Once approved, new online and hybrid courses are developed in collaboration with CEI. CEI resources are prioritized based on the impact the course is expected to have on the College. For example, fully online large enrollment courses offered through World Campus may require a full production team who meets weekly during the development process while residential H2 hybrid courses may be developed by faculty working mostly independently with occasional consultation from an instructional designer. In all cases, course authors, in collaboration with CEI, are responsible for ensuring that quality assurance standards are being met.
The length of time needed for an online or hybrid course design varies based on the faculty member’s prior experience in online teaching, learning, and course design, the amount of time the faculty member can devote to the effort, the amount of revision required to any existing content, the number of online sessions to be designed, and the need for multimedia development. Generally, two full semesters of design and development time are needed to create a new online course, with at least one full semester required for a new hybrid course.
The development process involves the analysis, design, and development of all course content and typically takes place over two semesters prior to the initial course offering. All course content must be completed and in place before the course becomes available to students in order to assess the quality of the course and to ensure alignment between course content and learning objectives.
The development process for revising an existing online or hybrid course follows the same process outlined above for new course development with the addition of an informal Quality Matters review, conducted by CEI prior to development. This review is meant to identify opportunities to improve the course and prepare it for the official Quality Matters review which will follow the development of the updated course.
Development Team Roles
The development process is often team-based. The course author, in consultation with the Instructional Designers and Multimedia Specialists in CEI, schedules meetings, sets course deliverable deadlines, and makes pedagogical decisions related to the course. The course author is the subject matter expert who provides the course content. The instructional designer lends expertise in implementing the course in a professionally sound manner. Instructional Designers and Multimedia Specialists in CEI are current with the latest strategies and technologies for developing online courses, familiar with critical elements like accessibility and copyright, and aware of best practices from University and external teaching and learning resources.
