additional challenges posed by the COVID-19 situation, it can be even more difficult to engage faculty in quality online instruction. If ever there was a time to consider yourself as a central figure in your institution, it is now. Instructional designers have been called upon to assist and play a vital role in supporting faculty in teaching remotely. There are a few strategies that can be used to navigate various organizational cultures.

More than ever, instructional designers are central figures for institutional teaching and learning goals.

#1 Ensure that you locate a faculty member who is an advocate for online teaching and learning. Once you do so, make every effort to build a healthy relationship. This will create a way for you to provide needed instructional guidance. Once you find this online champion, you will have access to others who may be interested. Remember, any cultural shift will take time.

#2 I would also recommend that you use the online Faculty Development Decision Guide (FDDG) to assess your organizational needs. Doing so will also provide you with a pathway for developing initiatives for supporting faculty.

#3 Since you have also taught online and have developed various courses, it will be necessary to model/show faculty members the endless possibilities of online teaching and learning. The most significant way to show your skills will be to demonstrate them in practice.

#4 Finally, I would also recommend that you start a series of communication with your faculty members. Your conversation could focus on current practices and research in online teaching and learning, tools, and technologies used in online learning and teaching, and your research. Importantly, I recommend that you consider hosting some informal sessions. These sessions could take the form of one-to-one meetings or group meetings. Your ultimate aim is to build rapport with faculty. Doing so will require time, understanding, support, engagement, and effective communication.

I’m sure there are many more tips that others in the community have found useful. What strategies do you use for effectively engaging faculty in the online course design process – especially during such challenging times as we are currently facing? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

February 7, 2020August 23, 2023 by Addie

Mergers & Acquisitions: Models of Curriculum Design Review (Issue 18)

Author(s): Sue Bauer, Trudian Trail-Constant

Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

I’m an Instructional Designer at a R1 university where our teaching and learning center has recently merged with our Academic Technologies team. As part of this process, I’ve been asked to lead a curriculum review of all the workshops, institutes, and training we offer to our teaching community (this includes faculty, graduate students and post-docs). This is a large task that involves reflecting on what competencies we want them to have, and where there is overlap or gaps in our offerings. One of the attributes we want to assess is modality and where it might make sense to increase our offerings either fully online or blended. My questions are:

What suggestions or recommendations do you have for designing online faculty development courses? Are there specific examples where a self-paced, fully online facilitated or blended might be the best choice?
What approaches have others taken to broadly reviewing all their offerings and going through the process of curriculum mapping?

Signed,

Lost in Translation

Dear Lost in Translation,

Merging your teaching and learning center with your academic technologies team sounds like an exciting but daunting process. I hope the consolidation of the teams improves the progress toward your common goals as the teams learn to communicate in each other’s design language. As you mentioned, this is a critical time to review your faculty development offerings to ensure your curriculum design develops the intended learning outcomes free of gaps and superfluous overlaps, and aligns across all offerings.

As you review the gaps in your curriculum and select the modalities in which to design and deliver new offerings, consider utilizing a faculty development framework. A recent TOPkit Digest described three top faculty development models for planning new or revamping faculty development programs.

Curriculum design review assesses learning outcomes, closes gaps, and aligns training with other programs.

Whichever framework you use to redesign your faculty development program, consider incorporating these three components in your project to strengthen your effectiveness:

Survey your stakeholders as early in the redesign process as possible, including your unit personnel, institutional faculty, and even stakeholders external to your institution. This survey will help garner valuable feedback and preferences regarding faculty development in general, your past offerings specifically, and future faculty development offerings. The results of your survey can inform your decisions about modalities, pacing, gaps, etc.
Continually align the learning objectives, content, activities, and assessments throughout your redesign. This can help you close gaps and reduce needless overlaps in your offerings and outcomes.
Include a timeline in your project planning. This is important for keeping everyone involved in sync and to ensure the redesign actually gets completed. The timeline should include:
- Tasks to be completed
- The expected duration of each task
- The date on which each task needs to be complete
- Dependencies between tasks

Another resource you may find useful is the Faculty Development Decision Guide (FDDG), an interactive tool designed to allow institutions to evaluate their online faculty development needs, create a plan of action for their own online faculty development program, and have access to resources that will support faculty development. This tool is based on the Quality Transformation Model for Faculty Development (QTMFD).

Whatever the outcome, I hope your unit will share lessons learned and recommendations when your process is complete and your newly formed unit is in operation and progressing toward its objectives.

I’m sure there are many more tips that others in the community have found useful. What strategies do you use for effectively engaging faculty in the online course design process? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

October 11, 2019August 23, 2023 by Addie

Foundations to Skyscrapers: Stages of Quality Design (Issue 17)

Author and Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

Our department is working on a foundational framework that will pull together various processes and guidelines faculty encounter when working on developing and implementing their courses and programs…Our faculty development will focus on these as one framework/solution. We would like to do this all within the ADDIE model. What Quality Matters (QM), Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS), pedagogy, accessibility, and/or assessment items will come up for them during each stage of the ADDIE model?

Signed,

Program Framers

Dear Program Framers,

ADDIE is a familiar guide for course design, but we must ask ourselves - is ADDIE enough?

Whether working with a single course development process, or building an entire program of courses within a discipline, the task can be daunting. Including and implementing all elements for a solid foundation requires skill and knowledge. It’s like baking a cake—if one or two necessary ingredients are left out, it could spell disaster for the credibility and reputation of the baker! So it is in the world of online pedagogy. Without a proper foundation of the necessary elements related to solid pedagogy and course design, the entire enterprise might crumble and take the credibility of the developers with it.

A structured approach to course and program design can minimize such potential errors. This is where ADDIE comes in to guide the process of a quality course design. Project management is implicit when referring to creating a system of courses—a disciplinary program—and the two systems parallel each other. However, we will leave that discussion for another edition. Instead, we will focus on the use of the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) in the identification of essential elements to course design within each stage. So, let’s break this down in the graphic below.

Table reflecting ADDIE stages and course design topics associated with each

Quality: ADDIE Stages & Topics by Denise Lowe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Of course, in the Implementation stage, the faculty might find additional gaps in the alignment of outcomes, activities, and assessments. They may also find materials needing further accessibility options—this is about continual modification. The Evaluation stage provides the opportunity to revise the materials and design further to address any issues revealed, asking the question—have the goals been met?

As the graphic reflects, the issue of Quality is overarching all elements of effective course design. Since the components of quality can be both objective and subjective, every staged topic area can be viewed through a lens of quality design. The explicit content contained in each stage can obviously ebb and flow throughout the entire process as feedback and revisions continue to improve the course design and instruction.

As we continue to ask questions about effective course and program design, instructional designers will need to challenge themselves with developing skills in program management as they continue to sharpen their course design and development skills. The use of the ADDIE model is a familiar guide for course design; the skills necessary for program management may not feel the same way for many, but we must ask ourselves – Is ADDIE enough?

I’m sure there are many more tips that others in the community have found useful. What strategies do you use for effectively engaging faculty in the online course design process? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!

July 8, 2019August 23, 2023 by Addie

Not a Magician Spock, Just an Old Country Instructional Designer (Issue 16)

Author and Editor: Dr. Denise Lowe

Dear ADDIE,

I’m in our on-boarding meeting and I can see it in my subject matter expert’s eyes. The telltale signs of upcoming resistance – eyes not meeting mine, arms crossed, and lots of silent sighs. They are saying everything’s fine, there have no questions, and they’re “looking forward to it.” From past experience, I know I will have missed deadlines and sub-optimal submissions when I get them. I usually have success in overcoming the resistance, but not until very late in the development process. Many times, I have to involve their dean in getting cooperation as well. I feel as though if I could overcome this earlier, we could be more productive and get to our milestones on time. Given that our SMEs are contracted to create a “master” course for the college and agree to use our development process which includes planning and alignment (YIKES!), what are some ways to head off the resistance earlier in the process?

Signed,

Resistance is Futile

Dear Resistance,

Overcoming faculty resistance to professional development training for online course design is a common problem for many instructional designers. Although resistance can be an impediment to the working relationship between the faculty member and instructional designer, it can also be a catalyst for faculty to further develop their craft—if it can be navigated successfully.

Faculty may find the entire online process overwhelming due to their lack of familiarity with technology, or they may feel that other tasks are a priority, and they don’t have time for the training. Conversely, as experts in their discipline, they may simply not understand or appreciate the role of the instructional designer in learning a different approach to teaching.

Most of us, as instructional designers, are excited about our online professional training programs, and we want to share this with our faculty. However, this may come across as a series of dictates or tasks that must be accomplished in the program; for some, this can feel like an “outsider” is
trying to tell them how to teach the content of which they are the expert,
especially if they are required to complete the training or have significant concerns about the integrity and credibility of online learning.

You may find it helpful to begin by inviting the faculty member to talk about their teaching styles and experiences. For example, how do they engage the students in a face-to-face course? What teaching styles do they currently use to further the critical thinking of students? By inviting faculty to talk about themselves first—something most of us love to do—creates an atmosphere that respects their knowledge and experience.

Often, this approach is a stepping stone to discuss the concerns that some faculty have about the online environment and process of course design. As those concerns are shared, the instructional designer can offer the tools, technologies, and best practices that may address their concerns. By keeping the focus on applied concepts—something with which most SMEs are very familiar—the credibility and usefulness of the instructional designer and the online training program is enhanced.

Many faculty approach new training with a WIIFM mindset—what’s in it for me? It’s a good idea for the instructional designer to look through that lens as well, in order to anticipate potential resistance. Are there incentives for completing this training? Will this help in promotion and tenure? Another aspect to consider is the potential benefit to students, usually a solid reason why they became faculty in the first place.

If all of this sounds like basic communication practice, you’re right! Building rapport with the faculty member is essential to creating the right environment for learning to occur. In the course design process, faculty become students—a role in which they may not have undertaken in some time. Identifying and using faculty experiences, providing peer engagement and administrative support, and understanding the obstacles and opportunities that online learning provides work together to build effective communication—essential elements in overcoming resistance.

I’m sure there are many more tips that others in the community have found useful. What strategies do you use for effectively engaging faculty in the online course design process? Please share your thoughts with our TOPkit community on LinkedIn!