{"id":34,"date":"2019-04-22T17:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T17:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/localhost\/cidt\/?page_id=34"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:44:08","slug":"ideas-for-instructional-design","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.se.edu\/cidt\/ideas-for-instructional-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Instructional Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Due Dates \u2013<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As you work on your courses and consider\u00a0when to make items due<\/b>, you might consider the fact that\u00a0SE does NOT have 24 hour technical support<\/i>.<\/p>\n

It is common to make items due at midnight, which is not bad UNLESS there is a problem. As the instructor, you can make items due at any time on any day you choose, and as long as you are consistent, your students will meet those deadlines. \u00a0With this in mind, you might consider two things: first, when there are problems, we use nights and weekends to correct those problems. So if the system is going to shut down for any reason, it will probably shut down in the middle of the night. Second, whether it is \u00a0a system problem or an individual technical problem, there is no one to call at midnight.\u00a0So rather than making assignments due at midnight, you might consider making them due at 9:00 a.m. the next week day, or by 4:00 p.m., for example.<\/p>\n

If you really like your midnight deadlines, you might consider\u00a0another option<\/b>. In your syllabus you might make a statement to this effect: \u201cIn the case of technical errors, assignments will not be counted late until 10:00 a.m. the next business day. In order for this to apply, you must take a screen shot or video of the error and immediately email it to your instructor to provide demonstration, verification, error codes, and a time stamp. If this email documentation is not provided, the extended deadline will not apply<\/i>.<\/i>\u201d As you receive such emails, you are welcome to forward them on to me to resolve any problems. This required verification will eliminate many instances when students claim to have errors when they really just didn\u2019t do the work.<\/p>\n

Early Syllabus<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Once students are in Bb, you can send out emails to everyone even if the course has not been made available yet. Some teachers like to\u00a0email the syllabus up to a week before classes begin<\/b>. That week is usually full of\u00a0anticipation\u00a0and\u00a0excitement, and many students\u00a0WANT\u00a0to get as much information about their courses as possible. Teachers who have done this have reported that it has\u00a0cut down on the number of students who drop during the first week\u00a0of class and that\u00a0students are more likely to have their books\u00a0or other materials when the class begins.<\/p>\n

Video Your Screen<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In a face-to-face class, you might pull up a website on the projector and demonstrate to your students what they are expected to do. Do you provide your online students the same service? A free program called\u00a0Jing<\/b>\u00a0will allow you\u00a0video what is on your screen<\/b>\u00a0for up to 5 minutes. Click\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to watch a video (4:12), and I will show you where to get it and how to use it.<\/p>\n

Course Development\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Consider\u00a0this video<\/b><\/a>\u00a0your\u00a0pep talk<\/b>! Hopefully it will help you re-focus and get you ready to jump into course designing!\u00a0\"????\"\u00a0In the video, I will\u00a0remind<\/i>\u00a0you of the\u00a0basics<\/i>\u00a0of course design as well as show you how to use BlackBoard to build\u00a0pre-requisite materials\u00a0<\/b>into a course. I will also mention some\u00a0considerations regarding online courses<\/b>.\u00a0(Also, today\u2019s video might give you some good ideas of things that Camtasia is capable of in case you are\u00a0interested\u00a0in learning to use it and creating some videos for your own classes.)<\/i>
\nRemember, that\u00a0every<\/b>\u00a0course,\u00a0including face-to-face courses, can use BlackBoard, and I am here to help if you would like to implement any creative ideas!<\/p>\n

I have also attached Course Planning Worksheets<\/a><\/strong>. The first page is just a\u00a0think sheet<\/b>\u00a0(if you are interested) to help you effectively plan your course. It\u00a0accompanies\u00a0today\u2019s video. The second, third, and fourth pages are tables for\u00a0class schedules<\/b>\u00a0with columns for the class date and assignments. The dates for Fall 2014 are already filled in, with the dates for holidays, assessment day, and fall break already omitted. Page two is for Tuesday\/Thursday classes. Page three is for Monday\/Wednesday\/Friday classes. Page 4 for is Online classes. You can use these tables to make planning notes just for yourself, or you could fill them in and attach them to your syllabus.<\/p>\n

I hope this makes planning your courses a little easier! Let me know if there is anything I can help you with!<\/p>\n

Wordle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Wordle is a FUN tool you can use in many ways in your class! Students can convert their notes into a wordle and quickly recognize key points. A teacher can make a wordle form a story students will read and ask them to make predictions about the story based on the most frequently used words. If you require students to free write as a form of pre-writing, they can copy their free writing into wordle to quickly see some focus areas they could then use in their writing. Too see a demonstration of wordle, click\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/strong>! To see a pre-writing activity assignment that incorporates Wordle (and MindMup), click\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Procrastination<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Students tend to wait until the last minute to do their work (so do most of us\u2026). It\u2019s a common problem we call\u00a0procrastination. The problem is compounded when what we thought was \u201cthe last minute<\/i>\u201d was actually a minute\u00a0too late<\/i>. Below are a few ideas that might help the students and instructors better communicate expectations \u2013 which will hopefully result in a higher success rate among students.<\/p>\n

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    1. DEFINE<\/b>\u00a0the \u201clast minute.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0In other words, as part of your assignment instructions, you could tell them approximately how long the assignment should take to complete. This could be done on individual assignments, content folders, or as a general rule in the syllabus. If you have warned the students that a project should take about 5 hours to complete, they are likely to start 4 hours earlier than they would have. If you state in the syllabus that they should expect to spend 3-5 hours (or more, or less) each week completing work outside the classroom, they will plan that from the beginning and budget their time accordingly.<\/li>\n
    2. Be consistent.<\/b> If you begin the semester with no homework and end the semester with 5 hours a night, your students will get behind because they did not budget that time from the beginning. That doesn\u2019t mean that you need to overwhelm them with hours of work from the beginning, but it does mean that if you tell them to expect 3 hours of work each week and then they have none for the first month, they will change their expectations and make other plans to fill that time. Your actions speak louder than your syllabus.\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
    3. Address procrastination directly<\/b>. Below are some links to resources you might share with your class.\u00a0You might consider asking your students to read a handout or article and then write an anti-procrastination commitment the first week of class.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n