Enrollment Milestone: 22 Faculty Enrolled in Summer Course Design Practicum

Being an online student is great preparation for being a successful online teacher. This summer the Office of Distance Learning will facilitate the largest session yet of Course Design Practicum (CDP) with 22 faculty participants from six colleges. CDP is a ten-week design/build experience for faculty to create their own hybrid or online course design using Quality Matters (QM) standards.

In CDP, faculty develop and refine course learning outcomes, develop exemplar models of learning units for replication, examine their assessment strategy and consider alternate formats, and explore new teaching technologies. CDP is delivered fully online with select face-to-face components to aid faculty in course design.

To date, 73 faculty have completed one of eight previous CDP workshops. “CDP is our premium faculty professional development experience which combines the application of design standards and testing of instructional tools by faculty into an online learning environment. Giving faculty a structured pathway for course design that addresses substantive issues to ensure student achievement of learning outcomes is one of our overarching goals,” stated Luke Dowden, Director of Distance Learning. “Moreover, student satisfaction in hybrid and online courses increases when faculty have developed a design to account for different learning styles and accessibility of content for mobile learners.”

In post-course surveys, a majority of faculty participants report spending three to five hours per week on CDP. When recent participants were asked about the aspects of Course Design Practicum that they liked most, one CDP completer responded that a great benefit was “being able to view other instructors’ course content and design”. Another replied that the “hands-on development of a product that I can use” was the most advantageous outcome of participation in CDP.

Participants who complete Course Design Practicum and Quality Matters training earn the ULearn Certification Course Designer distinction. For more information about becoming ULearn certified, please click here.