Developing a Course

Basic Assignment

Form teams. Using the following procedure, design a class on of the following topics:

• Commuting to the University, a training for new UW staff
• Balancing your checkbook
• Changing a tire on your car
• Your first skydive

1. Write a brief class overview
2. Write a brief statement of the role of the Web in the class
3. Brainstorm ideas for content
4. List learning objectives & performance tasks
5. List course resources
6. Design a course map
7. Implement your design

Detailed Procedure

1. Class Overview
   Write a One Minute Essay giving an overview of the course that includes:

   • Philosophic statement of the reason for or value of studying the subject of the course
   • Specific statements of what students should be able to accomplish as a result of taking the course

2. Role of the Web
   Write a One Minute Essay describing the ways you expect your web site to contribute to your class.

3. Content Idea Storm

   Write down content ideas as fast as you can onto yellow sticky notes. Do not think about order or organization yet - just write ideas down as they come. Having the ideas on sticky notes will be handy later when you start trying to organize your ideas.

   

4. Learning Objectives & Performance Tasks

   For each topic, list on pink sticky notes the major learning objectives and the tasks students must do to reach that objective.

   

5. Course Resources

   On orange sticky notes, list all primary print and Internet resources for the course. Then place them, as appropriate, among the topic and tasks sticky notes.

   

6. Links to Supporting Resources

List supporting resources on green sticky notes. Place them spatially according to where they fit within the primary topics.

• Remedial



Are there topics or material that students need to know to take your course, but often do not?

• Supplemental

  

  Are there topics that are related to the course, but not usually taught, that may be of interest to students?

• Advanced



List advanced topics that might be of interest to students who are majoring in this content area, or who are extremely interested in the subject of the course and want to know more.

7. Design a Course Map

   The arrangement of your sticky notes defines the basic map of your course. Often, the elements can be arranged in several different ways.

   • Explore Idea And Topic Relationships

   By moving the stickies around, explore how the topics relate to each other.

   • Is one topic contingent upon another?
   • Must they be presented in a particular order?
   Lay out the topic sticky notes in a spatial configuration that represents their relationship to each other.

   

   • Try Different Arrangements
   

   Develop an understanding of the various ways your course could be structured by having each person organize them into the structure that seems most reasonable and appropriate to them. Others in the team will then discuss the structure.

   
   In a simple heirarchical structure, each topic is supported by a number of resources.

   
   In a multiple pathway structure, students are offered an alternative route through the topics.

8. Implementing Your Design

   What parts of your course map should be implemented in a Web site? The answer to that question will depend upon several factors:

   • Your teaching philosophy and methods
   • Your students' learning styles
   • The role the site will play in your course (informational, supplemental, dependent, or fully webbed)
   • The characteristics of your learning environment

   Work through each of the elements of your course map and brainstorm alternatives on how to present it as part of a well coordinated teaching and learning process. By the time you finish this exercise, you will have a clear picture of which parts of your course can be included in your Web site and which should not.

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