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Topic 4 - Design for Online and Blended Learning

The past two weeks we explored the topic of designing online and blended courses. Our group revisited the COI framework but also focused heavily on constructive alignment and how this can guide our planning and design. For me I moved into thinking more about the facilitation (perhaps because we had great facilitators this week who I really learned from in terms of online facilitation), but the idea of phases of an online course also relates to planning. Boettcher and Conrad (2016) describe every course as a planned sequence of learning experiences that has four phases. These phases are summarized as follows: 1. Course Beginnings: Focus on presence, community, and clear expectations. In our discussions, our PBL group has focused on setting expectations for learners and communicating them right from the start. The beginning is also the phase where the COI model should be implemented to assure a coherence between teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. 2. Early Middle: Keep the ball rolling.Themes, best practices, and principles. Focus on content and the application of this content, while using more digital tools to continue building the community. 3. Late Middle: Letting go of the power. In this stage, learners should be a bit more autonomous. The focus should be on questioning, assessing, coaching, and empowerment. 4. Closing Weeks: Pruning, Reflecting, and Wrapping Up. These weeks focus on learner indépendance, reflecting on knowledge gained from the course, and completing major assignments and projects. For me these four phases can help us when using the model of constructive alignment for our design because they speak to "what the student does" and what the instructor can do to help with this. By taking the time to establish a community and social presence at the start of the class, it will help ensure that the learners begin to engage, and then hopefully stay engaged throughout. Reference: Boettcher, J. & Conrad, R. (2016). The Online Teaching Survival Guide San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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