Offering Flexibility and Quality

Interested in our faculty development program for blended and online teaching? E-mail us at LTC@uwm.edu. A new program starts in Spring 10!

Online Courses

Online courses are courses where 100% of the traditional face-to-face classroom time is replaced by online assignments and activities. Students have greater flexibility regarding when and where coursework can be completed.

The LTC staff has expertise that can help instructors in the design and delivery of fully online courses. Fully online courses use technology in order to meet in a virtual classroom. Fully online courses do not meet face-to-face, but use Desire2Learn, a courseware product, in order to facilitate a virtual classroom. We assist instructors in developing their courses for online administration by proposing pedagogical and technological considerations in design.

Online Faculty Development Program

To view materials from our program, please see our Day 1 and Day 2 handouts, including agendas at: Online Faculty Development Program

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) would like to invite faculty and instructional staff who are interested in redesigning their courses for delivery as blended or as online to our UWM Faculty Development Program for Blended and Online Teaching.

We are offering one program this fall and offering another program in the spring.If you are interested, please e-mail tjoosten@uwm.edu to let me know in which program you want to participate.

Program Details:

Our program will be offered twice during the academic year, once during the fall semester and once during the spring. The program consists of two face-to-face workshops that are 4 hours each and will be supplemented by online activities. We will be offering our program over the summer as well - stay tuned@

If you are redesigning a course(s) for blended or online that you plan to teach next spring, you are invited to participate in the Fall '09 UWM faculty development program. If you are planning to offer such courses next fall, you can sign up for our spring '10 program.

The fall 09 program will be held starting Friday, October 9th, 9am-1pm, and concluding Friday, November 13th, 9am-1pm.

The spring 10 program will be held starting Friday, March 12th, 9am-1pm, and concluding Friday, April 16th, 9am-1pm.

Some topics include:
- Developing learning modules for blended and online courses
- Assessment strategies for active learning
- Delivering content online
- Using online discussions effectively
- Promoting active learning
- Redesigning large enrollment courses
- Managing your workload and helping support your students
- Evaluating your course

Online Teaching Resources

Importing Items into D2L

Respondus
Respondus allows you to import items from the publisher's database or a Word document and export them in a format that allows you to import items into D2L without having to manually input them.
Using Respondus with D2L

Interactive Digital Activities

Study Mate
Study Mate allows you to import multiple choice items, fill-in-the blank, definitions, and so forth and out put them in various interactive forms.
Example of Chapter 1 Activities for COM310 Course

D2L Scavenger Hunt

eLearn Campus Shockwave D2L Scavenger Hunt

The scavenger hunt below is customizable to your course design. Students complete the scavenger hunt using the PowerPoint to guide them while completing the corresponding worksheet, which is then submitted to the drop box. Students are learning about the course, while familiarizing themselves with D2L.

D2L Scavenger Hunt PowerPoint
D2L Scavenger Hunt Worksheet

Types of CATs:
Entrance Tickets
Exit Assignment
Reality Check Survey

Using Rubrics for Assessment

Essay Rubric
Class Participation Rubric
Case Study Rubric
Be My Valentine Rubric
Debriefing Rubric

Evaluating your online course

Quality Matters

Sample of Course Review Form

Horton, W. (2001). Evaluating e-learning. ASTD. ASTD is the American Society for Training and development, so please note that the book was developed more for corporate training than higher education.

Horton Consulting offers some helpful tools:

Evaluating E-Learning Spreadsheet
Evaluation Workbook

Evaluation Planning

Again, remember that these are more for coporate sector, but can be revised for educational use.

CSU Chico Evaluation Criteria for Online Courses

CSU Chico Course Evaluation

CSU Chicago Design Tips and Checklist

Illinois Online Network (ION), University of Illinois, Quality Online Course Iniative

University of Montana and DePaul University: Guiding Principles for Faculty in Distance Learning, Rubrics for Designing an Online Course

Troy Course Evaluation

Managing Small Groups Online

Three Keys to Managing Learning Groups by Larry Michaelsen
This is brief and to the point.

Cooperative Learning by Barbara Gross Davis
This is an article from the highly-respected Stanford Newsletter on Teaching. A nice, succinct overview.

Teaching Strategies: Group Work and Cooperative Learning
Here are several links from the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan.

Managing Online Discussion Forums

Online Discussions (Dartmouth)
This is a good general discussion of the rationale for and management of online discussion.

Moderating and Facilitating Online Discussions (Sonoma State)
Although this is a PowerPoint, it does have some practical tips about online facilitation, from a part of the country where online education is booming.

Tips & Strategies for Facilitating Online Discussions
This is my favorite -- both practical and concise.

Netiquette by Virginia Shea
This is an excellent site on Netiquette, excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea.

Learning Objects

Merlot
Merlot is probably the world's best-known repository for learning objects.

Lecture Hall (University of Texas at Austin)
This site contains much information on curriculum development in every discipline.

Rubrics for your Online Course

Understanding Rubrics by Heidi Goodrich Andrade
An excellent introduction to the creation of rubrics.

Rubric Generators
This is designed for K-12 instructors, but it gives you a good idea how to proceed creating your rubrics.

An Online Rubric Builder
This rubric builder was put on the Web by David Warlick of the Landmark Project -- it's very straightforward to use!

Assessing Online Resources

Susan Beck's famous article on assessment of Web pages
Susan Beck, at New Mexico State, has written one of the best-known online guides to student assessment of Web sites.

Rubric for the Evaluation of Web Sites
This is kind of interesting -- a rubric on assessment of Web sites. It was written by John Pilgrim in a K-12 environment, but could easily be adapted to university-level work.

Tutorial on Assessment of Web sites
This tutorial (which includes lots of examples) was placed online by the UC-Berkeley Library.

Evaluating Internet Sites
This simulation teaches a student how to evaluate the quality of an Internet site.

Classroom assessment techniques (CATs)

Introduction to CATs (by Angelo and Cross)
This includes an excerpt from the well-known Angelo & Cross work on classroom assessment.

Southern Illinois University
This site includes more than a dozen examples of CATs, with descriptions of how to use them.

Indiana University
This offers a very low-key, succinct discussion of CATs complete with several useful examples.

Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide (FLAG)
This is a very sophisticated site with many good examples of higher-level CATs specifically designed for math and the natural sciences.

A very low-key, succinct discussion of CATs

A selection from the “bible” of CATs by Angelo and Cross

A dozen CATs described in detail, with instructions on ways to use them

Writing for the Web

Some Tips from Dartmouth College

Some useful tips from Les Howles at Madison

Web quest links

A Webquest link that has numerous links to other Webquest sites
This is mainly focused on K-12, but could be adapted for university level work as well.

The Web Quest page at San Diego State University
This is the definitive Web quest page, in my view.

Journaling online

Web Journaling
A useful discussion of online journals as a mode of learning from Langara College in Vancouver, B.C

Journalling Resources
This is a page of online journaling resources from Maricopa College, a leader in online instruction.

Helpful References to Online Teaching

Evaluating your online course

Horton, W. (2001). Evaluating e-learning. ASTD.

Managing online discussions and creating a virtual learning community

Bender, T., (2003). Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice and Assessment. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Conrad, R. & Donaldson, J. (2004). Engaging the Online Learner : Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ongoing assessments of online learning

Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K., (1999). Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace : Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K., (2003). The Virtual Student: A Profile and Guide to Working with Online Learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K., (2004). Collaborating Online : Learning Together in Community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.