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INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN TIPS: Adding Content
Planning Course Content - What preparation do I need?
Planning for Technology in Your Course
- When organizing the course and deciding what information to place where,
try to group like items together as well as information that will be
reused at the end of the course. This makes it easier to recycle the
course information at the end of the course.
- Give clear explanations describing what each item is, what programs are
necessary to access it, and how it fits in with the overall goals of the lesson.
- Give comprehensive descriptions with each online assignment indicating
the relevance to the classroom-based course component and corresponding materials.
- Give placement cues directing students to related assignments, readings,
web sites or course documents.
How you plan your online course, should not be a direct translation
from how it would be handled in the classroom. Putting large amounts of
reading materials online may be difficult for students.
Activities focusing on analysis and communication work particularly well online:
- Try pairing reading materials with discussion board activities.
- Try pairing video clips or images with discussion board activities.
- Try posting assignments online, and have the best student examples published to the rest of the class.
- Try pairing hands-on offline activities such as labs or field work with online reflection and discussion.
- Try using Blackboard's group function to facilitate peer review of assignments or group projects.
Formats other than text work particularly well online:
- Try presenting materials in other formats than just text (i.e. images, video or audio).
- Try pairing textual descriptions with images when possible.
- Try using video clips online if the segment is very short. For full-lenth movies, offline methods work best.
- Try using audio-enhanced PowerPoint presentations.
- Try using CD-ROM or website materials that may accompany your textbook.
Preparing Student to use Blackboard?
When using Blackboard, you will also need to communicate to your students
about how to use the system.
One way to do this is to direct them to the
student section of our website
Our website contains a Quick Guide for Students with instructions on how
to log in. We also have an interactive online tutorial that shows students
what the system looks like and explains Blackboard features.
Other tips for communicating to your students:
- Make sure the online activities are integrated into your syllabus
- Make sure the online activities count as part of the class grade
- Use the "announcements" or "e-mail" sections of Blackboard to remind
them of due dates or let them know when something changes
- Use the "discussion board" for clarification of class expectations
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Planning Course Content