Cost, Prerequisites, and Required Purchases
- Cost: This course is free.
- Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for the course.
- Required Resource Purchases: None.
Time Commitment
During this 12-week course, you will progress through eight course modules containing practice exercises, individual assignments, and group discussion to design and develop open educational resources (OER) for an important instructional need. To be successful in this course, you should plan to devote 40 hours of time to the course (i.e. three to four hours per week). Like most experiences in life, the worth of this course is related to the time and effort committed to it. Therefore, while lurkers are welcomed, the experience will be enhanced through active engagement in discussion and personal reflection. Your personal commitment to actively engage three to four hours per week in the course will help to support a worthwhile experience for you and others.
Support
- Course Facilitation: While this course is designed to be self-guided, a team of volunteer facilitators and subject matter experts are here to support your progress through the course. The course facilitators will not review or grade your assignments, but they will be available to answer your questions in help forums (see below). In addition, the facilitators will share their perspectives as moderators within the Discussion forums, and participate in the prototype evaluation conducted in Module 6.
- Canvas.net: The Canvas.net platform will be our virtual classroom over the next twelve weeks where you will find all course materials, engage in whole class discussion, and submit your individual assignments. If you have any questions about using the Canvas.net platform, please review the Canvas User Orientation.
- Help! Forum: If you are unable to find your answer in the course materials or Canvas User Orientation, please post your question in the Help Forum. Course facilitators are monitoring this forum and responding to comments or questions.
- Ask a Subject Matter Expert Forum: If you have a question about your project and want input from a facilitator or subject matter expert, please post your questions in the Ask a Subject Matter Expert forum. Course facilitators and subject matter experts are monitoring this forum and responding to comments or questions.
Course Activities
This course is structured within modules that organize the materials you will review and complete. Each course module includes material for your review and activities to complete related to the instructional design project you are completing. These activities include individual practice exercises and assignments, as well as conversation prompts to ponder within a whole class discussion forum. Given this is a project-based course, we request that you proceed through the course materials in numerical order starting with Module 0 and ending with Module 7.
This course is designed to be self-guided, and you will work at your own pace reviewing each module’s materials and participating in the prompted discussions and individual assignments. However, due dates are included for most discussions and assignments to keep everyone on track to complete the course by May 15, 2016. Note that a link to the list of Assignments and Modules appears in the left sidebar of each page with target due dates.
Announcements
The course facilitators will provide weekly announcements that will serve as progress checkpoints. These short announcements from the facilitators will include reminders and updates regarding course progression. Note that a link to the roster of Announcements appears in the left sidebar of each page.
Live Webcast Sessions (Optional)
Once the course is underway, the facilitators and subject matter experts will host optional live webcast sessions to address project-related questions that bubble up in reflections, assignments, and in the discussion forums. Attendance at the live webcast sessions is optional. The link to the webcast and the recordings will be posted on the Live Webcast and Recordings page. Here is the webcast schedule:
- Thursday, February 25, 7:00 p.m. CST (See time zone conversion & add to calendar)
- Thursday, March 10, 7:00 p.m. CST (See time zone conversion & add to calendar)
- Thursday, March 31, 7:00 p.m. CDT (See time zone conversion & add to calendar)
- Thursday, April 28, 7:00 p.m. CDT (See time zone conversion & add to calendar)