Online Course Design

Posted on March 9, 2020 by

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Broward College
French, Undergraduate General Education Requirement
Beginning French II

Serving as the faculty developer, SME, and instructor, I independently created both the French 1120 and 1121 online courses. Working with a skeletal departmental syllabus, I structured and curated the content, designed and wrote the assessments, and taught several sections of the course. I even created my own animated videos to cover content where existing materials were insufficient. Below are some screenshots showcasing various course elements.

Module 6.1 – Overview of module content and assignments
Module 6.1 – Curated YouTube videos and other OER for learning vocabulary
Module 6 – Cultural Discussion prompt and instructions
Module 6 – Overview of assessment “menu” where students can select which skills to practice
Module 6 – Speaking activity prompt and instructions
Module 6 – Mini-project prompt and instructions (Part 1)
Module 6 – Mini-project prompt and instructions (Part 2)

New York University & edX
Integrated Digital Media, MS
Theories of Media and Technology

This unique project required the simultaneous development of two different versions of the course – one for NYU’s online Masters in Integrated Digital Media, and the other as part of NYU’s MicroMasters partnership with the MOOC platform, edX. As the instructional design lead, I collaborated with faculty developer Scott Fitzgerald to tailor the learning experience to the particular needs of each platform’s learners. Additionally, I developed supplemental module content, wrote discussion prompts, designed weekly “hook” activities, crafted all of the assignments and corresponding rubrics, and edited the course trailer.

The challenge in this development lay in bringing the creative projects and peer feedback of the IDM program to the more rigid edX platform. Our solution was to use an open-ended assessment tool coupled with required peer assessment. This allowed learners to submit a wide range of project types, then give constructive critiques following a provided rubric.

Below are screenshots highlighting elements from both versions of the course.

Weekly learning modules were built in Articulate Rise, featuring multimedia rich interactive content presented in a bold, graphic style.
NYU – Module 1 page on the course site. At the top is the topic and introductory video.
NYU – Scrolling down the page, we see designated sections for the week activities.
edX – Course Description and Objectives
edX – Structural overview of Modules 0 and 1.
edX – Overview of the creative projects, the primary assessments in the course

New York University
Management of Technology, MS
Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior was a particularly daunting development as the face-to-face course relied heavily on team-based peer interactions, classroom activities requiring students to move about and physically engage with one another, and a variety of real-time third-party tools and simulations – all elements the instructor insisted we replicate within the limitations of primarily asynchronous online course.

As the educational technology lead for this online course development, I worked with faculty developer Anne-Laure Fayard and instructional designer Jay Leibowitz to find creative, innovative ways to translate the engagement of the face-to-face course into an online environment. We used Google Communities to recreate a dynamic discussion with a social media flavor and I built out a variety of polls, quizzes, and even games by “hacking” Qualtrics in imaginative ways.

I was awarded the Course Development Team Award from the Tandon School of Engineering for my exceptional work on the course. According to the Manager of Online Program Quality in her course debrief, “This course is the rare example of students providing positive feedback on the actual design of the course. Students rated the technology and interactivity of the course very positively.”

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