Deep Thought: How do you envision this tool being used?

Wecid4all: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development is designed as a resource for individuals of varying disciplines and levels of experience. The following is a list of possible uses for the content within the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development by discipline.

 

Instructional Designers and Instructional Support Staff. This tool have many possible applications for Instructional Designers and Support Staff. It could be included as part of or as a supplemental resource for a self-paced online course designed to train online instructors. It could also be provided as a reference resource to faculty attending one-on-one training sessions associated with the learning management system and the process of designing a course for online delivery. If group training is more conducive to a particular site, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development could also be incorporated into an Online Teaching Institute where the site is referred to for various activities throughout the institute.

 

Teaching & Learning Centers. The staff within teaching and learning centers can utilize this tool as a resource by incorporating it into a New Faculty Orientation format providing new instructors to an institution or to higher education with resources to assist them in the development of their curriculum and their presentation tactics. Since the guide is so extensive, it can even be used in the design of workshops around the topics covered within the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development: Assessment, Learning Centered Teaching Practices, Designing Online Courses, and Technology Resources as Course Supplements.

 

Experienced Instructors (fulltime or adjunct faculty). Depending upon the policies at an institution, courses are typically evaluated on a regular cycle. Department Chairs may choose to pass pertinent links from Hitchhiker’s Guide on to department faculty and adjuncts as a resource for course evaluation and supplemental content development. Particular resources within the Hitchhiker’s Guide can be used to assist with this process: External Assessment, Learner Assessment, Self Assessment, Rubric Design and Utilization, integration of technology into the learning environment, Teaching and Learning Techniques, etc. Faculty Mentors can use this resource to help those you mentor improve on their presentation strategies or move from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. Making small steps such as web-enhancing a course before going completely online helps ease the transition.

 

Novice Instructors. A novice instructor starting with a traditional classroom setting may find the materials with in the Planning On Ground Courses section useful in planning the first day of class, organizing class sessions, integrating technology, and empowering students. An instructor currently teaching on-ground courses but new to the presentation of materials online either by web-enhancing a class or taking it completely online may find that the sections on Course Design Types, Planning Online Courses, and Online Content Development will help in the transition to this new course delivery mode.