Well here we are again. I'm really excited about starting to learn more about designing courses. I've been teaching on-line and hybrid courses for several years but must admit they haven't been terribly creative. In the past I have established course objectives and then spent some time reflecting on the order they should be addressed. Once that is done, I usually spend a significant amount of time selecting the text or texts and any additional readings, or visuals that I want the students to use. With some of my courses there is a natural order to the way we will progress. For example, when teaching physical movement the starting point is usually with the head and neck and progresses down the body. This is not necessarily true with other courses. The one that I have chosen to work on for this design course is a management course for entry level master occupational therapy students. I'm very comfortable with the material but I really need to find creative and different ways to engage the students in this course. They are never very sure that they really need to know this material. I think that I need to find ways for the students to be more interactive yet directed in their study. I believe that finding good online resources to help the students as they begin their needs assessment, program plan, financing etc. will help them to see how the process works and get them excited about putting together a realistic business/program plan that they could actually carry out in the future. Using on-line tools like pod casts and Wimba to introduce them to leaders in occupational therapy who are entrepreneurs may help them to see the benefits of learning "all this stuff".I am a bit concerned about putting this material together as I have only completed the 1st course in this certificate program but was encouraged to "jump" ahead to the design course as I so need this information now. I really look forward to working with my design team and hope that they will be able to give me some good feedback. One of my major goals for this course is to have the students come away feeling like the learning was worthwhile and beneficial to their future.
