Post Digital Course Design
Facilitators:
Les Tyler Johnson, educational developer, online pedagogies
Kate Crane, educational developer, online pedagogies
Course Description
After years of remote delivery, the classroom or lecture hall is, once again, the fulcrum of teaching and learning... right? The fact of the matter is that, even before pandemic disruption, teachers and students have always creatively woven together physical and digital tools and techniques to achieve learning in ways that spill out over the container of the physical classroom environment. Designing with just course delivery in mind (i.e., online, in person, or blended) overlooks the fact that students and instructors have entangled and complexly configured learning, teaching, and studying practices that incorporate social, physical, and digital elements. Students who take “online” courses stow away their computers to meet with peers for some much-needed face time in coffee shops; instructors teaching “in person” continue to use virtual tools to communicate and facilitate learning. Teaching and learning labelled “online” or “in person” are, in fact, never solely distant nor solely face-to-face, asynchronous nor synchronous, digital nor non-digital. A “post-digital” conceptual lens helps to broaden our design thinking to incorporate consideration of the socio-material realities of a world deeply permeated with technology.
In this course, you will have opportunities to learn, practice, and implement evidence-based course design and teaching practices through this “post-digital” lens. The course will emphasize (1) conceptual frames to understand, analyze and evaluate contemporary experiences of teaching and learning, and (2) writing learning outcomes and aligning them with evidence-based assessment designs and instructional methods. The course will also offer opportunities to explore teaching strategies commonly associated solely with online delivery, such as those related to instructor presence, course site layouts, and digital tools.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Analyze, evaluate, and apply concepts of teaching and learning in higher education; in particular, conceptual frames to understand, analyze and evaluate contemporary teaching and learning environments and experiences
- Critically reflect on and discuss beliefs, values, and approaches for effective and accessible online and blended teaching practice
- Employ online-specific teaching strategies such as establishing instructor presence, organizing an online course site, and using the digital environment and tools effectively
- Write effective, attainable, and explicit course learning outcomes that may be applied in alignment with assessments and instructional methods
- Apply evidence-based teaching and learning strategies, methods, and assessment practices for various contexts and modalities
- Design or re-design a course prepared for a specific teaching context and discipline, applying the concepts of “post-digital” education
COURSE START AND END DATES = September 18 to December 1, 2023
The course will be delivered asynchronously, through Brightspace, with regular opportunities to meet one-on-one with facilitators and with peers synchronously, via Microsoft Teams. Attendance at synchronous meetings is not required.
There will be no new material nor synchronous sessions the week of November 13, 2023.