In a world that’s quickly becoming dominated by mobile technology, flexible working opportunities and a post-pandemic economy, online learning is here to stay. This course introduces you to the basics of reimagining, redesigning and optimising face-to-face offerings for the online environment so that learners feel connected, engaged and motivated to learn.
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Online education: The foundations of online teaching
This course is part of Online Learning Design for Educators Specialization
Instructors: A/Professor Iain Hay
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There are 5 modules in this course
Welcome to Week 1! This week we will discuss and review the evolution of online course design. Advancements in technology have fundamentally changed the way learners can study. Students and learners can now choose from a range of course model types and most current course models have an online learning component. It is expected that online learning will continue to grow in popularity as more and more students gain access to the internet throughout the world.
What's included
5 videos9 readings2 assignments2 discussion prompts
Welcome to Week 2! This week you will explore the key concept of transactional distance, a phrase coined by Michael Moore in 1998. Being physically distant from your students presents a number of challenges but building on online presence can reduce some of these issues. We will also explore three key concepts related to Moore’s early work developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000), and built into their Critical Community of Inquiry Model. The concepts are 1) teacher presence, 2) social presence and 3) cognitive presence. These three concepts inform teacher behaviours and learning design characteristics that are crucial to the successful delivery and online learning experience of students.
What's included
4 videos6 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Week 3! This week we will examine the concept of cognitive load. As educators, we need to be mindful that cognitive load pressures can adversely affect our student's ability to learn. So, this week we will explore some practical tips and techniques to prevent cognitive overload. We will also discuss the importance of creating a supportive, inclusive and welcoming online learning environment and will show you some practical tips and techniques to set up your online course where your students can thrive.
What's included
4 videos6 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Week 4! This week we will define the term 'learning community', then learn how to create a learning community using online discussion forums. Research tells us that meaningful, inclusive and supportive learning communities help students feel a sense of belonging. This sense of belonging can support deep learning and as a result improve student performance. As you will learn this week, discussion forums are popular tools that online educators can use to build learning effective learning communities of their very own.
What's included
5 videos6 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Week 5! This week we look forward and explore the question, what will happen next in online education? We will investigate emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, and discuss their potential impact on the online education sector. We will finish this course discussing the importance for every online educator to continuously upskill and improve their skills in online teaching. We will give you some practical tips and help you to create your own future online teaching professional development action plan.
What's included
4 videos6 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt
Instructors
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Recommended if you're interested in Education
Johns Hopkins University
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Commonwealth Education Trust
Arizona State University
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