At the outset of online program design, program leaders often invest a great deal of time into the overall vision and plan for success of the program as a whole. Now it’s time to get into the reeds of course design. There’s an important shift that takes place from planning the big picture to planning and orchestrating the specifics of when and how learners will be supported in successfully achieving program learning outcomes. While a small group of leaders may have been involved in the overall program design (with consultation at critical junctures), the course design phase will expand that team. It necessitates more people be involved in day-to-day conversations about the program’s curriculum and its evolving creation. How this collaboration is facilitated and fostered by program leaders will have a big impact on overall program success. This unit is focused on navigating this collaboration.

This unit focuses on Course Design; Instructional Design and Educational Technology Expertise; Student Support Systems; Feedback, Continuous Improvement, and Sustainability; Faculty Expertise and Readiness, Educational Technology Stack; Program Vision; and Program Outcomes. Read more about the ecosystem in Module 1, Unit 1: Collaborating to Create the Online Learner Life Cycle and its Ecosystem

The design and implementation of online courses involve everything from course learning outcomes and curriculum mapping to coordinating subject matter expertise, technological and visual creativity, accessibility, and copyright considerations. A team approach is therefore essential. Program directors are often interested to know who should or could comprise their team and how their team can be supported for effective, efficient, and creative work. Ultimately, the hope is that a team comprised of all the right skill sets will effectively work together and creatively develop courses in a way that advances and enacts the program’s vision.

Later units in this module will work on developing a cohesive plan for course design and development. This unit starts with considering who’s needed and who to bring in from the outset of the course design process.

The Power of Collaboration

“The whole point of collaboration is that you give and take from each other, and that’s how you create things that are totally new” – Virgil Abloh

Collaboration is the action of working with others to produce or create something together. In the case of online course design, collaboration is about taking a team approach to the design, planning, development, and delivery of online courses. Instructors need not be alone in navigating all the complex tasks of designing the course curriculum and building the online course environment. In fact, taking a collaborative approach that draws on an interdisciplinary team, with wide-ranging skillsets, such as instructional designers and educational technology specialists, offers infinitely more possibilities to meaningfully and effectively design, build, and facilitate a course.

The Evidence for Collaborative Online Course Design

In the case studies above, you heard just how valuable a collaborative approach is for online course development. These sentiments are widely shared. Consistently, experts in the field convey the message: a team approach is not just valuable, it’s critical to successful online course development.

Taken together, the perspectives shared above highlight how a team approach not only results in excellent conditions for learning but makes the process an enriching and enjoyable process.

Whose Job is it Anyway?

The availability of different roles related to online course design varies greatly from institution to institution. At times, program administrators may need to consider who they might hire or recruit to support program development. Often though, leaders are surprised to learn of the various supports at their institutions are already available to them. This section is intended to give users a sense of the types of staff and professional roles often associated with online course design. If you completed Module 1, Unit 1: Collaborating to Create the Online Student Life Cycle and Its Ecosystem, you may have already begun to document ideas about possible units and associated roles that are potential collaborators, so this section will build off of that work.

It’s important to note that many of the roles described below may be covered in different ways, depending on the institutional structure and culture. For example, it’s common to find someone doing the role of Project Management, Subject Matter Expertise, and Instructional Design!

Consider this list in addition to the people already involved as part of your team – such as Academic Leaders, Deans, Directors, and Program Administration. The roles here represent team members who are more likely to come on board as you expand to course design and development needs.

Common Roles & Skill Sets in Course Development & Design

Determine Collaborators

The above list is massive and may be overwhelming to some. You may be wondering: How am I supposed to involve all these people? Do I really need to think about adding 16 new people to our course design work? That sounds ineffective!

That’s a fair response, and it flags some important points:

First, you’ll want to build a team based on the skillsets that you: A) need, and B) have available to you. This will look different for each program as you take stock of what’s needed in context of the resources available.

Second, you might distinguish between roles that are core (they are involved week-to-week through the course design process) and others who are peripheral (those who consult, review, or offer feedback at key checkpoints). Again, this will look different for different groups.

Finally, consider the division of labour between members. One person may represent a couple of the roles articulated above or there may be overlapping skillsets.

These considerations, taken together, will help you bring together a team that is neither too small nor too large, consisting of all the needed skillsets to either do the work themselves or know who to consult with at key junctures.

Building on Early Collaboration Efforts

Taking a collaborative approach to course development and design is likely a continuation of and expansion upon the collaborative approaches you initiated through the earlier stages of the program’s inception. In the following video, one program Director (Denise Stockley, Co-Director, Masters’ of Health Professions Education Program, Queen’s University) shares a broader picture of collaboration taken by her team.

Guiding Questions for Prioritizing Collaboration from Program Inception into Course Planning

Denise’s insights highlight some guiding questions that might be considered in taking a broader look at the overall spirit of collaboration you’re fostering from program inception into course development and design:

• When and how will you bring people on board in the course design process? At what point in the process will different perspectives be needed?
• Given their roles and skillsets, what’s each person’s relationship to the project? What aspects of the program and its development will be most relevant to them?
• How will different roles be resourced and staffed? What will be the reporting structure?
• How will you foster a sense of motivation and fun in working together?
• How will leaders work to ensure that involvement from a diversity of perspectives is not tokenized, but meaningfully integrated into the fabric of the program’s development?

These questions highlight the importance of timely, motivating, and sustained team-based approaches to development that prioritize relationships. As discussed in the unit on collaboration in Module 1, connecting with other departments and units that have successfully navigated this process can help you effectively plan. Other team members, such as project managers, instructional designers, and educational developers may also be able to help with this type of planning. Consider the following three priorities:

When to Onboard: Consider the timeline of your onboarding process as new team members come on board. Aim to orient different people and roles to the program in a timely manner that brings them into the team when sufficient context and information is available for effectively easing their orientation to the project when granting them the autonomy to exercise their professional input. In other words, involve people early, but not so early that their participation lacks clarity and not so late that their capacity to influence and offer insight towards positive impact from their professional position is constrained. Involving people early builds a collective sense of ownership to the program.

Meaningful, Sustained Collaboration: Avoid a ‘parachute-in approach’ or ‘box-checking’ approach of quickly seeking limited involvement on a pressured timeline without attention to sustained relationship-building, as well as time, space, and capacity for valued input.

Clarify Expectations, Deliverables, and Timelines: As people join your team and begin contributing to program and course development, be clear on a variety of expectations including time commitment, what deliverables each person is responsible for, how they are expected to work with others, and timelines for delivery. Who is your Project Manager – the person who is going to oversee, plan, and manage the project timeline and schedule for deliverables? The Project Manager should plan to work closely with other members of the team to not only make these expectations clear but to support and enable other members of the team to be successful.

Unit Reflection and Resources

“We need not be excellent at everything; we must leverage the expertise and contributions of stakeholders at every step of the way and seek out unexpected opportunities for collaboration. An effective, team-based approach reveals efficiencies, promotes faculty buy-in, and leads to the creation of excellent learning experiences”

– Bonnie Budd, Manager of Learning Design and Analytics in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University (Budd, 2016).

This unit has made the case for a collaborative approach to course design. The key takeaway of this unit is best articulated by interviewee, Brittany McRae (Instructional Designer, Engineering Teaching and Learning Team, Queen’s University):

“Twenty-first-century learning is very different than it used to be. Gone are the days when you just create a PowerPoint and deliver a lecture and walk out of the class and say you’ve done your job. We need to be very intentional with the way that we prepare the learning to make sure we are meeting diverse needs, that we’re reaching students in a way that gets them to want to engage with the materials. And to do that, not any one person has the skills to do all of those pieces. It takes a lot of creativity to take an abstract idea of what could be created and turn it into a high-quality learning experience. Having those clearly defined roles lets everybody play to their strengths.”