Designing online and blended courses
Rubena St. LouisBAW 2013
• The question.• Decisions to be taken.• Factors to be considered.• Aspects of online design.• Online or blended?• Things to remember.• Example sites.• Links.
Blended vs Online
Decisions to be made:
• Online or blended?• How is the learning material
going to be delivered?• What type of course is it?• How long is it?• Who are my students?• What resources do I have?
Online or blended? At home
• Do my students have the necessary equipment?
• Is there a reliable Internet connection?– Bandwidth?
• Do my students have enough technical knowledge?
• Are my students autonomous enough to work on their own?
Online or blended? At school
• What type of equipment is available?– Computers, PCs, projectors
• How much equipment is available for use?
• Are there any restrictions?
• How much lab time is allotted to my class?
Online or blended? Objectives
• Can all of the objectives of my course be achieved through exclusive use of the computer?
• Are there any activities that would be better suited to a f2f environment?
• What do we gain by having an online lesson?
What factors are involved?
Who are my students?
• Age
• Sex
• Interests
• Learning styles
• Attitude
• Linguistic level
• Cognitive level
• Content knowledge
• Computer skills
Course objectives
• What type of course am I teaching?
• What kind of lesson am I planning?
• What are the objectives of this lesson?–What do my students have to do?
• Where will the content be delivered?– F2f, online, amount of teacher intervention.
Learning Management Platform• Edmodo/Moodle
• Yahoo groups
• Ning
• Blog
• Wiki
What’s the input?
What are the activities?
• Introduction
• Practice
• Consolidation
Let’s get started
Find a good bookmarking tool:
Decide on your content.
• Newspapers• Ebooks• Television web sites• Museums and art galleries• Educational sites• Social networks• Blogs, wikis, podcasts
Present the content
• Selecting appropriate input
– Is it congruent with learning objectives?• Will it help my students achieve the set objectives.
– Is it at my students’ linguistic level?– Is it at my students’ cognitive level?– Do I need permission to use the content?
Create your content
Audio content
• Write a script of what you are going to say.
• Practice reading aloud.• Articulate and modulate
your words.• Read at a normal speed. • Reduce background noise
as far as possible.
Adapt audio content
• Edit longer audio into shorter clips.
• Provide audio script if needed.
Written content
• Use short texts. – Be clear and precise.– Divide into short
paragraphs.
• Use a clear, sharp font.
• Use two or three colours.
• Check language.– Spelling, grammar,
punctuation.
Interactive content
• Write your own script…
• Find appropriate images…
• Use audio…
…and create interactive content.
Prepare presentations
• Explain grammar points.
• Illustrate language functions.
• Introduce vocabulary.
• Illustrate strategies.
Create your activities: The students
• Consider learning styles
• Variety of activities
• Student involvement
• Level of difficulty
Create your activities:
• Using students’ prior knowledge
Traditional activities:
• Open ended questions• Multiple choice questions
– One correct answer– Several correct answers
• True or False questions• Cloze activities• Fill-in-the-blanks• Drag and drop• Matching • Ordering
Student generated activities:
• Student generated quizzes
• Collaborative writing
• Audio and video creations
Online or blended?
Where’s the difference?
Where’s the teacher?
• Create an online presence and voice.
• Have self-contained lessons.
• Live sessions.
Audio is important.
• Increases aural contact with the language.
• Establishes teacher’s presence in the online environment.
• Introducing oneself and participants.
• Explaining course objectives.
• Presenting content.
• Sending feedback to students.
• Giving aural support.
• Maintaining an online presence.
Complete lesson
Beginning
Learning activities
End
Evaluate learning at each step
• Incorporate feedback into activities.
• Use game format to test knowledge.
• Use flashcards to aid and test learning.
Clear instructions
• Think carefully about what you want the students to do.
Online instructions:
• Should be clear and precise.
• Use short sentences with vocabulary the student knows.
• Explain what should be done step by step.
• Create a context for the activity.
Create a space for discussion
• Encourage the use of forums.
• Have online “live” sessions.
• Encourage student interaction through group work and chats.
Navigate through the site.
• Have clear signposting.
• Make sure all links are active.
• Make sure links connect to correct page.
To recap: On line courses need:
• Clean and clear format– Students need to know– WHAT to do – HOW it should be done and – WHEN it should be done.
• Support voice of the teacher.– A learning context– audio support – simple, friendly tone of voice– communication (through forum, email, chat)
To recap: On line courses need:
• Activities which check students’ understanding of the content matter at each stage. – Sufficient support
material– Variety of activities
• Student interaction– Discussions in
forums– Group meetings in
virtual rooms– Social network for
students
Examples of courses:
• Blended course – Additional support for f2f lesson
• Online component– Lesson to be done completely online.
Links to sites:Bookmarking tools
• Delicious
• Diigo
• Netvouz
• Stumbleupon
Links to sites: Audio tools
• Audacity• Audiopal• Howjsay• Vocaroo• Voki• Voxopop
Links to sites: Interactive tools
• CLEAR
• Educaplay
• Hotpotatoes
• Quizlet
• Wordlearner
Links to sites: Presentation tools
• Hello slide
• Issuu
• Screenr
• Slide share
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