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Foundations for Success

2 Online Learning Frameworks

Online Learning Frameworks

There are a few research-based foundational online frameworks that you will be seeing repeatedly throughout this program and we’d like to introduce them here. We’ll build our knowledge and skills in using these frameworks throughout the course.

Let’s begin with these thoughts on online learning theories.

Backward Design

Backward design is a process that asks us to begin our course design by first considering the end– what are the desired results for our students.

According to Wiggins and McTighe, proponents of backward design:

“Backward design may be thought of as purposeful task analysis: Given a task to be accomplished, how do we get there? Or one might call it planned coaching: What kinds of lessons and practices are needed to master key performances? The approach to curricular design we are advocating is logically forward and commonsensical but backward in terms of conventional habits.” (Source)

We will be using backward design to ensure that we have an “aligned” learning experience for our students.  We will set learning goals, and then create assessments and activities, and choose learning materials to support those learning goals. This way, we have a cohesive, consistent learning experience for students.

Community of Inquiry

The Community of Inquiry is a framework that was created in direct response to and support of online learning. According the Community of Inquiry website):

“An educational community of inquiry is a group of individuals who collaboratively engage in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and confirm mutual understanding. The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful (collaborative-constructivist) learning experience through the development of three interdependent elements – social, cognitive and teaching presence.” (Source)

Throughout this program, we will be demonstrating how to address social, cognitive, and teaching presence in your online courses.

Universal Design for Learning

“Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone–not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.” (Source)

Universal Design for Learning applies to all learning environments, but we will be looking specifically at how this affects instructional choices in the online environment

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Online Teaching & Design Program Copyright © by amcnamar. All Rights Reserved.

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