All posts by Kendra Self, PhD

Designing a Course Through Course Mapping

February 20, 2023 Kendra Self, PhD Leave a comment

What is Course Mapping?

Course mapping is when the components of your course (learning materials, learning activities, and other supplemental materials) are visually laid out and aligned with the course learning objectives to assist with student proficiency in the subject (Arshavskiy, n.d.). This is your course outlined in front of you, to serve as a blueprint for guided development (Shaw, 2019). With this map, you will be more prepared to adequately provide your students with a well-developed course.

Before getting started, you should have the following:

Course information (name, number, semester dates offered, description, requirements, and learning objectives)
Readings (textbook, literature books, articles, etc.)
Learning Activities, Assignments, Student Projects (or a brainstormed list!)
Any external requirements such as assessment or accreditation alignment documents

Benefits of Mapping a Course

Decreases Stress: Not knowing “where” or “how” to start developing a course can be overwhelming. Placing everything out on the page helps to rid your mind of the clutter and organize things. This can also allow you to better see the pieces that you have and identify where you can start. Once you begin to put the information onto a canvas, whether physical (sheet of white paper) or digital (mind mapping software), the “how to start” part has already been completed.

Content Alignment: By using a visual tool to draw out how each component connects with specific objectives, you can ensure that your proposed learning components directly support ways to increase student proficiency. It makes connecting all learning components (materials, activities, supplemental tools, etc.) to the course learning objectives easier.

Gap Identification: With all the learning components on a canvas, you are better equipped to identify any deficits, then decide on the proper learning components to add to the course.

Further development: By mapping out your course, you can look at each component either on a macro- or a micro-level. A map positions the components where you would like and displays them in a general overview of your course (Shaw, 2019). You can also zero in on any one of your components and further flesh it out. Once you have an initial idea of what to include in your course, you can decide how to further develop each piece.

Steps to Course Mapping

Decide on your canvas. Which medium works best for you during this process (physical or digital) as you put down your thoughts? Do you use a premade template, or do you want to start from scratch? There is value in both. You must decide which one is appropriate for your work style.
Decide on one or two big takeaways from this course. Read over your course description and course learning objectives to determine what you would like your students to obtain at the end of this course. Is there something or several things you would like for students to be able to carry forward into the next course or in their life?
Write down your learning objectives. These are the areas that you will align your module objectives, and learning components (materials, activities, supplemental tools, etc.) back to.
Decide on how to best divide your course into sections and titles. Do you want to use modules or weeks? Once again, there is value in both. Weeks work best for single-period use (one week at a time) and modules can work for single- and multiple-period use (several weeks grouped at a time). Add your titles. Make sure to have a calendar available, so you can arrange your dates properly.
Develop section objectives. Each section should have its own set of objectives. One to three measurable objectives are suitable. These objectives will further expound on the course objectives and directly connect them.
Determine which learning materials you want to add to each section. These will be the text readings, articles, lectures, and/or multimedia (videos, podcasts, etc.) that provide the students with information related to the section. These materials should align with the section objectives.
Determine the learning activities you want and in which sections. These will be your assessments (exams and quizzes), assignments, discussions, labs, etc. that students will have to complete to either evaluate learning or reinforce learning. These materials should align with the section objectives.
Decide if any supplemental materials need to be added. These are any components provided by you or your institute to assist students with the learning process. These can be additional articles, images, content summaries, links to various departmental webpages or outside websites, etc. This is up to you and can be done at any time.
Give your map a final review. Check to see if any areas need to be modified in any manner. Now is also the time to fill in any deficits that you may perceive.

Once again, course mapping can improve course development by providing a visual outline of how all components are aligned. This practice can decrease stress and improve confidence that you have designed and developed a well-thought-out course. If you need assistance with mapping out a new or current course, please reach out to our team. We can provide guidance and tools to get you through the entire mapping process. Reach out to us via email or through our Bookings site.

References:

Arshavskiy, M. (n.d.). Using mind maps to develop your curriculum. Your eLearning World. https://yourelearningworld.com/using-mind-maps-to-develop-your-curriculum/

Kelley, L. (2020). Woman looking at the map [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-looking-at-the-map-3935702/

Plavalaguna, D. (2021). Man creating a mindmap on a whiteboard [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-creating-a-mindmap-on-a-whiteboard-6937932/

Shaw, A. (2019, October 16). Course mapping. Wiley University Services: Center for Teaching and Learning. https://ctl.wiley.com/course-mapping-2/

Learning Design Basics

How Instructional Design Supports Course Development

January 9, 2023 Kendra Self, PhD 3 Comments

What is an Instructional Designer?

The position of Instructional Designer may be unfamiliar and/or not fully understood by faculty and others at the college. For a succinct explanation, Loes Vergroesen (2020) states the following:

Instructional designers are the architects, who design the learning experience based on learning outcomes and objectives, assessments, and evaluation criteria. Instructional technologists are the engineers who figure out what tools are needed to build the course. Finally, the content developers are the builders, who use tools like Articulate and D2L Brightspace to construct the learning experience (para. 8).

Here, at St. Cloud State University, our team wears all the hats to better serve the college community through our trainings, webinars, tutorials, guides, and more.

The Beginning of the Design Process for the Faculty

When developing a course, whether you are designing a brand new one or redesigning a current one, many aspects will need to be identified and/or addressed. First, there are some questions that you may either be required to answer or need to ask the department to provide an answer. That would be the basic parameters of the course, like duration of the course, number of credits, course learning outcomes, etc. Next, you will have a few things to consider. What learning materials and activities should be included in this course? Learning materials would be any content used to help with learning the subject. This would include lectures, videos, and readings. Learning activities are the exercises used to assess student learning and can include assessments, labs, and writing assignments. Next, you would need to consider what will go into each learning material and learning activity that is added to the course. Something else to consider is to make sure that your learning activities are connected to your course learning objectives. This can be easily determined by mapping out your course (to be discussed in a later blog post). Lastly, you need to develop each learning material and learning activity that will be used in your course. Along the way, an instructional designer can help with the process in many ways.

Ways that Instructional Designers Support Course Development

Course Mapping

This involves simply mapping out the components of your course. During this process, a course is broken down into its parts to better see how each aligns with, and thus supports the course learning objectives.

Module Learning Objectives

Learning objectives are developed for each module/week/set period that aligns with the department-established course learning outcomes. These objectives can be designed using Bloom’s taxonomy catered to the specific subject and can be used to better identify the proper learning materials and activities for the course.

Developing Multimedia

The use of video and audio presentations, VR/AR simulations, games, and more can be added to the online environment to enhance learning. Both personally produced and third-party content can be incorporated into a course easily. Assistance with research and/or the development of Minnesota State-system-supported and D2L Brightspace-compatible multimedia can be performed through consultation with the faculty member.

Navigating D2L

There are varying levels of expertise when it comes to the usage of our LMS (Learning Management System), D2L Brightspace on campus. In addition to navigating the current interface, the LMS is constantly updating to improve upon its features within the system. Boot camps, 1-on-1 consultations, guides, and instructions can all be provided for an individual faculty member or a department to help them become more acclimated to the LMS.

Accessibility

Creating your content so that it is accessible to all users is necessary. From captions added to videos to alt text for images and everything in between, guidance on the proper ways to incorporate accessibility features into your materials can be done. In addition to what is presented on the Student Accessibility Service website, guides, instructions, and 1-on-1 consultations can be provided.

Quality Matters (QM)

This is a set of standards developed by MarylandOnline, Inc. (MOL) to improve the design of an online course. Quality Matters Standards also help to provide students with materials that can help them navigate the course more effectively. A member of the SCSU Online team or the faculty member (with a QM workbook) can review their course to see if the standards are met. A consultation with any of the SCSU Online team to make any improvements to the course can occur at the faculty member’s request.

Course Overview Check

Putting another set of eyes on a course to make sure there are not any missing pieces, broken links, or confusing steps will help to make completing the course more seamless for students. Instructional designers can use a critical eye to search for and recommend actions to faculty to improve the layout, flow, and overall tone of the course.

If you would like more information about anything mentioned above and other ways that the SCSU Online and Distance Learning team can assist with your course, please make an appointment with any of our instructional designers on our department’s Bookings site.

References:

Gaba, V. (2021). Black framed eyeglasses on top of a stack of books [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-framed-eyeglasses-on-top-of-a- stack-of-books-7437956/

Loes Vergroesen, L. (2020, July 6). What does an instructional designer do? Eduflow. https://www.eduflow.com/blog/what-does-an-instructional-designer-do

Subiyanto, K. (2020). Crop person making notes in notepad [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-person-making-notes-in-notepad-4126743/

Learning Strategies

How Cognitive Load Influences Learners

December 26, 2022 Aketi Harihara Varma and Kendra Self, PhD Leave a comment

Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) focuses on how the human brain processes and stores information, often in relation to learning (Sweller, 2010). Instructors should be knowledgeable about the fundamentals of CLT since it puts into consideration how students acquire knowledge.

What Do We Mean by Cognitive Load?

Our working memory can only process a finite amount of incoming information at any given time, this is commonly referred to as cognitive load. This poses a problem since our working memory only processes a very minute amount of all incoming information from our environment. This problem is further compounded by our brains, which only holds on to that information for a few seconds. The cognitive load phenomenon is a result of these circumstances and is broken down into three different types: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane. 

Three Types of Cognitive Load Theory

Intrinsic Cognitive Load

This type of cognitive load refers to the inherent complexity that a student faces when learning new information or a new task. This type of load is harder to alter since it is based on the student’s established background knowledge.

Extraneous Cognitive Load

This type of cognitive load refers to the mental resources expended during the process of learning new information or a new task, which do not contribute to learning. This type of load can be controlled by the instructor and should be decreased so that student learning is as optimal as possible.

Germane Cognitive Load

This type of cognitive load refers to the mental resources expended during the process of learning new information or a new task, which stores what is acquired into our long-term memory. This is the ideal cognitive load for student learning and is based heavily on the student’s established background knowledge. This is when students connect new information to previously learned information, which helps them recall it in the future. This is akin to the “light bulb going off” in their heads when they finally get it.

You can learn more about Cognitive Load Theory at this website.

How Does Cognitive Load Theory Impact Learning?

It helps to first understand how our memory functions to comprehend CLT. Designing training or learning materials that place less stress on students’ working memory can help them learn more efficiently. This is possible with the aid of CLT. The concept of CLT can be utilized in a variety of ways when it comes to learning and training. The CLT, which was first put forth by psychologist John Sweller in 1980, is a theory of learning concerning working memory that can assist us with making judgments about how to construct online courses.

Three components of our memory have been identified as the following:

Sensory Memory
Short-Term Memory
Long-Term Memory

Sensory Memory

This occurs when all the information we receive from our senses is processed by our sensory memory, which takes in everything from our environment. In under a half-second, it looks over each bit of information to see if there is anything noteworthy that we should take notice of.

Short-Term Memory

Certain information is drawn to our attention and stored in our short-term memory. The maximum amount of time that knowledge can be stored in our short-term memory is under a minute, yet employing our inner voice to repeat information can significantly increase that amount of time.

Long-Term Memory

If we want to remember the information to use in the future, it must be moved into our long-term memory. This is where information is filed, and ready for us to retrieve when we need it. The difficulty lies in moving information from our short-term memory to our long-term memory and then storing it in a fashion that enables us to recover it later. To make it easier for us to access new information in the future, our brain connects it to prior knowledge stemming from relevant areas. Our long-term memory appears to have an infinite storage capacity.

What Can Faculty Do to Support Cognitive Load Theory in Their Course Design?

Understanding students’ capacity for information processing and storing is more closely tied to CLT. It is an idea that all educators in both private and public schools should embrace since it clarifies how students digest information. To accomplish the relevant learning outcomes to help students’ cognitive load be to become lowered, one must consider how to use an educational format.

According to the theory, instructors should relieve any undue stress on short-term memory so that students may concentrate on the information that has to be stored in their long-term memory. It is critical to remember that they are predicated on the idea that the students are beginners and that the content is complicated. To decrease the superfluous impact on cognitive load when teaching, several principles, techniques, and theories have been developed.

Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

According to Mayer (2009), “the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) is based on three different processing assumptions: dual-channels, limited capacity, and active processing” (p. 31). Multimedia learning presents information in the form of words and images. It is in the arrangement of these words and images that Mayer (2009) believed could have increased or decreased a student’s learning of the material. Mayer (2009) also believed that learning through the use of multimedia should not have decreased learning through the facilitation of extraneous cognitive load. To assist with this, Mayer developed several principles.

Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia learning

The Coherence Principle
The Signaling Principle
The Redundancy Principle
The Spatial Contiguity Principle
The Temporal Contiguity Principle
The Segmenting Principle
The Pre-Training Principle
The Modality Principle
The Multimedia Principle
The Personalization Principle
The Voice Principle
The Image Principle

You can learn more about Cognitive Load Theory at this website.

Understanding the concept of cognitive load and how it impacts students is crucial to teaching practices. By not providing students with too much information to process at once, the brain is free to work optimally to store any newly acquired information. If you need more information on or would like to modify your course for cognitive load, SCSU Online and Distance Learning team is here to assist. Please reach out to us via email or through Bookings.

References:

Ayres, P., & Sweller, J. (2005). The split-attention principle. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp. 135–146). New York: Cambridge.

Choi, H., van Merriënboer, J.J.G., & Paas, F. (2014) Effects of the physical environment on cognitive load and learning: Towards a new model of cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 225–244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-014-9262-6

Debue, N., & van de Leemput, C. (2014). What does germane load mean? An empirical contribution to the cognitive load theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1099. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01099

Ge, S., & Lai, X. (2021). Strategies for information design and processing of multimedia instructional software —Based on Richard E. Mayer’s multimedia instructional design principles. International Journal of Educational Technology and Learning, 10, 40-46. https://doi.org/10.20448/2003.101.40.46

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Moryak, N. (2022). Art Concept of a Person Loosing a Brain [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/art-concept-of-a-person-loosing-a-brain-9162031/

Niederhauser, D. S., Reynolds, R. E., Salmen, D. J., & Skolmoski, P. (2000). The influence of cognitive load on learning from hypertext. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 23(3), 237–255. https://doi.org/10.2190/81BG-RPDJ-9FA0-Q7PA

Piacquadio, A. (2020). Strict female teacher with book pointing at scribbled blackboard [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/strict-female-teacher-with-book-pointing-at-scribbled-blackboard-3771074/

Sweller, J. (2010). Element interactivity and intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review, 22(2), p123-138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9128-5

Harihara Varma Aketi is a Graduate Assistant for Online and Distance Learning at St Cloud State University. He is a student of Computer Science. He likes traveling, playing Cricket, and swimming.

Uncategorized

Hello and Welcome to Our Blog!

November 7, 2022 Kendra Self, PhD 2 Comments

Our Team

We are the St Cloud State University Online Team (SCSU Online). We are made up of a group of wonderful people with backgrounds in education and education administration, online teaching and learning, and learning management systems. Our team supports the college globally by providing faculty development opportunities, in the form of Learning Lab demonstrations, Pedagogy and Practice webinars, a website, a podcast, and now, this blog. Locally, we support faculty through assistance with course design, D2L support, the introduction of new technology, and other online-related activities.

What We Do

Here at SCSU Online, we strive to provide our faculty with the information and the tools to help them become more successful in their online course administration and student engagement. We want to provide education and assistance to faculty that will help transition their teaching practices from face-to-face to an online, hybrid, or hyflex format more easily. We are here to coach, support, and troubleshoot faculty through the processes involved in new course creation, as well as current course offerings.

Our Blog

What you can expect from this blog is information to spark thinking and conversation centered on online education. There will be researched based topics that may be both familiar and unfamiliar to our audience but are published to be impactful. We will provide information on topics encompassing foundational skills, technology in the online classroom, student engagement, various types of pedagogy, and more. This blog will not be the run-of-the-mill distribution of information specifically suited for online learning but one that will present information that can be transferred to other formats of teaching.

Check back often, as we will post frequently to the blog. You can also find more information by joining us live during our Learning Labs, watching previous Learning Lab recordings, browsing our website, or listening to our podcast. We hope you find something of interest here and choose to engage with us further.

Respectfully,

SCSU Online