Instructional Systems Design

If the title caught your attention, then chances are:

* you’re an instructor new to online learning or,
* you’re a department administrator seeking to draw instructors to online learning or,
* you’re an instructional designer helping instructors integrate technology into their teaching practices

At any rate, this series is aimed at illustrating how using an LMS – like Moodle – can assist you in transitioning your instruction to the online medium.

So, where to begin? Let’s talk about what you already DO know: your syllabus.  (Read my other blog entry about “Your Syllabus – The Foundation for Your Online Moodle Course”)…

Step 1: Set up Your Course Outline in Moodle

At the “Level 1″ of Moodle use, you can use your syllabus to setup your course outline/design in Moodle.

First – choose to deliver your Moodle course using either topics or weeks in the “Settings” for your course (click on “Settings” from the Administration Panel on your course’s mainpage and for Format choose topics or weeks and save your changes).

Next, in course view, “Turn Editing On” – that button at the right top side of your course.

Now you’ll see all of the “editing icons” inside of Moodle – in your course.

Anytime you see a “hand” with a pen icon – that means click me to edit.  Each block in your course has one hand at the very top – click it.  This is the label for the SECTION HEADER.  Type in either the topic for the week/topic block or keywords for what you’re covering that week/topic.

Then, go to the first section (topic or week) and click on the “add an activity” drop down menu.  Choose “Compose a webpage”.  In this new window, copy and paste from your Syllabus the “blurb” for that week – expectations for readings and assignments due.  Give the “webpage” a title specific to what you’ve pasted – such as Readings, Week 1 – or Assignments, Week 1.  Something to this effect.

Do this for each week/topic.  There – now your course outline (via compliments of your syllabus) is mapped out inside your online meeting space.

Step 2: Add Existing Content

So let’s say you have handouts or files you already use in your face-to-face meetings.  How about putting them online for your students to either download before class or to access after class for review?

• How to Link to a File or Website: If you have a PowerPoint presentation, a .pdf file, a word document (.doc), or some other file you want your students to have access to, use the “add a resource –> link to a file or website” option and upload a file for your students to be able to download and use, or link to a website url for them to access and read.  This is handy for archiving in-class presentations for student re-use OR for prompting students to do the reading BEFORE the class meeting – to make the class meeting more productive.

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Coming Soon!

Look for the next post in this series – Moodle Level 2…, where I talk about how to add some of the most common activities to your course, such as discussion forums.