Online Course Development Program

The purpose of the Online Course Development Program is to train faculty to design, develop, and teach instructionally sound online courses based on the quality standards of the CVC-OEI Course Design Rubric. Typically, participants design and develop their course over one semester, then teach it the following semester.

Online Course Info

At LPC, most of the online courses are asynchronous, meaning that students do their coursework at whatever time of the day they want. Some courses include synchronous meetings, in which the instructor meets live with students at predetermined times via webconferencing.

Online courses meet the same learning outcomes, teach the same content, and require the same rigor in students as their counterpart face-to-face courses. Only the mode of delivery changes. Also, understand that online courses are not self-paced; they rely on regular interaction between the instructor and students and among the students themselves.

LPC offers a Model Course Template to get instructors started on creating their course. View information on the Model Course Template. The page also has a link to instructions on previewing and using the model.

OCDP Training

The content that is taught in the OCDP is accompanied by tasks to be completed. These tasks include various assignments that build upon each other so that at the conclusion of the training, participants will have designed an entire module. Each assignment is graded and must be successfully completed. In addition, there is one quiz in each module.

Module topics:

1. Module 1: Introduction to Online Learning. Content includes Distance Education at LPC overview, CVC-OEI Course Design Rubric overview, Viewing LPC OEI-aligned courses, Canvas overview.
2. Module 2: Online Course Design. Content includes OEI Course Design Rubric: a closer look, Designing for effective learning, Designing for equitable learning, Finer points of course design, The online syllabus, Student readiness: Quest for Online Success, Model course template, Designing short-term courses.
3. Module 3: Planning Your Course. Content includes Student Learning Outcomes, Writing objectives, Aligning SLOs with Objectives, Aligning Objectives with activities.
4. Module 4: Teaching Online. Content includes Principles of quality in online teaching, Required human interaction, Communicating with students, Using Pronto, Using video to engage students, Optional: remote live lecturing.
5. Module 5: Web Accessibility. Content includes Web accessibility & Universal Design for Learning, What online materials need to be made accessible, Understanding the need for tags, Accessibility in the Canvas Rich Content Area (heading styles, lists, descriptive links, headers in tables, color, images, video/audio), Managing the accessibility of Word, PDF, PowerPoint files, Microsoft accessibility checkers, Checking your pages for accessibility.
6. Module 6: Adding Content. Content includes Instructional content, textbook publisher content, Open Educational Resources, Copyright.
7. Module 7: Designing Collaborative Activities. Content includes Discussions, Wikis, Groups, Example activities.
8. Module 8: Online Assessment. Content includes Assignments, Rubrics, Grading and feedback, Quizzes, Proctorio, Model assignments, Formative assessments, Self-assessments, Combating plagiarism with Turnitin, Best practices to promote academic integrity in online education.
9. Module 9: Classroom Management. Content includes User management, Analytics, Adding and dropping students, Dealing with disruptive students.
10. Module 10: The Homestretch. Content includes The students, Faculty support, Improving your course, Final preparations, LPC course review process, CVC-OEI course review process.

Program selection process

An email will be sent soliciting participants for the upcoming semester. No authorizations are required to participate.

Guidelines

• All new online courses must be developed in Canvas, using the district’s Canvas server.
• No monetary incentives are currently being offered.
• In order to offer a new online course (a course taught online for the first time), participants are required to complete a Distance Education proposal that needs to be approved by the Curriculum Committee.
• Proposing to teach a new online course might impact your discipline plan, and there’s no guarantee that the instructor will teach the course if it’s not in the discipline plan.
• Prior to teaching online for the first time, your course will go through a review process conducted through the LPC Distance Education Committee.

Training

Faculty participating in this program will attend a weekly two-hour training session either in the TLC or virtually via webconferencing. Alternatively, faculty can complete an asynchronous online training course. Those who have been using Canvas to supplement face-to-face instruction will have the option of skipping training on technical topics they already know. The face-to-face training typically lasts 8-10 weeks, but can be shorter or longer depending on the participants’ needs.

Also note that training will not cover basic computer and Internet skills, such as copying and pasting, uploading and downloading, navigating the Web, etc. If you don’t have those skills, it is recommended that you enroll in an LPC class, such as CIS 50 or CIS 8, to obtain those skills before the OCDP begins.

Special note for adjuncts with no online class assignments

Adjunct instructors who do NOT have an LPC online class assignment can participate in the face-to-face version of the OCDP if the adjunct can make it on the same day and time as a participant who has an online class assigned. If there are no participants who have online classes assigned, adjuncts will have to wait until there is one. Alternatively, adjuncts can participate in the online version of the OCDP with no stipulations.

Support

Ongoing support will be provided throughout the semester of training and while you are teaching your online course.