Module 06: Preparing for Development
Module Overview
Course development refers to all the tasks associated with the production of a functioning online course for students. During the design phase, you had an opportunity to draft your ideas for the content, activities, and assessments for your course. In this module, you will work with your Instructional Design Consultant to finalize (or begin committing key activities in) your course design and begin developing your course. To facilitate prioritizing and coordinating tasks and provide a clear roadmap to course completion, you’ll also create a Course Development Plan that outlines a general task schedule or timeline to build your course by the end of the seminar.
We know how eager you’ve been to start work on development, and by the start of the week (if not already), you will see your eCampus Master course shell in the list of “Courses where you are: Instructor” on the My Blackboard tab above. However, we will not just “leave you to your own devices” to figure out and build your course in Blackboard and not help you build your course.
Before you dive into developing your own course materials, we will give you an opportunity to assess your Blackboard development skills. Some of you may need more support than others. Allow us to work with you to gain an understanding of your Blackboard skill level and shore up any gaps with tips, support or training as needed.
This module introduces some resources to address the most common elements developed in an online course. If you don’t feel confident to start building your course materials right away, your Instructional Design Consultant can get you the hands-on support that you need.
Learning Objectives
J. Create a plan for finishing any remaining development of your course.
J1. Identify the remaining tasks that need to be completed before the course is ready to be taught.
J2. Identify the people that will complete the tasks and the resources they will need to do the work.
J3. Create a schedule for when the remaining tasks will be completed.
J4. Share the plan with the appropriate people and explain how progress toward course completion will be tracked.
Why This Lesson Is Important
The first few weeks in any project are critical in terms of setting expectations, building confidence and enthusiasm, and fostering a positive learning environment. The activities in this module are selected to jump-start the development phase of your project with a proposed plan of action. The initial steps of development require that you take stock of the effort involved in finishing the design details for each module, and then, adding these materials to your course. The Instructional Design Consultant Team is here to help you formulate a realistic development plan which can be accomplished in 6 weeks time.
How this Module Relates to Other Modules
Most of the components needed to develop an effective online course have been introduced in earlier modules. Your course and module objectives, assessments, activities, course design pattern and instructional media selections, for example, are all represented in your course design map. Depending on the amount of newly created material or material adapted from existing resources, and how fully you were able to develop your course design, you may opt to use the suggested course development plan, or craft one that accommodates your priorities or work style more appropriately.
NOTE: During the development phase of the seminar, you will continue to complete brief online readings in this course site in addition to meeting with your consultant and developing your course. The readings cover copyright and intellectual property rights, accessibility issues and tools, multimedia development tool information, templates to communicate startup information to students, and need-to-know procedures when working with a Master Course. Our content is provided in this course site for consistency across all online course projects and includes important legal and practical knowledge for you as an instructor at Boise State.
By the end of the seminar, it is our goal that participants will have 100% of their online course developed, and all seminar design task activities completed. This goal will help you to direct attention to teaching the students in your course rather than building it.
Strategies for Success
Once you’ve built a couple of modules, you will use them as templates for the remaining modules in your course. It’s important to focus initially on the activities and assessments you’ll use most, and work with your Instructional Design Consultant to develop them as workable prototypes for reuse. Once you have a prototype, you can copy, paste and revise the contents for each new module. As you work through the details of the first two modules, you will start to make the overarching decisions that can help students prioritize their time and attention to the most important aspects of your course.
