RELAX – Reutlingen University’s Learning Platform

Best Practice for Online Courses

Content• Design,Layout,Form• CourseStructure• ResourcesandActivities• StudentAssessment• TeachingMethodology

RELAXhttps://relax.reutlingen-university.deFurtherInformationhttp://www.reutlingen-university.de/relaxReutlingenUniversityComputerCenterGusHagelbergTel.07121271-1327gus.hagelberg@reutlingen-university.de

1 RELAX–BestPractice

1. Introduction Thisdocument isdesigned to assist you, as a university teacher, to create asuccessfulblendedlearningcourseinRELAX(Moodle).Thegoalistohelpyouunderstandthebenefitsofblendedlearningandtoprovideyouwithbasictoolstoimplementthesemethods.IwanttothankProf.YoanyBeldarrainforherinvaluableinformationgainedafteryearsofexperienceinblendedlearning.

RELAX–BestPractice 2

2. Design, Layout, Form Thesuccessofyouronlinecoursedepends,inpart,onitsvisualimpactonyourstudents.Byfollowingthesebasicguidelinesyourstudentsaremorelikelytoaccept,understandandappreciateyouronlinecourse.

Easy to read, user-friendly • Useonlythestandardfonttypesandformattingtools(ie.header1,header2…)

• Headersandsummarytexthelporientation

• Trynottoclutterupyourcoursepage• Placecontentinextradocuments(PDF,Word,etc.)

• Titlesfordocumentsandactivitiesshouldbeclearandconcise

• Designshouldbepleasingtotheeye• Contentshouldhaveaconsistentdesignandfunctionality

• Useaclearandsimplenavigation• Useimagestomakethepagemoreinterestingandinvolving

• Useblocksonlywhennecessaryandkeepthemontheleftsideofthecoursepage

Clear structure • Thecoursepageshouldnotbetoolong• Placebasiccourseinformationatthetopofthepage• Usethecourseformat“CollapsedTopics”• Studentshouldonlybepresentedwithrelevantinformation• Studentsshouldbegivenaclearoverviewofthecoursecontents• Makeclearwhichmaterialandactivitiesaremandatory

3 RELAX–BestPractice

3. Course Structure InthissectionwewillbeaddressingthevariouselementsofourBestPracticecourse and the methodology behind using them. These are, of course, onlysuggestionsanddonothavetobeadoptedintheirentirety.AttheUniversityofReutlingenteacherscanchoosetohavetheircoursessetupautomaticallyandwithastandardizeddesign(template).ThecoursepageofeachRELAXcourseisdividedupintoblocks,headerandaseriesofsections(topics).Theillustrationbellowdescribestheelementsofawell-structuredcourse.

Recent Activity displays announcements and content updates

Upcoming Events shows future events and deadlines

Course Title, Contact Info and Teacher Profile Picture help give students orientation

Activity Description of activity displayed on course page

Custom Section Name, Summary and Image

Labels (formatted as Heading 3), indented Resources and Activities create a hierarchy and an improved layout

RELAX–BestPractice 4

Header In the header area of yourcourseit isrecommendedthatyou place the logo of yourfacultyandthecoursename.Byplacing the faculty logo at thetop and by following theseguidelinesyoucontributetoanonline“corporateidentity”.It ishelpful for the students ifyouplaceyourphotoandyourcontact information here. Youshouldalsoencouragestudentstouploadtheirphotostotheirprofiles.Thiswillhelpcreateasenseofcommunityandhelpyoutoassociatenamestofaces.In header area it is also recommended to place the following material andactivities:

Syllabus:Thiscontainsanoverviewofthecoursecontent,informationon grading and other basic information. This helps students improve

theirtimemanagementskills.Feedback:With a feedback activity you can, for example, allow yourstudentstopresentsomeinformationabouttheirbackground,goals,etc.

Youcanalsocreateasimplesurveyinordertoallowthestudentstoassessthequalityorvalueofyourclass.

Forums:Inthe“NewsForum”(a.k.a.“Announcements”)teacherscreatepostswhicharesentviaE-Mailtotheparticipants.Studentscannotpost

inthisforum.A second forum for student involvement is also recommended. This forumplaysakeyrole increatingengagingonlinecoursesandisdesignedtoallowstudents the space to activelydiscuss anddebate the issues they havebeenlearning.Teachersneedtomoderatethistypeofdiscussionforum.Theyneedtoposequestions,monitoranswersandsometimesprovideanswers.Dependingonthedesignof thecourse,questionscanbeused to introducea topic thatwillbediscussed in class, or to extend a topic that was discussed in class. A goodpractice is to pose a question each week and encourage your students torespondandcomment.

5 RELAX–BestPractice

Forum posts can also be used to help grade students. This, obviously, willincrease their participation. The teaching methodology used here isconstructivistlearning,wherestudentsareactivelyengagedinthediscussionandlearnfromeachother’sperspective.Teacherscangainvaluable insight into students learning through the forumposts and students can also profit by learning how to verbalize, ask goodquestionsandrespondwithintelligentanswers.Avirtualofficecanalsobecreatedusingforums.Studentscanaskquestionsherethatareokforclassmatestosee.Teachersneed,then,tomakesuretheyrespondtothequestions.

Sections Each RELAX coursecontains one or moresections. Depending uponthe course format youchoose under “Courseadministration > Editsetting>Courseformat”thesections will be displayeddifferently.Werecommendyouuse“CollapsedTopics”.It allows students tocollapse the topics whichare not presently beingdiscussed.Independent of the courseformatyouchoose,eachsectiontypicallycontainsthecoursematerialforoneparticularcourseweekorunit.Eachsectionshouldhaveacleartitle,animageandasummaryofthegoalsfortheweekorunit.Labelsarehelpfultogroupresourcesandactivities.Resources,activitiesandsections should have clear, informative names. By indenting resources andactivitiesyoucreateadistincthierarchy,makingthepageeasiertograsp.Itcanbehelpfultoyourstudentsifyoushowthedescriptionofanactivityorresource(check“Displaydescriptiononcoursepage”inthesettingforanitem).

RELAX–BestPractice 6

Blocks Blocksarehelpfultoshowcurrentinformationlikeupcomingduedatesornewforumposts.Theblocks“Navigation”and“Administration”arepredefinedandcannotberemoved.Youcanaddadditionalblockstoyourcoursepagewhichwillbevisibletoyourstudents.Youshouldtrytolimitthenumberofblocksonyour course page so that students are not overwhelmed with information.Blocksshouldappearonlyontheleft.Thefollowingblocksarerecommended:

Recent activity Upcoming events

7 RELAX–BestPractice

4. Resources and Activities

Resources Resources include PowerPoint presentations, videos,links, learning goals for the week, chapters fromtextbooksorasummaryofthepreviouslectures.Thesepresent students with core themes and informationneededfortheunit.Goals:Motivation,easingstudent’sintroductiontothetopic, assistance in preparation and review of theweek’slectures,clarifyingwhichtopicsarerelevanttoexamsandmorein-depthlearning.Methods:Uploadingfiles,text,photos

Resources (optional) References,links,photosandfurthermaterialrelatedtothe current topic are presented to the students eachweek.Goals:Savestimesforthestudentsbypresentingthemwithrelevantmaterial.Methods:Uploadingfiles,text,photosListsof resources, links, images and furthermaterialscanbeprovidedweeklytoyourstudents.

Activity: Forum Asmentioned in the sectionabove, forums shouldbe set up for students tocritically discuss course topics. It is recommended that you set up just onediscussion forum for the entire course. As the teacher you can, for example,present aquestioneachweekand tell the students theyhave to answer thequestionandcommentonanswersfromotherstudents.Forumpostsaresentviaemailtoparticipantssothatacontinualdiscussionoutsideoftheclassroomispossible.Goals: Continuous, constructivist learning, students learn from each other’sperspectives,reducingfearofparticipation(studentstooshytospeakintheclassroomhaveaviablealternative).Methods:Moodleactivity“Forum”,automaticgradingispossible

RELAX–BestPractice 8

Activity: Choice or Feedback Studentsgive feedback, includingcritiqueandrecommended improvements,aboutlecturesandcoursematerial.Theentriescanbeanonymousifdesired.Goals:Improvingteachingingeneral,encouraginginputfromstudentsaboutcoursecontent,teachingmethods,etc.Methods:Moodleactivity“Choice”or“Feedback”

Activity: Quizzes Students and teachers can better assess their learning progresswhen shortquizzeswithcurrenttopicsarepresented.Goals:Increasingselfconfidence,improvedselfassessmentMethods:Moodleactivity“Quiz”

Activity: Wiki or Etherpad Awikiisatooltocreatecollaborativeauthoredcontent.TheEtherpadactivityissimilarbutalsoallowssimultaneouseditingofthesametext.Goals:Collaborationamongstudents,knowledgetransferMethods:Moodleactivity„Wiki“or“Etherpad”

9 RELAX–BestPractice

5. Student Assessment At the beginning of each semester it is important to communicate to yourstudentshowyouwillbeusingtheonlinecourse,whatroleitplaysandwhatexpectationsyouhave.Will thestudent’sonlineactivitybe, insome fashion,used in grading? Approximately how much time do you expect students toinvestinonlinelearningoutsideoftheclassroom?Willtherebematerialplacedintheonlinecoursewhichstudentsarerequiredtoreadorcomplete?Ifyouplanonusingonlinetestspleaserefertothebrochure“ErstellungvonTestsinRELAX”availablefromtheComputerCenter.

List offers the teacher an overview of grades for all students

6. Tracking Activity Completion Withthe“Activitycompletion”featureofRELAXyoucanseeanoverviewoftheworkyourstudentshavecompleted.Inordertousethisfeatureyouhavetoenablecompletiontrackinginthecoursesettings.Toviewthestudentsprocessjust go to “Administration > Course administration > Reports > Activitycompletion”

RELAX–BestPractice 10

11 RELAX–BestPractice

7. Teaching Methodology • Youronlinecourseshouldprovidevariousopportunitiesforinteractivelearningandcommunication(betweenstudentsandbetweenstudentsandteacher).

• Learninggoalsandgradingschemesareclearlydefinedandareclearlylinkedwitheducationalactivities.

• Yourcourseoffersavarietyofaudio,visualandtextualactivitiesdesignedtoimprovelearning.

• Youcanapplydifferentlearningmethodsinyourcourse.Howcanonlinetoolslike“Feedback”,“Assignment”,“Quiz”,”Forum”or“Wiki”beusedtoimproveuponthetraditionalteachingmethodsoflecture,classroomdiscussion,groupactivityandindividuallearning?Howmight youuseRELAX to furthermotivateyour students to actively getinvolvedinthelearningprocess?

Evaluation and Grading • Thecourseofferssufficientopportunitiesforself-assessment.• Learninggoalsarelinkedtogradableactivities.• Thereareampleandtimelyopportunitiesforfeedbackonhowastudentisdoing.

• Studentsarealsoabletoprovidefeedbacktootherstudents.

Feedback from Students • Studentsareabletoprovidefeedbackaboutcoursematerialandteachingmethods.

• Feedbackispossibleontheonlineplatform.

RELAX–BestPractice 12

Computer Center Service Desk in the Learning Center Building3Telephone:07121-2711333E-Mail:servicedesk@reutlingen-university.deContact:JürgenDippell

Opening hours during the semester Monday–Friday 8:00–21:00Saturday 10:00–16:00