Expanding Our Guiding Principles Campus-Wide
At The Ohio State University, distance education continues to grow by leaps and bounds, with 17 online degree programs. To help with this exponential growth, the Office of Distance Education and eLearning (ODEE) provides services and support to colleges at the university to assist them in meeting their distance education goals.
ODEE developed guiding principles for its online programs to ensure the university can keep up with the busy and competitive field of distance education. The guiding principles, which are carried out by our office, include value, quality, and rigor. The instructional design team within ODEE is a key part to the success of distance education, making sure the guiding principles are involved in creating online courses and developing relationships with members of the university community.
To showcase these connections, the unique collaboration between instructional designers and instructors, the ID experience series was created. The stories from the series give an inside look at how the distance education guiding principles positively impact the work we do for the university.
Value
At ODEE, our focus is on programs that are available completely at a distance. We strive to serve a larger group of potential students who may be kept from attending courses on campus because of work or life commitments. The instructional designers in ODEE are able to help provide value to students through collaborating with instructors to create courses. Stories that show the value provided to distance students include:
- Advancing Through Technology: ARTED 7000, Christine Morris, professor in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy
- From On-the-Ground to In-the-Cloud: SWK 7400, Jerry Bean, lecturer in the College of Social Work
- The Art and Science of Medicine, Diane Habash, professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Quality
At Ohio State, students are at the center of everything we do, and it is essential that we uphold the integrity and quality of a degree from our university. Instructional designers and instructors work together to ensure an online course is providing students with the same quality education and degree that a student would receive on campus. Stories that show the quality provided to distance students include:
- Why work with an ID?
- Developing An Online Course (Or Two): MACPR, Carolynn Thomas Jones, lead instructor of the Master of Applied Clinical and Preclinical Research (MACPR) program
- New Video Technology Creates Immersive Content, Cindy Zellefrow, assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Monica Lewandowski, assistant professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Rigor
Ohio State is known for its consistent, rigorous course experience that prepares students for their future careers, and distance education students will receive nothing less. Instructional designers work with instructors to create assessments and projects that hold to the same standards as an on-campus course. The following stories from the ID experience series capture some of the assignments created that help prepare students for their future:
- Exploring Interactive Scenarios: HRS 5510, Crystal Dunlevy, associate professor in the School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
- Learning By Making: Dietetics Video Project, Julie Tobias, instructor of Medical Dietetics in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
- Instructional Design Support for Building in Carmen(Canvas), Bruce Bellner, senior lecturer in the Fisher College of Business
To learn more about working with an instructional designer or how our guiding principles drive our work, contact the ODEE instructional design team.