Course Development

Summary

This week I am working on using my course outline to create the content in my website. So far I have added some of the tabs on the left hand side for navigation. I have also changed a few cosmetic things about my website. It will be fun seeing how my website changes as I keep adding more to it.

Item of Interest

I enjoyed the reading this week. It discussed how to design displays following some graphic design principles. There is a lot of detail involved with designing a website that is aesthetically pleasing to read. There are all kinds of things to keep in mind, such as font, sizing, colors, spacing, shapes, balance, and contrast, just to name a few. 

Problem or Concern

I am a little concerned that I won't be able to include every graphic design principle into my website. It seems like a lot of things to remember when adding to my website. Hopefully I can keep it simple enough that it still looks good.

Engagement

Summary

This week I have finished my rough draft for my course outline assignment. I adjusted some of my outline so that each assignment is relevant to my course. Hopefully all students will see that every assignment will help them throughout the course. Being engaged in a lesson will help students retain the content, especially if they believe the information is important. 

I also created the initial setup for my blackboard course page. This was a good opportunity for me to get an idea of how my course might look online.

Item of Interest

I'm pretty excited about creating my course on the Course Sites website. It looks to be very similar to how my courses at ASU are set up. It's going to be pretty fun to give my course a functional layout that is user friendly. I'm currently researching how to make my course site as easy to use as possible. My first goal will be to make it very simplistic so that students don't get lost while navigating it.

Problem or Concern

I have tried my best to follow the guidelines for creating my course outline, and I believe that it has all of the information necessary. I'm a little concerned because our instructor sent an email that said our grades for the rough draft will likely be low. I was feeling pretty good about my rough draft until that email, and now I feel leery about the situation.

Community and Collaboration

Summary

This week I have been adding to my course outline assignment again. I included a detailed course navigation/outline. It is designed for the class to be able to easily maneuver through the website. I think that since my class is a blended class, most of the collaboration will be done on days that we meet. There will be discussion boards that will need to be designed carefully in order for students to effectively communicate with each other.

Item of Interest

Since my course is based around an athletic activity that requires communication, I believe that this will be vital for the students to learn. Learning teamwork can only be achieved through communication.

Problem or Concern

I am unsure of how to assess whether or not everyone is participating. I was thinking about just making a mental note of everyone that is participating or not participating. That might be a little hard to keep up with. Maybe I can use a checklist to confirm if everyone is using what was taught on days that we meet.

Assessments and Objectives

Summary

This week I was able to add the assessment and objectives sections to my course outline assignment. The objectives were written for each module that I created, and the assessments are tailored to the objectives. 

Item of Interest

Creating assessments for the course outline is one of the most important phases of designing a course. It shows what kind of assessment tools and strategies I will use to make sure the students are able to understand. It also shows what kind of feedback the students will receive throughout the course. With the assessments completed, I can create course content that is tailored to how I will assess the students. It is important when creating the course content not to stray from the assessments. 

Problem or Concern

My biggest concern right now is if I have allowed myself enough time for each module to cover the content I have created for each week. Since I have created an introductory course, I don't think it will be a problem, but I don't know for sure whether or not it will feel rushed.

Analysis

Summary

This is my first week starting on my course design outline assignment. I came up with a course topic of ultimate Frisbee because I feel like I know a lot about the sport. I chose to make this course a blended course so that we could have some class meetings to practice what we are learning. I also included the content analysis, general goals, and enhancing learning sections.

Item of Interest

The course is going to be designed as a college level course. Students that are interested in ultimate Frisbee will be interested in this course. Since this is just an introduction course to the sport, the students will learn the basics of play, work on fitness, and teamwork. 

Problem or Concern

This is a blended course that will last for 8 weeks and has 3 class meetings. My concern is if 3 class meetings will be enough hands on experience. Since it's an introduction class, I will have to cover a lot of broad information and skills.