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ACC Distance Learning Course Design and Delivery
DL COURSE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTGETTING STARTED DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING YOUR COURSEUsing an ACC Master SyllabusThe starting point during any distance learning course design process is to refer to your department's master syllabus for the course which you are developing. A department's master syllabus provides excellent guidelines for instructors on how to structure and organize the course. The main starting point which influence how a DL course is organized is the course's learning objectives. By modularizing content (lessons, topics, etc.) and determining the learning objectives for each content area, an instructor can determine the most optimal online materials and activities which support those objectives. Assessment questions also are developed based on the course's learning objectives. In this way, a DL instructor can ensure that all course documents, activities, assignments, graphics, media, exercises, and assessments support the learning objectives. ACC also provides guidelines on how to structure and develop a class syllabus. In addition to departmental and ACC master syllabus components, Distance Learning has some syllabus guidelines at: http://dl.austincc.edu/faculty/DLCourses/prereginfo.html For assistance in using an ACC Master Syllabus or syllabus templates or for any help designing your DL course, contact an instructional development specialist at an ACC campus. DL Course Syllabus DevelopmentThe course syllabus is an essential resource for all students to maximize their time and efforts and complete any course successfully. For DL classes, the syllabus is especially important since faculty contact with students is less frequent than in traditional classes. Faculty members should make an extra effort to prepare a complete and extensive syllabus for DL courses, including not only the standard ACC syllabus components, but also appropriate information to help DL students navigate the college "at a distance." See additional information about ACC and DL syllabus guidelines. Designing a DL Course OrientationThe DL course orientation, along with the DL course syllabus, plays a very important role in a DL course because both the orientation and the syllabus provide a student with critical course and support reference information. If you are teaching a PCM course, an online orientation is required. There are several things to consider when designing the orientation. For example, are you going to post the orientation on an external web site or have it contained entirely within Blackboard? What format will it be in HTML? PDF? Flash animation? steaming video (i.e. YouTube)? Will it be text only or will it also have graphics, audio, video and other media? Is most of the orientation information also covered in the course syllabus? Are you going to have a teleconference? If so, how will you communicate the access information to students? Will it be asynchronous or synchronous? How will you verify student attendance or participation for an online orientation? Many of the same questions and issues for an online orientation also need to be considered for an on-site orientation, however, due to the face to face connection between the instructor and the students, there are some additional considerations. If you plan on offering an online version of your course orientation (recommended), then you will need to consider the same questions and issues as you would for a PCM course. For on-site orientations, you also need to consider when the orientation will be delivered, what contingencies have been arranged to accommodate students who are not able to attend the face to face orientation? If a student does not attend the orientation or participate in the online orientation, what action will be taken? (i.e. student's name is submitted to the Early Intervention program, etc.) Is this process specified in the syllabus? View more information on the topics to be included in a DL Course Orientation as well as orientation FAQ's. Mentorship and Other DL Faculty MembersAn important aspect of the design and development process, is to work with a Distance Learning instructor mentor. It is recommended that instructors who are new to Distance Learning take advantage of the ACC DL faculty mentorship program or talk with other DL faculty in your department. Learn what works and doesn't work for DL courses by working with and talking with experienced DL instructors. For more information on the DL mentoring program, visit: In addition, mentor and mentee checklists are available in PDF format. (see below)
Design Considerations for PCM coursesConverting from a F2F to a PCM courseIt is recommended that DL instructors begin designing a DL course with the end in mind. In other words, start the course design process with the learning objectives for each section or topic area. Work backwards from the learning objectives to determine the most optimal way, in a DL environment, to accomplish the course’s learning objectives. Some of Instructional Design considerations are:
Some important DL course Administration considerations are:
Designing DL Course Notes InformationHow to design DL Course Notes and the type of information the notes need to contain are important considerations and an important part of the course design process. When designing your DL course and providing information to students, the three things that a DL instructor needs to include in the course notes section are:
Course Notes are also an important reference for students choosing whether or not to take a DL course. Copyright ConsiderationsSince a DL course often uses a wide variety of media, graphics, web sites and other online materials, it is important that DL instructors familiarize themselves with ACC's Copyright and Fair Use Administrative Rule. For more information on copyright law, DL instructors are encouraged to review ACC's Copyright & Fair Use web site. Intellectual PropertyBefore developing and designing DL course materials, it is recommended that instructors review ACC's Copyright Ownership Administrative Rule. This administrative rule defines intellectual property developed by ACC instructors, outlines disclosure procedures, describes royalties, as well as the production of intellectual property by ACC students. Before initiating the development of intellectual property, faculty should complete a Copyright Ownership Agreement Form. The next step is to consider how to design a DL Course for interaction and communication. Download Adobe Reader to view and print PDF files. |