Overview: Pedagogy First

We are delighted to offer this online academy for faculty. During this course faculty first become online students with all the benefits and challenges that will pose. It is pedagogy first that makes the difference. (F.A.S.T. pedagogy) The designers of this program provide the F.A.S.T. way to teach faculty about online courses, and identify follow-up workshops and services needed to create quality online courses. Included are a number of tools and topics that faculty at Riverside Community College and Diablo Valley College have found valuable. Every effort has been made to streamline the course so that your time is well spent. We want to help you develop your online courses F.A.S.T.

Course Description

The Online Faculty Academy goal is to prepare faculty to teach online. We seek to provide rigorous graduate level training. The Academy consists of three online learning modules typically 21 hours of material and interaction presented over three weeks plus six hours of face-to-face workshops. The online portion of the Academy is designed to help faculty understand the complexities of online learning and effective course design. The face-to-face workshops address technical skills, such as web page design and the use of WebCT. In addition, the face-to-face workshops will give faculty the opportunity to meet those who assist with online course design and technical support.

Course Objectives — By the end of this course faculty should be able to:

  1. Discuss the current status of online teaching and learning;
  2. Analyze the best practices for online teaching;
  3. Describe the challenges and opportunities faced by online faculty including intellectual property considerations, requisite technical skills, time demands, and so forth;
  4. Design an enhanced online syllabus;
  5. Complete an online learning module using pedagogy similar to F.A.S.T.
    Foundation, Activity, Sharing and Test) as the course template;
  6. Upload files into a virtual classroom (WebCT).

Academy participants who complete the course and upload an enhanced syllabus and first week of materials into their WebCT virtual classroom will earn the stipend offered to Cohorts 1 and 2 by DVC Staff Development.

Online Portion of F.A.S.T. “All of us are smarter than any one of us.” — Japanese Proverb

Learning Module 1: Introduction to online courses:

Pedagogy

  • Learning Community (difference between concept based and skill based courses)
  • Cohort learning (TEAM)
  • Project Based Learning
  • Contextual Learning
  • Thematic Learning

Remember to think about how what you learn will apply to the creation of your course.

Learning Module 2: What does the literature tell us about online courses?

  • Cohort will discuss criteria for evaluating online courses.
  • How to succeed with internet research
  • Examination of other online courses and publisher created courses

Learning Module 3: Techniques and Tools for Online Teaching

  • Course Outline
  • Enhanced Course Syllabus
  • Grading Rubrics (communication tool)
  • Accessibility issues: Learning Styles
  • And Special Needs (visual impairment and home bound students)
  • Tech Tools

Paradigm Shift: Enrich, Enhance and Transform — First Lesson Preparation

Academy Project: Develop an online syllabus with a grading rubric.

Face to Face Portion of F.A.S.T.: ” TEAMWORK: Together Each Achieves More. “

First 3 Hours:

    • Introductions of participants — F.A.S.T Team and Cohort
    • Online Student Services — Tech Support
    • Assessment of Course Quality — Kristina Kauffman
    • Refreshments, Q & A and Discussion — Cohort
    • Build online courses with templates and upload them to your virtual classroom — Suzanne Miller
    • Use an editor (Front Page) to create a web page; standard naming protocols — Kristina Kauffman

Project: Complete your Syllabus and upload it.

Second 3 Hours:

    • Comments and Suggestions on Syllabi — Kristina Kauffman
    • Building Your First Online Learning Module — Suzanne Miller
    • Reflection and Evaluation on Learning Modules and the Academy — Cohort

Projects:

  1. Complete first online module.
  2. Write “Advice for the next Faculty Academy Cohort.”