5318 Online Course Design Week 3 Progress

With the world of education changing  as technology changes and impacts education I think the value of MOOC's is great.  I see this model of education growing into the future.  A reputable quality course offered openly has value in that it pushes back against the wealth of sources of information these days that do not provide high quality.   As Patrick (2010) states online learning is all about expanding access to education as well as providing a new network of educators that are highly qualified to work in an online educational environment.  I see value in expanding access to quality education.

I am spending time reviewing standards and building my course into a high quality course this week.  I consider navigation quite a bit as I have been developing my course in Schoology.  I have my information in pages and folders. I have broken information up into an introduction page followed by a course information or resource folder.  Then I have the course divided in to five weekly folders.  Each folder has it's own instruction document, video, or screencast.  Also in each folder is the weeks assignments.  I have worked to keep the students engaged in the LMS framework and to not have them clicking on links that would take them out of the LMS.  Readings in my course come first and are mostly instructive and informative on how to accomplish assignments and navigate the course.  This is followed by videos mentioned in the readings and then by assignments that are supportive of the concepts and learning goals in the viewed video.  The assignments are hands on or online interactive learning activities.  In most the videos the students are singing and tapping, clapping, or moving to music.  The students are also given hands on assignments to create a product such as a composed rhythm.  The course has a final assignment or project that students will be able to create all online and share through a link.

References

Patrick, D. S. (2010, Oct.) Preface. A National Primer on K-12 Online Learning. INACOL. Retrieved from.  http://www.aurora-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/iNCL_NationalPrimerv22010-web1.pdf