A fellow Moodler (someone who uses Moodle.org’s LMS software) asked where to learn some basic principles about e-Learning and how to get a “demo” course up quickly. It was posted in Moodle.org’s forums. I am reposting what I suggested here, as many have found it quite useful so far:

“Re: E-Learning Training – by Mary Parke – Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 09:03 AM

I’m copying below the resources I point my beginning instructors to. Also, you may just want to try out the demo.moodle.org courses, as well – they have full functionality for testing out the features. The below resources are more on the pedagogy of teaching “online”. However, I’d go to the Michigan State Virtual University website and check it out – they have a great “mental map” of the whole process that is clickable.

What you will want to focus on, is the layout/structure of your demo course, and adding a few tools for your demo instructors to test out. Choose topics or weeks, and know that the top block of your course is where you’d put things like the name of the course, the instructor, contact info for the instructor, a link to the syllabus, and possibly an “iCafe” discussion forum for your students or a “Q/A” forum for your students to ask questions about the course/course materials. Then plan out your weeks. Put a header on the first line (week 1 or the name of the topic) and then add content and resources using “add a resource – choose create a webpage, or link to a directory or file” or if you’ve the book module installed, create a book of the content for the week/topic. Then add a discussion forum, an assignment (online is easiest), or a quiz. This is just the basics…

If you need a template, let me know.

Good luck!

- Mary

Websites Worth Checking Out

Why teach fully online, blended, or enhanced…
Answers some of the questions of why? including benefits and limitations of online teaching. Brought to you by Michigan State Virtual University Design & Technology.

Michigan State Virtual University Design & Technology
A virtual flowchart and catalog of collective best practices on why teach online and how to get started in creating an online course. EXCELLENT resource that guides you through the steps – including how to design your online course for adult learning.

Teach Online – Michigan State’s old portal for the Virtual University Design & Technology site. Still some very relevant information.

Links to Instructional Design Tips for Online Instruction (Humboldt State University) and the correlating Rubric for Online Instruction (Chico State University).

http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/
http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/resources.html

What is your teaching style? – Inventory (Online).
Brought to you by Indiana State University. Determine your teaching style and use this to assist in developing your online teaching presence.

Distance Education Faculty Site Map – University of Florida.
An EXCELLENT resource for all distance learning instructors from telecourses to all online. Check this out!
IDKB – Instructional Design Knowledge Base
Excellent links to pedagogy and best practices for designing curriculum as it pertains to traditional and online learning.

Index of Learning Styles
“The Index of Learning Styles is an on-line instrument used to assess preferences on four dimensions (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global) of a learning style model formulated by Richard M. Felder and Linda K. Silverman. The instrument was developed by Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman of North Carolina State University.”

Learning Style Questionnaire – Try it yourself!
Based upon the Index of Learning Styles. Different from Myers-Brigg and Gardner. Developed out of North Carolina State University. Try it.

Principles of Online Design for Faculty
Created by Florida Gulf Coast University. A rubric style format for decision-making in choosing to teach online and creating content for online. Particularly pertains to moving from traditional to some element of online teaching.

Fac Dev 101 – Penn State’s Online Course for Training Faculty in Online Teaching. Taught in 9 Modules available for printable download. Excellent resources. Penn State teaches using the Angel courseware system yet these lessons are non-courseware specific and scaffolded rather well for self-paced learning. Very essential for those new to online learning.

Learning Support Centers in Higher Education: Online Teaching/Learning. Links to zillions (well, alot) of resources available in print or on the web for online teaching. Created by Paradise Valley Community College (Phoenix, Arizona).

CATS – Community of Academic Technology Staff: Best Practices for Developing and Delivering an Online Course. Chico State University – links to resources for best practices in online learning and discussion forums.

SLOAN Consortium Effective Online Practices Wiki. “To help make quality education online part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines, Sloan-C shares effective practices online. You see here the beginning of a site that you can help make more and more useful to the higher education community.”

eLearnopedia.com – Document/Article/Website searchable and annotated index of eLearning practices, tips, suggestions, pedagogy, theory, etc. for Academic Researchers, Educators, Developers, General Interest, and Content Managers. Excellent resource database.”

This discussion was originally posted at: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76106.