Quality Online Course Design by the Designer-by-Assignment

Abstract

Instructors and professors often design instruction. Merrill (2002) refers to this type of designer as the designer-by-assignment and is often someone with no formal instructional design training. Due to the number of non-traditional students needing classes during other times, schools often work in haste to meet the demands of the online learner by transforming traditional courses into hybrid and online learning formats as a way to provide additional learning opportunities for learners. In education, the designer-by-assignment is frequently asked to design and teach online courses. Ensuring quality course design by the designer-by-assignment should increase student retention and improve student satisfaction in online courses (Standards for Quality Online Courses, 2006). Yang and Cornelious (2005) state instructors need to know how to design course materials (p. 6) in addition to using a course management system and providing instruction. There is insufficient literature to show how the designer-by-assignment creates a quality online course without prior instructional design preparation (Hooie, 2012). A clear gap exists in the literature regarding how the designer-by-assignment designs effective and quality aligned online courses without following a specific instructional design process or having received any prior instructional design training. This poster session will provide examples for the designer-by-assignment.

Location

Rooms 113 & 115

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Mar 26th, 5:00 PM Mar 26th, 6:00 PM

Quality Online Course Design by the Designer-by-Assignment

Rooms 113 & 115

Instructors and professors often design instruction. Merrill (2002) refers to this type of designer as the designer-by-assignment and is often someone with no formal instructional design training. Due to the number of non-traditional students needing classes during other times, schools often work in haste to meet the demands of the online learner by transforming traditional courses into hybrid and online learning formats as a way to provide additional learning opportunities for learners. In education, the designer-by-assignment is frequently asked to design and teach online courses. Ensuring quality course design by the designer-by-assignment should increase student retention and improve student satisfaction in online courses (Standards for Quality Online Courses, 2006). Yang and Cornelious (2005) state instructors need to know how to design course materials (p. 6) in addition to using a course management system and providing instruction. There is insufficient literature to show how the designer-by-assignment creates a quality online course without prior instructional design preparation (Hooie, 2012). A clear gap exists in the literature regarding how the designer-by-assignment designs effective and quality aligned online courses without following a specific instructional design process or having received any prior instructional design training. This poster session will provide examples for the designer-by-assignment.