Individualized Models for Integrating Standardized Course Design

Standardized course development offers a host of opportunities for online programs to ensure consistency, maximize resource allocation, and increase scalability of online course offerings. By utilizing a collective design model, a team of content experts (i.e., faculty), curriculum specialists, instructional designers, and instructional technologists can collaborate to develop dynamic online courses that can be taught by multiple instructors over successive terms. The key to a successful standardized course design lies in an increased up-front investment of time and resources to ensure a well-designed course that aligns learning objectives, instructional content, activities, and assessments in a manner that is uniquely suited to the pedagogical opportunities inherent in the online environment. But despite the benefits of standardized course design, it must be integrated in a manner that aligns with the unique context, needs, and resources of each individual institution to be effective. This presentation will explore various models for team-based course development, discuss return-on-investment for collaborative course design, and examine opportunities for using standardized course development to support academic quality across large programs.