Get with the Program: Recent Episodes
Naat Jairam & Jeff Suarez-Grant
We’re Naat and Jeff. We’re instructional designers. We help faculty design and build courses. Hybrid, online, face-to-face too! Faculty have lots of questions, but so do we. We also wonder about the nuts and bolts, the how and why of course design.
Hear us talk about things we might take for granted, design practices we accept, but should question, debate different approaches, and explore new tools.
This podcast is for instructional designers, faculty, teachers, administrators, really anyone fascinated or curious about the design of effective teaching and learning.
Concluding our multi-episode discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion, we ask: “How do I talk to faculty about diversity, equity, and inclusion in online course design?”
You do not need to put faculty on the spot. You are free to be deliberative, begin with universal design principles, allow faculty to try out practices, and use your ID perspective to comment on examples. But later, do bring up data about your student body, research about DEI practices, and that universal design practices and specific practices for minoritized students go hand-in-hand.
To best implement universal design practices, such as transparency, you change your assignment prompts to reflect the needs of the specific students in your course and institution. Designing for specific students follows the major tenet of instructional design: design for your target audience. We then better practice systematic instructional design yielding a better base for evaluation.
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Continuing our multi-episode discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion, we now want specifics: "What are specific DEI design practices and who do they help?"
We organize the specific practices into three categories: (1) DEI practices that have significant overlap with traditional course design practices; (2) course design practices that need to be creatively reframed to address DEI in an intentional way; and (3) DEI practices that are difficult to place into a traditional course design framework.
We discuss "clear expectations and criteria" to unpack hidden curriculum; "use of various instructional materials" for cultural relevant instruction; and equity gap analysis.
We leave the discussion concerned that even with information about students and practices, faculty or designers may not implement them. We still need to answer "Why DEI?"
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We continue our multiple-episode discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion in online course design, by pumping the brakes and asking “Isn’t good course design naturally inclusive?”
Traditional course design is geared towards a generic student. While needs analysis is a part of traditional instructional design, IDs and faculty typically skip that step to focus on the design for learning the content or Universal Design for Learning principles. When designing for student input and contribution, more information about our students, and their unique needs is required for a design strategy that better meets their needs.
But we run into the problem that as designers we do not always have time or the ability to survey student needs before designing a specific course or cannot design courses for individual students. We also do not know what strategies we could use if we had that information. We conclude that traditional course design is accidentally inclusive, but not intentionally so. We set up the question for the next episode: how can we build off traditional course design and make it intentionally inclusive?
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In this episode, we begin a multi-episode discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion in online course design. Our first question is “What’s the best way to introduce DEI to online course design?” We survey the equity-based and traditional course design rubrics in search of a method of providing helpful recommendations as Instructional Designers. We present a solution to prevent relying on multiple, distinct rubrics: Annotations. These Annotations connect rubrics to inclusive design practices and each to each other. We preview the next episode’s question: “Isn’t good course design naturally inclusive?”
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In this episode, we ask “Can you build additional online courses without retaking a course design program?” We encourage you to use your newly found ID powers and self-check your course alignment with a course map. You know how to use one after receiving ID feedback, but you now have the skills to do it yourself. Whatever shortcut you decide to use, don’t forget alignment of activities to module-level objectives. We insist that use of module-level objectives is a good marker of a quality online course.
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In this episode, we ask “What should I do with a complete, ready-to-use course?” We pinpoint important guidance to help you get your bearings, such as locating a facilitation guide, using built-in guidance in the syllabus or unpublished pages, or what questions to ask your department about your flexibility. We emphasize that a pre-built course does not mean that it runs on its own. Online instruction requires teaching, such as posting announcements, personalized feedback, and communicating with students.
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In this episode, we ask “How do I get my course ready for someone else to teach?” We discuss how a guide lists teaching practices, such as writing personalized feedback, posting announcements, and participating in discussions. We also recommend guidance on outside resources required, such as third-party tools or recorded lectures.
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In this episode, we ask “What’s the difference between remote and online instruction?” We explore how remote instruction is dependent on faculty initiating a Zoom session at a designated time, like lecturing in-person. A traditional fully online course is flexible and designed with robust, asynchronous modules so students can initiate their own work. But online courses still benefit from live interaction to build community and work through problems.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “Is all feedback good?” We describe how balanced feedback is collegial, constructive, and sensitive. Outside of a peer review, we also discuss whether direct, even insensitive feedback could ever be useful.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask "Isn't repetition or redundancy bad in course design?" We discuss how instructions for each item are helpful as students often consider each item in isolation. Individual assignment, discussion, reading page, and quiz templates and trusty copy-and-paste aid in this effort.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “Why does someone need to review my online course?” We unpack the role of a peer reviewer, the power of established online course design standards, and how an outside yet constructive and collegial peer review can improve your course.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we debate “Should I stop using a syllabus?” We argue whether a course in a learning management system can replace the syllabus, how the syllabus is useful as the one place to go, and the role of the syllabus in for department and college administration.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “Should I use a course template?” We describe a course template, how it can lead to a consistent student experience across courses, and help instructors discover new methods and practices in course design.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “How do you get started with group work?” We discuss some reasons students dislike group projects, and why faculty might still want to assign them. We suggest two ways to get started with lower stakes group activities and what goes into a successful team-based, semester-long project.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “Am I responsible for making my course accessible?" We discuss the roles and responsibilities of different units on campus and you as faculty. We identify some faculty responsibilities including working with students with an accommodation, creating materials with accessibility in mind, and curating materials to meet accessibility standards. But don’t worry! This is not all on you. You have a team at your institution to help.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask how to plan a week of instruction? We discuss ways to establish a weekly routine informed by module-level objectives and experience from classroom instruction.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask why are learner-to-learner interactions in an online course important? And when? Hint: it doesn’t always have to be a weekly discussion.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “How do you write objective s without describing a particular assignment?” We discuss making your course design more flexible and ready to accommodate different teaching approaches.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask “Why are module-level objectives so important? Aren’t course-level objectives enough?” We discuss the benefits of breaking down course-level objectives into their components.
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This is Get with the Program. Here we talk about a question we have about online course design. As we help faculty build their courses, we have our own questions. In this episode, we ask "How do you know whether objectives are relevant to students’ lives?" We discuss the use of context and results, adding a specific objective for students to connect material to their lives, and checking in with your students.
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