Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted the ability of educational institutions to deliver in-person instruction. A pragmatic solution was remote teaching, which in most cases was essentially in-person courses delivered synchronously via computer-mediated technology and videoconferencing. Student reaction to, and faculty experience of, remote teaching and learning was varied but generally less than enthusiastic. There was a growing realization that, pedagogically, emergency remote teaching could not satisfactorily replicate either well-delivered in-person instruction or well-designed distance online courses. With the anticipation that higher education will increasingly focus on online delivery, there has been renewed interest, at both the institutional and faculty level, in how effective distance learning online courses are conceptualized, designed, and facilitated. This chapter attempts, briefly but comprehensively, to explore the theoretical and practical issues involved in purposefully designing and mindfully facilitating online distance learning courses.
TopIntroduction
COVID-19 brought about a number of shifts and reconsiderations in higher education that had not been previously contemplated. Of particular significance was the rapid emergence of emergency remote teaching and learning. Remote teaching and learning sought to deploy a variety of distance learning modalities—such as synchronous and asynchronous online delivery, and blended instruction—and it was quickly pressed into use because of the impossibility of continuing to use traditional in-person instruction during the pandemic (Maqsood et al., 2021; Means & Neisler, 2021).
Remote teaching and learning was unplanned—an expediency forced by circumstance and necessity. As a substitute for in-person instruction, it was viewed by many as less than perfect and by some as less than adequate. Recent surveys indicate that college students who experienced remote teaching and learning were challenged in dealing with new technologies and with internet connectivity. More significantly, the same research indicates decreased student satisfaction, motivation, and educational engagement. Remote instruction exposed learner disparities in terms of ethnic and socio-economic status, educational access, social support, and academic performance. The challenges and dissatisfactions were also mirrored by faculty discontent. As faculty members scrambled to reformulate, repackage, and reposition their academic offerings, there was a growing awareness—by many, but by no means by all—that remote teaching was significantly different from online learning (Fox, Bryant, Lin, et al., 2020; Means & Neisler, 2021; Means et al., 2020).
This chapter maps the process involved in designing and facilitating an online course. It is a map in the sense that it shows only significant features, relationships, and aspects of the course creation and delivery landscape. It is intended to orientate the reader, who may be unfamiliar with this landscape. The chapter suggests journeys and alternative explorations that might be helpful for new course designers. The chapter also considers course conceptualization, creation, and delivery as a holistic process and not as a series of separate parts that are in some way brought together or independently assembled.
The chapter is constructed as follows. The background section maps the conceptualization phase, in which we consider the significant issues confronting a faculty member asked/ required to create a new online course. The section following this is the central one and it maps design and facilitation phases. The aim of this section is to allow for reflection, not to prescribe or dictate. The maps that it presents should be used for orientation: the reader must determine the personal paths to take and the destinations to prioritize. The subsequent section highlights many solutions and recommendations that might be of value to readers who are contemplating the design of online courses. This is followed by a consideration of future research, while the final section reflects on the chapter as a whole and presents what might be called a way forward.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning Space: The dedicated place (real or virtual), purposefully designed by the instructor, in which learners are invited to meet and engage in knowledge creation. Through its design and affordances, the instructor suggests and encourages learners to create their own unique learning environment for optimal learning.
Pedagogical Framework: The integrated set of philosophical considerations, teaching preferences, and learning values that informs and motivates the instructor in designing and facilitating a learning experience. These considerations, preferences, and values – which are usually not articulated directly to the learner – are then translated into specific teaching strategies, tactics, and approaches that allow the instructor’s broad philosophical considerations and specific educational objectives to be realized.
Affordance: A design feature that is purposefully embedded in an object, or environment, in order to clarify its use, to suggest other possible uses, or to make use easier. The extent to which an affordance is utilized depends on the recognition, ability, and inclination of the user.
Implied Student: In activities such as developing the curriculum, designing courses, and conducting assessment, educators do not deal with actual students; instead, they make their decisions based on hypothetical representations of students that are socially constructed and culturally derived. There is always a mismatch between the implied and the actual student; however, in times of rapidly changing demographics and social patterns this mismatch can be substantial, leading to inappropriate and ineffective decision-making.
Instructor/Facilitator: This is the role of most of those who manage distance learning environments. The term purposefully co-joins the two critical aspects of their role: (a) instructing and presenting a specific body of subject-matter; and (b) facilitating the social, cognitive, and relational dynamics of the learning environment. The instructor/ facilitator’s role extends, among other things, to moderating online conferences, ensuring cultural appreciation and inclusion, and providing a choice for different styles of learning.
Design: The purposeful process in the creation of an object or environment through which its purpose, function, and possibilities are made evident to the end-user.
Teaching/Instructing: There are two different ways of understanding teaching. The first sees teaching as an instructor-centered activity in which knowledge is transmitted from someone who has acquired that knowledge to novice learners: teaching as knowledge transmission. The second sees teaching as a learner-centered activity in which the instructor ensures that learning is made possible for novice learners and supports, guides, and encourages them in their active and independent creation of new knowledge: teaching as assisted knowledge creation . The second sense is used throughout the current chapter.