Designing online and blended courses

Rubena St. LouisBAW 2013

• The question.• Decisions to be taken.• Factors to be considered.• Aspects of online design.• Online or blended?• Things to remember.• Example sites.• Links.

Blended vs Online

Decisions to be made:

• Online or blended?• How is the learning material

going to be delivered?• What type of course is it?• How long is it?• Who are my students?• What resources do I have?

Online or blended? At home

• Do my students have the necessary equipment?

• Is there a reliable Internet connection?– Bandwidth?

• Do my students have enough technical knowledge?

• Are my students autonomous enough to work on their own?

Online or blended? At school

• What type of equipment is available?– Computers, PCs, projectors

• How much equipment is available for use?

• Are there any restrictions?

• How much lab time is allotted to my class?

Online or blended? Objectives

• Can all of the objectives of my course be achieved through exclusive use of the computer?

• Are there any activities that would be better suited to a f2f environment?

• What do we gain by having an online lesson?

What factors are involved?

Who are my students?

• Age

• Sex

• Interests

• Learning styles

• Attitude

• Linguistic level

• Cognitive level

• Content knowledge

• Computer skills

Course objectives

• What type of course am I teaching?

• What kind of lesson am I planning?

• What are the objectives of this lesson?–What do my students have to do?

• Where will the content be delivered?– F2f, online, amount of teacher intervention.

Learning Management Platform• Edmodo/Moodle

• Yahoo groups

• Ning

• Blog

• Wiki

What’s the input?

What are the activities?

• Introduction

• Practice

• Consolidation

Let’s get started

Find a good bookmarking tool:

Decide on your content.

• Newspapers• Ebooks• Television web sites• Museums and art galleries• Educational sites• Social networks• Blogs, wikis, podcasts

Present the content

• Selecting appropriate input

– Is it congruent with learning objectives?• Will it help my students achieve the set objectives.

– Is it at my students’ linguistic level?– Is it at my students’ cognitive level?– Do I need permission to use the content?

Create your content

Audio content

• Write a script of what you are going to say.

• Practice reading aloud.• Articulate and modulate

your words.• Read at a normal speed. • Reduce background noise

as far as possible.

Adapt audio content

• Edit longer audio into shorter clips.

• Provide audio script if needed.

Written content

• Use short texts. – Be clear and precise.– Divide into short

paragraphs.

• Use a clear, sharp font.

• Use two or three colours.

• Check language.– Spelling, grammar,

punctuation.

Interactive content

• Write your own script…

• Find appropriate images…

• Use audio…

…and create interactive content.

Prepare presentations

• Explain grammar points.

• Illustrate language functions.

• Introduce vocabulary.

• Illustrate strategies.

Create your activities: The students

• Consider learning styles

• Variety of activities

• Student involvement

• Level of difficulty

Create your activities:

• Using students’ prior knowledge

Traditional activities:

• Open ended questions• Multiple choice questions

– One correct answer– Several correct answers

• True or False questions• Cloze activities• Fill-in-the-blanks• Drag and drop• Matching • Ordering

Student generated activities:

• Student generated quizzes

• Collaborative writing

• Audio and video creations

Online or blended?

Where’s the difference?

Where’s the teacher?

• Create an online presence and voice.

• Have self-contained lessons.

• Live sessions.

Audio is important.

• Increases aural contact with the language.

• Establishes teacher’s presence in the online environment.

• Introducing oneself and participants.

• Explaining course objectives.

• Presenting content.

• Sending feedback to students.

• Giving aural support.

• Maintaining an online presence.

Complete lesson

Beginning

Learning activities

End

Evaluate learning at each step

• Incorporate feedback into activities.

• Use game format to test knowledge.

• Use flashcards to aid and test learning.

Clear instructions

• Think carefully about what you want the students to do.

Online instructions:

• Should be clear and precise.

• Use short sentences with vocabulary the student knows.

• Explain what should be done step by step.

• Create a context for the activity.

Create a space for discussion

• Encourage the use of forums.

• Have online “live” sessions.

• Encourage student interaction through group work and chats.

Navigate through the site.

• Have clear signposting.

• Make sure all links are active.

• Make sure links connect to correct page.

To recap: On line courses need:

• Clean and clear format– Students need to know– WHAT to do – HOW it should be done and – WHEN it should be done.

• Support voice of the teacher.– A learning context– audio support – simple, friendly tone of voice– communication (through forum, email, chat)

To recap: On line courses need:

• Activities which check students’ understanding of the content matter at each stage. – Sufficient support

material– Variety of activities

• Student interaction– Discussions in

forums– Group meetings in

virtual rooms– Social network for

students

Examples of courses:

• Blended course – Additional support for f2f lesson

• Online component– Lesson to be done completely online.

Links to sites:Bookmarking tools

• Delicious

• Diigo

• Netvouz

• Stumbleupon

Links to sites: Audio tools

• Audacity• Audiopal• Howjsay• Vocaroo• Voki• Voxopop

Links to sites: Interactive tools

• CLEAR

• Educaplay

• Hotpotatoes

• Quizlet

• Wordlearner

Links to sites: Presentation tools

• Hello slide

• Issuu

• Screenr

• Slide share