Openness and Communities of Practice in Online Course Development

In this presentation, we will look at the process for designing and developing courses used in the University of California's Online Instruction Pilot Project by focusing on the activities of three main groups involved in the project: instructional designers, faculty, and instructional designers and faculty working together. In the analysis of these activities, we argue not only that the pilot project has engendered a new openness in the discussion around and practice of university teaching but also that it has given rise to three new communities of practice that reach across our university system.