If you’re interested in developing an online or blended course, you’ve come to the right place. The Blended and Online Development team, or BOLD, is a streamlined service designed to partner with you at every stage of development, from conceptualization to teaching. This overview describes the journey from start to finish in six steps.
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[accordion title="1. Introducing Yourself to eLearning"]
If you’re not sure you want to create an online or blended course yet or just want more detail, there are many resources that will help you learn more about what’s involved:
- Start with this eLearning resource page (link); you’ll see some examples of courses and a link to the eLearning Bootcamp, a one-day intensive workshop
- Email BOLD@yorku.ca to arrange an appointment with one of the BOLD team members; this will be arranged within one week.
- Start creating a course proposal using this form (link). Your BOLD team can help you with this proposal.
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[accordion title="2. Getting Support for Your Course Development Proposal"]
Contact your Faculty’s eLearning Lead (link to list of leads) to discuss how your plan fits with Faculty intentions and timelines; though it is not always possible, it is helpful to start the process a full year before intended course delivery so any necessary changes to the undergraduate calendar can be made.
You may be eligible for an incentive program within your Faculty or the University; the Faculty eLearning Lead will be able to tell you what is required to apply as well as any in-Faculty support available. The Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning requires written approval from your Dean or Dean’s designate confirming that your course development aligns with the Faculty’s eLearning strategy. The office of the Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning will then process the course proposal and do initial scheduling of BOLD resources.
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[accordion title="3. Learning about the Online/Blended Course Design and Development Process"]
With the course proposal approved by the AVP Teaching and Learning, the next step is to create a course design. If you haven’t done so before, the best way to start is to take the eLearning @ York (link) course. This course includes creation of your documented course design. Teaching online involves many considerations that require special knowledge and skills: the eLearning @ York course will introduce you to them.By the end of the course, and in collaboration with the BOLD team, you’ll have created an initial course design document. This course design document will include:
- Learning outcomes
- The structure and sequence of course elements to support those outcomes
- Appropriate activities and assessment tasks
If you’ve already taken the eLearning @ York course, please work directly with your BOLD team on the course design document for your new course.
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[accordion title="4. Building Your Course"]
A range of specialists on the BOLD team will work with you to build your course, following the goals expressed in your course design document.
The activities you’ll work on with these specialists include:
- Consultation and selection of tools and technologies in support of your course objectives
- Transformation of existing content from one format to another
- Discovery and integration of open educational resources and/or resources that require
copyright clearance - Creation of original multimedia content (graphics, video resources, simulations, animations)
- Moodle course development and placement of content within
- Training on the use of course technologies
- Assessment of the quality of the resulting course using the QualityMatters.org resources and changes to address any issues found
A course development coordinator, who is a member of the BOLD team, will be assigned for the construction of your course. The course development coordinator will coordinate group efforts to build a course that implements the documented course design. You, the course development coordinator, and other BOLD specialists will plan out how much time and other resources will be allocated to the various elements of the course. As different courses have different kinds of learning outcomes, which in turn require different kinds of course elements, the specific resources created for each course are likely to vary considerably.
Generally, however, you can expect that course development will include:
- Creating a detailed instructional design – this puts the detailed flesh on the bones of the course
design document - Constructing an introductory video that introduces you as the Course Director and the goals of
the course - Constructing a Moodle course with content including assessment instruments
- Guidance on maintaining your Moodle course during course delivery
You will meet regularly with the BOLD team to keep course construction on track so that when it is time to teach the course, all the elements for the first week – and in some cases the whole course -- will be ready.
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[accordion title="5. Delivering Your Course"]
Now you get to work with your students! You’ll get to see how all the course elements work with actual students. Of course, some elements will succeed more than others; the course will be tuned for the next offering or, in some cases, even within this offering. In all cases, it’s very important that students are aware of the instructor’s presence, as this is key to successful student engagement – you will have learned all about this during the eLearning @ York course.
When it is time to deliver your course, the BOLD team will be standing by to help. They will be available for:
- Troubleshooting support, for example of the operation of your Moodle course
- Advice and feedback on pedagogical issues that might arise in your course, for example with discussion forums
- Training TAs to help with course operation, e.g. managing discussion forums
- Support of creation and analysis of formative evaluations which may identify changes to make for the current offering or to feed into the next step
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[accordion title="6. Revising Your Course For The Next Offering"]
Toward the end of the first course offering, its success may be assessed with student course evaluations, assessment of student activity, and other approaches decided upon by you and the BOLD team. After the course concludes, you and the BOLD team will get together to ask what went well, what could be improved, and what could be added for next time.
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