4.+Online+Course+Development+Path

Online Course Development Path

Use the Michigan/Florida virtual as the needed outline of the GRPS program for online learning. It will be used as a template and then revised. The MLO as a base will need revisions to better fit the GRPS academic needs.

As indicated in Fig. 1, the majority of student learning will derive from the Teacher Led Instruction and the Student Centered Learning time. The teacher will be able to prepare their own creative lesson plans based on the Online lessons and activities. The student will use the Online component to reinforce course content delivered during the Teacher Led Instruction sessions. The student will also access assigned activities and assessments during the research and collaboration based Student Centered Learning time. The Online component of the course will only serves as a resource to both the student and the teacher. This method will begin a slow transition toward the Student Centered Learning pedagogy which offers part of the 21st Century skill set such as critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving.



It is important that the online components of every blended course be developed in evaluated and assessed steps. The following flow chart and subsequent explanation is a suggested path in which the online portion of each blended course could evolve successfully.



=Phase 1 -- Year 1 + 2=

When a new course is presented (fig. 1), the online Moodle content will be static. A Static Course is a platform that the classroom teacher does not have access to change the content of the Moodle lesson. At this juncture, only the course creators and developers will have the flexibility to modify the online course.

After an evaluated course model has been conducted, **teachers and students** participating in that prototype lend their opinion in the form of a **survey.** Once the survey and the course have been **evaluated**, the student performance data is also collected and taken into account. If the course evaluation data indicates that the course is to be reworked, then the relevant changes are made and new data is added to the course. The course then begins the phase 1 cycle again.

=**Phase 2 -- Year 2+**=

When the course evaluation data is satisfactory, then the course enters phase 2. In phase 2, the Moodle online course becomes semi-static. This means that teachers can submit course ideas, materials and structural changes for approval. The course developer (course leader) meets with a committee of teachers to address submitted suggestions. The course developer (course leader) has the power to veto any content or structural changes. The current course developers (course leaders) in Social Studies are Brock, Mabin, Fredricks, Orban and Kalumbula. It is important that all new submitted content and/or structural change be tested and evaluated by small sample of students and teachers before the new material is added to the Moodle online course.

Teachers and students take a survey about the course every semester or year, student performance is assessed and data is collected and after a course evaluation, the phase 2 cycle begins again. The importance of the phase 2 cycle is that,
 * it allows the classroom teacher to have a voice in the content of the course by submitting materials for approval
 * it allows the student to have a voice in the development of assignments and course materials.
 * it allows new and cutting edge content to be added to each course
 * it allows old and irrelevant content to phase out of the Moodle online course
 * it allows approved structural changes
 * it allows flexibility to custumize each course more at every rotation.