This page includes information about a course on Indigenous Populations of the Americas. Includes notes and descriptions about how the course was redesigned, including a reflection on that process. The redesign incorporated student active engagement with the material where the students became the center of the classroom – researching and presenting their own material and also peer reviewing each other’s. This is also a template that can be used when designing online courses.
Type of Material:
Template for redesigning an Online Course
Recommended Uses:
• This design is meant to be used as an online course.
• One assignment is provided in detail and could be used in a more general class on early American history or anthropology or any class covering different cultures
• Can also be used to examine redesigning a course on indigenous peoples
This material could be used successfully for professional development.
Technical Requirements:
Basic computer Skills
Identify Major Learning Goals:
1. Identify and describe indigenous peoples.
2. Interpret and Synthesize information about indigenous groups.
3. Research and present information on a topic to classmates
4. Review and respond to peer presentations.
However, this template can be used by teachers in other disciplines when redesigning their own courses.
Target Student Population:
Course is listed as a 300 level course, making it appropriate for sophomore – senior level in college. However, it could be adapted to high school level as well.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
The author gives details about student assignment expectations, grading, and examples of student work making the assignment in particular easier to follow. Some familiarity with the subject matter and instructional design principles would be of most use in using these materials and incorporating them into a class. Only lower-level technology skills would be required to access and use these materials; this includes downloading and saving resources and accessing various web resources in an internet browser.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
• Details surrounding the assignment in particular make this a useful resources. Anyone using this can replicate the rubric and assignment details easily. It uses concepts for curriculum design.
• Other materials provided (such as the syllabus and student presentations) help to reinforce the design of the course and assignment and make it usable in a variety of courses and possibly even levels.
Concerns:
• Some parts of this design are hard to follow. This means anyone wishing to use these materials may miss out on potentially useful information and resources just because of a lack of organization or presentation.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The learning objectives for the course being redesigned are delivered within the template. The ability to teach the material can be redesigned within this template so that improvements can be seen at the next delivery. This template can be used in a Professional Development course on redesigning online courses using best practices. Assignments can be gleaned from this material.
Concerns:
• While the rubric is present, clearly defined student learning objectives are not.
• Pre-requisite knowledge is unclear. At what level is this course most appropriate. (Even though the course is listed as 306, there were no clear guidelines indicated knowledge level). Student learning objectives might make this clearer.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The information presented would be good for teachers to learn in a PD presentation. The documentation appears to help the learner through the process.
Concerns:
• The clarity of instructions varies throughout the page.
• Lacks visual appeal, but may be due to organization of material, in particular the order in which the material is presented.
Creative Commons:
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