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Development
Whether part of a full program or a single offering, each
course needs to be approved. Two documents have been created
to help you through this process. To download the application
form click here. The second is a Memorandum of Understanding
which explains the rights and protections for faculty who
are teaching in Distance learning.
In general, most courses are ones that are currently offered
at APU. In some instances, these may be new courses that
have not been offered before. These will need to go through
the same Educational Council or Graduate Council as would
any new course.
Depending on the course, fill out the application and send
one copy to your dean for approval and one to the office
of DL & CE. The signed forms will be forwarded to the
Provost for final approval.
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Development of Distributed Learning
For the effective delivery of distributed learning, there
needs to be a solid foundation and consensus on how the
course is developed and delivery is implemented. The
following model is used as a communication devise for
learning about or developing a course that uses distributed
learning.
This model is used in the development of courses where
the delivery is distributed outside of the traditional
face to face classroom. For a further explanation of the
model, please go to
http://home.apu.edu/~bsimmerok/emalPics/Report/FlashDemo.swf
Distributed learning has been defined as using a wide range
of computing and communications technology to provide learning
opportunities beyond the time and place constraints of
the traditional classroom. The use of such technology should
be driven by good pedagogy, not by the availability of
technology. The design should be based on three premises,
the Mission of APU, good learning theory, and quality indicators
of online learning. These become the foundation for the
design of the course.
Expectations
Distance learning courses are different from teaching a
face to face class. Changing a course to a web format takes
cooperation and team work. Faculty do not have to be experts
in technology but do need to feel comfortable with using
e-mail and sending files as attachments. They need to become
familiar with the online class environment by going through
a training process through the office of DL & CE.
The development of a DL class requires more than putting
lectures into text on the web. Each class should be evaluated
for the best methods of converting the learning experience
to a web format. This will be done collaboratively with
individuals from the office of DL and consultation from
other faculty in the discipline area. Further help will
be enlisted from the graphics media center in dealing with
multimedia needs.
A course has been developed to help look at the principles
of learning and how they can be applied to DL. Faculty are
expected to take part in the class to get a feel for this
medium and consider how the principles can be applied to
their course.
While assistance may be given to faculty in putting up
the course, once the course is developed, faculty will need
to be able to make minor changes to the course as it is
being taught.
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E-mail
Contact
Most of the courses are taught in an asynchronous format
so that there are no traditional class times to meet with
students. However, a significant amount of time will be
spent in communicating with students by e-mail and phone
if necessary.
Students have different concepts about the turnaround time
in which they expect a response to their e-mails It is important
in the beginning of the class to establish your expectations
for how quickly you will be responding. Whether you will
get back to them in 24 or 48 hours, is not as important
as being sure that the faculty and students have the same
concept of what is a timely response.
The same care must be taken to design the class in a way
that makes the amount of communication from assignments
and grading manageable for the faculty. There can be numerous
points of contact with the student through e-mail, threaded
discussions, written assignments and chat groups. It would
be impossible to have all of these points of contacts in
every week of the class. The most effective learning experience
should be selected for each week to maximize the contact
of the faculty and students.
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Curriculum
Development
Online courses need to be designed with a student learning
perspective. For each course there will be a process of
identifying the learning objectives for the course. Then
the learning activities will be identified that will lead
to obtaining the objectives. The presentation of material
in web format should be designed to facilitate interaction
with the student. Activities such as problem based and collaborative
learning should be used to facilitate interaction and a
sense of community in the class. Special attention will
be paid to the integration of faith and learning. Finally
assessment activities will be developed to measure student
progress.
Each faculty member will participate in an online class
that will help them go through some principles of online
learning based on how we know that people learn.
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