Jennifer Davis, a Senior Instructional Designer & Quality Assurance Coordinator at Sinclair College in Ohio presented a session entitled “Recipes for eCourse Design: Combining Raw Ingredients and Modality Options to Create Quality Courses” that I found on the QMQualityMatters YouTube channel. During the session objectives slide presentation, Davis mentioned CBE, Competency Based Education, and differentiating it from other modalities. CBE intrigues me, and I want to learn more. Davis mentioned modalities can be compared to dishes: classroom, online, blended/hybrid, and CBE.
Davis presented a useful table comparing these modalities in terms of learning, content, activities, faculty interaction, and assessments. As with QM, Davis mentioned that you start course design with objectives before “gathering your ingredients” to support your student learning and skill development as well as assessment. The multi-modality model Davis presented is composed of course ingredients (content, activities, assessments) + modality = course buffet (online, CBE, blended, classroom). Davis mentioned you can mix the ingredients to maximize and reuse resources. Davis then went over a master template they developed for faculty. The template included a “stock” syllabus that can be used for several different modalities. I love how it had descriptive icons for different sections! I think I’m being transformed by The Noun Project… and Davis later mentioned a graphic designer created the icons for the templates. The Course Technology section was organized similarly. What was unique was a customizable section dependent on modality: Course Requirements templates and due dates that vary by modality. The CBE course requirements table, for example, had chapters and activities but no due dates. We were just talking today about flexible due dates, and the CBE system is similar! Davis compared different elements for each modality and how the pieces fit together. The blended schedule had a “blended” icon for weeks with online and in-person sessions, and a different icon for in-person only or completely online weeks. I now what to use this on our course schedule for BIT 295!
Next, Davis had a series of steps for someone to write a course recipe card:
- Select menu or course.
- Determine dishes or delivery modality.
- Review course objectives (and I also think module objectives).
- Gather ingredients including content, activities, and assessments.
- Mix the “base”dish (Davis mention often it is online) and then ad special “spices” for each modality in the form of the design and development elements.
- The presentation is the course offering, and, creatively, Davis added “Food Critics” for evaluations.
Davis sent people to break out rooms to discuss different modifications for a course to be adapted to different modalities. When the groups came back together, they shared some of the difficulties and advantages of adapting a course to multiple modalities using the available materials. Davis also mentioned “borrowing from a neighbor” may be reaching out to different units on campus for templates or resources that can be used as stock information. Ironically, this is exactly what we were talking about this morning: developing a template for course credit hour explanations or classroom values that we can share across multiple courses and disciplines. Davis asked: “how can the multi-modality model benefit students?” and this question is one I have asked myself this year about some of the courses I teach. Another question was “what ingredients do you have?” and this made me think about the rich resources we have in our pantries when we come together and have a chance to share.
