Consistency Matters: Templates in Course Design and Maintenance
Mark N Kayser
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Jay Hopkins
Keywords: Quality Design in Teaching, Assessment and Analytics, Effective Teaching Practices
Abstract
For several years the UMN CCE has been developing a template for online courses both as a starting point for all courses and as a tool for instituting design changes. The benefits of using a college-level template include (but are not limited to); timely and efficient updating and maintenance of our catalog, increased consistency of design, and wider faculty adoption of new tools. This has resulted in more courses meeting the Quality Matters requirements, improved usability, faster design, and a better student experience. This presentation will share the template architecture, the thought process behind its design, and the impact these decisions have had on teaching, learning, and course design/maintenance.
Learning Outcomes:
- Discuss the design reasoning for CCE template elements including: Instructor Help block, Student Help block, naming conventions, use of Google docs, and social presence elements
- Analyze the impact of design decisions on usability and student experience
- Explain the effect of templates on course portfolio maintenance and updates
