In Search of the

Perfect Class Building College Courses to Scale

Where I'm coming from

• Product of traditional higher education (but

I'm cynical)

• Tried to apply edtech to the status quo

(hybrid courses, 4-8 week online Grad

Courses, etc.)

• Time is the constant, Learning is variable

• But we were on the right track...

2009

new job, same career

• Startup culture = nothing is sacred

• Embrace the end user: It's all about the

dashboard

• Ease of Use = the best customer service

policy

2012

many Moodles later...

• Fast growth

• VC backed

• Blackboard using (but don't hold that against

me)

Learning is constant, time is the variable.

Current Events

• The non-accredited forces in Higher

Education are heating up.

• MOOCs hit the mainstream

• Loads of edtech options and tools introduced

every day

• Moodle is evolving very rapidly and

maintains its lead in terms of users, growth,

adoption and tools.

Which brings us to

present

What makes the perfect

course?

The $1,000,000 question:

How do you deliver courses for credit to 1,000

students at a time with just a few people?

My $.02 answer

Policy

and

Technology

Like a well balanced

Breakfast*

*great content

notwithstanding.

http://www.moodlenews.com/tag/oer/

What I'm aiming for

1.Aesthetics

2.Structure

3.Tools

4.Security

5.Credentials

Aesthetics

I'm talking themes and theme features

• Cover

• Blackbird

• Rocket

Would you rather learn

here...

or here...

or here...

Compatibility

Structure

Progression and Progress

Never leave students wondering how they

are doing or guessing what they should be

doing next.

Don't be afraid to make your course self-

service.

Completion and

Checklists

• Checklist

• Completion

• #Wish Returning students to where they left

off

ANY course is a sequence of objectives and

tasks to be completed.

The checklist mod

from http://www.somerandomthoughts.com/blog/2011/03/05/review-checklist-module/

Checklist (as in a list, not

necessarily the mod)

vs.

from

http://www.packtpub.com/article/moodle-makeover

Tools

For efficiency and effectiveness at scale (lots of

students, automating simple tasks is key)

• Assessment engine (and categorized

question pools)

• Learning Tools Interoperability

• Solid Gradebook

• Assignment Management + Needs Grading

Gradebook

Make it simple and make it work. All of my

courses are out of 1000 points/100%. It

makes calculations easy.

All it takes is a little planning.

Assessments that learn

Organized pools, appropriate rigor, scope,

breadth and depth.

Ability for student to

1. get instant feedback and

2. contest questions that may be problematic.

No course is perfect (but every course can

improve)

LTI is the future.

More LTI resources...

• http://www.imsglobal.org/lti/index.html

• http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/statuschart.cfm

Assignment Management

How do you grade 1000 essays a week?

You don't.

Rubrics + Ajax Marking Block + Staff = Timely, consistent feedback

Security

• Student ID verification (ID theft and

Cheating)

• Web-based proctoring (ProctorU)

• Plagiarism (Turnitin Grademark)

• IP checking

Credentials

Make it worthwhile.

Credit, Badges, Dual Enrollment...

Give students a chance to lay claim to the

materials and show off their achievements.

Credentials, 2

Certificate Module

Badges

This space is really heating up.

Q & A