The DELTA Kickstart Week Approacheth

It's amazing how much can be accomplished in just a week.

You want to teach online, but maybe you don't know how to get started.  Or you know what you would do, but lack the time to do it.  If that sounds like you, ODEE's Distance Education Learning and Teaching Academy is here to help. Kickstart Week, which will be offered Monday through Friday, May 16 - 20, 2016, provides you with the guidance and time to build high-quality online learning for your students and prepares you to facilitate the weekly activities and interactions that will bring your course to life.

"SOOO much good information," writes a previous attendee, "and time to actually practice it. It is practical information that has great application to not only the course I am developing but the current ones as well." Participants disagree vigorously over whether the presentations or the studio time are more valuable. "Having time to focus on course development with experts to answer questions and point to resources. This was luxurious and the best part of the experience," writes a proponent of the studio time, but another instructor emphasizes the value of the morning sessions: "For my particular circumstance where I didn't have a class to prepare for, I found the presenters more valuable than the creation time."

What to Expect

Kickstart Week provides a focused combination of how-to demonstrations and assisted working time. Each morning, eLearning experts from around campus will provide quick introductions to key topics, such as designing for online delivery, flipping your classroom, creating engaging materials, and managing copyright. Each afternoon, three hours of focused studio time will let you start putting what you've learned into practice, while ODEE staff are on hand to answer any questions or help you get past any obstacles. By the end of the week, you may not be an expert, but you will know enough to continue making progress on the work you will have started.

This year's Kickstart Week will pay particular attention to what instructors need to know for building effective learning in Canvas, Ohio State’s new Learning Management System (LMS) that will run Carmen. All the activities you need will be demonstrated in the new LMS, including some new features not previously available, and we will be ready to answer your questions.

Agenda

Monday: Backward Design, Quality Matters (QM), Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

During day one of Kickstart Week, we will discuss how using backward design when beginning the course development process can help you focus on exactly what you want students to get out of your course and the types of experiences the course will provide for them.  We will also look at how incorporating elements from the Quality Matters rubric can help ensure that your course meets essential standards of quality and accessibility. By the end of the day, you will have been guided through a backward design process to begin drafting your course goals, major topics, essential questions, and measurable learning outcomes.  During the second half of the morning, you have an opportunity to learn about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and web accessibility as they pertain to creating your online course.

Tuesday: Assessments, Rubrics, Content Delivery, and Academic Integrity

On day two of Kickstart Week, we will focus on creating assessments and aligning them to the course learning outcomes/objectives.  Types of alternative assessments will be discussed and evaluated for use with the learning outcomes of your online course.  Creating rubrics for your assessments to better communicate grading criteria and expectations will also be discussed and tools for creating rubrics will be explored. The second half of the morning, we will discuss issues of academic integrity and how to help ensure it when using traditional and alternative assessments online. 

Wednesday: Creating Engaging Online Activities with OSU-Supported Tools

During day three of Kickstart Week our focus will be on creating activities that foster engagement in online courses.  Among our discussions this day will be the concept (or myth) of flipping the online classroom and an introduction to U.OSU which is a blog creation tool for students and instructors at OSU.  Participants will create a U.OSU page and learn how to link to their Carmen course.

Thursday: Delivering Multimedia and Open Online Content

Day four of Kickstart Week will present you with various strategies and tools for delivering content in an online course.  The morning will begin with presentations and discussions about the basics of graphic design and the role graphics play in your online course along with best practices for recording video using Mediasite and other tools.  A "field trip" to the Denney Digital Union to tour the 1-Touch recording studio and try it out yourself will be the focus of the latter half of the morning.  Be sure to bring a flash drive to save your 1-Touch studio recordings!

Friday: Building Your Course: Putting It All Together

 

The final day of Kickstart Week provides a session centered around topics of intellectual property rights, copyright, open education resources, and Creative Commons as they pertain particularly to online education at OSU.  We wrap up the morning session learning about security and privacy protection in an online class at OSU.

You will also receive a practice Carmen course in which to start building your online course components.  From this practice course ("Sandbox"), you can then copy course components into your particular section when the section is available

Kickstart Week is just one of the many ways ODEE provides support for faculty and contributes to President Drake's goals of improving teaching and learning at Ohio State. Kickstart Weeks are presented by the Distance Education Learning and Teaching Academy (DELTA). DELTA aims to meet the needs of faculty, advisors and students by providing them with the training and support necessary to be successful in the online academic environment.