Lessons Learned: Curriculum Online Guides and Standards COGS

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Lessons Learned Curriculum Online Guides and
Standards (COGS)

• Gene Semchych
• Presentation to MADLaT Annual Conference 2004

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Lessons Learned

• Or..
• Experience and treachery will win out over youth
  and exuberance every time!

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Lessons Learned Curriculum Online Guides and
Standards (COGS)

• Why guides standards?
• How did we do it?
• What guides standards?
• Application its about curriculum
• Lessons learned

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Why guides standards?

• Global marketplace demands quality
• Given that curriculum development is a
  distributed departmental undertaking at RRC and
  given that any online presence is a de facto
  global presence, the Systems Restructuring
  initiative for 2002/03 focused on the quality
  assurance aspects of online product development.
• Our market is no longer restricted to a
  geographical catchment area. We must compete with
  global education vendors for students who are
  increasingly consumer savvy.

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Why guides standards?

• Global marketplace demands quality
• The need to document share curriculum
• Red River Colleges value as a learning
  institution is determined largely by its
  curriculum assets. Historically, these assets
  have been housed at the course or program level
  as either print or digital documents and, in many
  instances, as unrecorded faculty expertise.
• Little sharing of curriculum assets occurs
  between programs or even between courses within
  programs. Curriculum management protocols are
  lacking at the institutional level.
• Similarly, the infrastructure necessary to
  support curriculum management and sharing is
  underdeveloped.

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Why guides standards?

• Global marketplace demands quality
• The need to document share curriculum
• Desire to brand RRC online courseware
• A standardized look and feel that is conducive to
  successful online learning
• A consistent use of styles, fonts, colours and
  course navigation that serves to support learning
  through familiarity
• Associate RRC look feel with curriculum quality

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How did we do it?

• Representative Steering Committee issue focused
  Task Teams
• Steering Committee (20 members,
  cross-institutional)
• Task Teams (4 6 members)
• Readiness and Viability Task Team
• Accessibility Task Team
• Corporate Policy Issues Task Team
• eLearning strategy Task Team
• File Management Task Team
• Instructional Design Fonts, Styles, Colours and
  Navigation Task Team
• Instructional Design Templates and Guidelines
  Task Team
• Instructional Prototypes Task Team
• Research Group

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How did we do it?

• Representative Steering Committee issue focused
  Task Teams
• W3C Recommendations Protocol http//www.w3.org/
• Working draft (Task Team level)
• Candidate Recommendation (Task Team level)
• Proposed Recommendation (COGS Committee level)
• Recommendation (COGS Committee level)

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How did we do it?

• Representative Steering Committee issue focused
  Task Teams
• W3C Recommendations Protocol
• Online collaboration, document archiving, and
  knowledge management using Microsoft Sharepoint
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/

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What guides standards?

• Standards policy
• Planning tools
• Productivity tools (Instructional design
  development)
• Presentation tools

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Standards policy
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Standards policy

• Standardized Course Outline
• Recommendation That Red River College adopt a
  standard Course Outline for all courses and
  programs delivered by the college. That
  infrastructure be put in place to allow the
  Course Outline for each instance of course
  delivery to be generated electronically from a
  database of curriculum, course, and program
  information and distributed to students at the
  start of their learning period.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommendations1/
  pr_tg_course_outline_template.htm

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Standards policy

• Standardized Course Outline
• Standard on Accessibility
• Recommendation That Red River College adopt W3C
  Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content
  Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and that Priority 1
  guideline checkpoints be adopted to ensure that
  all online course development satisfies the basic
  requirement for accessibility by all groups.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommendations1/
  pr_a_2003-06-03_recommendation.htm4.20WebCT20Ac
  cessibility

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Standards policy

• Standardized Course Outline
• Standard on Accessibility
• Curriculum Language (Glossary)
• Recommendation That the COGS project adopt
  standardized language related to curriculum and
  that a glossary of curriculum related terms be
  compiled, published, and its use promoted
  throughout Red River College.
• http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/COGS/Recommendations1/
  pr-ca-glossary.htm

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Standards policy

• Standardized Course Outline
• Standard on Accessibility
• Curriculum Language (Glossary)
• E-Learning Policy
• The development and integration of learning
  technologies into programs will occur through a
  collaborative process that acknowledges the need
  for a thorough assessment of all impacts
  including cost-effectiveness, sustainability,
  student success, curriculum renewal and
  instructor supports.
• Red River College Teaching Learning Technology
  Roundtable 2003-2006 Strategic and 2003-2004
  Operational Planning Documents

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Standards policy

• Standardized Course Outline
• Standard on Accessibility
• Curriculum Language (Glossary)
• E-Learning Policy

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Planning Tools
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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Recommendation That the Readiness and
  Viability Assessment instrument be accepted as a
  guide for decision-making related to investing
  college or other resources in an online
  development project whether at the program,
  course, or course resource level.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/COGS/Recommendations1/
  prrv20030618assessmenttoolv01.htm

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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Course Planning Evaluation Template
• Recommendation That the Course Planning and
  Evaluation template be made available to all
  instructional staff to aid in planning learning
  materials for courses offered at Red River
  College. This template can be used to plan a
  course or to review a course planned in
  modules/units as an evaluation of the
  teaching/learning strategies employed throughout
  the entire course. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cog
  s/Recommendations1/pr_tg_2003-04-23.htm

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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Course Planning Evaluation Template
• Content Planning Template
• Recommendation That the Content Planning
  template be made available to all instructional
  staff to aid in the planning of learning
  materials for courses offered at Red River
  College. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommen
  dations1/pr_tg_content_planning_template.htm

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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Course Planning Evaluation Template
• Content Planning Template
• Question Bank for Online Student Feedback
• Recommendation That a sample question bank be
  made available to all instructional staff to aid
  in soliciting input from students in assessing
  online course materials. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.
  ca/cogs/Recommendations1/pr_tg_student_course_eval
  uation.htm

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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Course Planning Evaluation Template
• Content Planning Template
• Question Bank for Online Student Feedback
• Instructional Design Checklist
• Recommendation That the Instructional Design
  Checklist be made available to all instructional
  staff when developing online courses at Red River
  College. This checklist would be used in
  conjunction with the Instructional Design Manual.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommendations1/
  pr_tg_design_present_checklist.htm

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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Course Planning Evaluation Template
• Content Planning Template
• Question Bank for Online Student Feedback
• Instructional Design Checklist
• Instructional Design Guidelines Manual
• Recommendation That the Instructional Design
  Guidelines Manual for course developers be made
  available to all instructional staff as a guide
  for using the Instructional Design Templates when
  creating online courses for delivery at Red River
  College. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommen
  dations1/pr_tg_id_guidelines.htm

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Planning Tools

• Readiness Viability Assessment Tool
• Course Planning Evaluation Template
• Content Planning Template
• Question Bank for Online Student Feedback
• Instructional Design Checklist
• Instructional Design Guidelines manual

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Productivity Tools
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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Recommendation That the Module Introduction
  Template be used for the creation of module
  introductory pages of online courses at Red River
  College. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommen
  dations1/pr_tg_module_intro_template.htm

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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Lesson Introduction Template
• Recommendation That the Lesson Introduction
  Template be used for the creation of the
  introductory page of a lesson within a module for
  online courses offered at Red River College.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommendations1/
  pr_tg_lesson_intro_template.htm

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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Lesson Introduction Template
• Study Template
• Recommendation That the Study Template be used
  for the creation of content pages containing
  study activities (Preparation and Presentation)
  within a lesson as part of a module/unit for
  online courses at Red River College.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommendations1/
  pr_tg_study_template.htm

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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Lesson Introduction Template
• Study Template
• Interact Template
• Recommendation That the Interact Template be
  used for the creation of content pages containing
  interactive activities within a lesson as part of
  a module/unit for online courses at Red River
  College. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommen
  dations1/pr_tg_interact_template.htm

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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Lesson Introduction Template
• Study Template
• Interact Template
• Module Summary Template
• Recommendation That the Module Summary Template
  be used for creating a summary page for a module
  or unit of study for online courses at Red River
  College. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/cogs/Recommen
  dations1/pr_tg_summary_template.htm

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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Lesson Introduction Template
• Study Template
• Interact Template
• Module Summary Template
• Summative Assessment template
• Recommendation That the Summative Assessment
  Template be used for creating a summative
  application and assessment page at the end of a
  unit of study (lesson or module) for online
  courses at Red River College. http//sharepoint.rr
  c.mb.ca/cogs/Recommendations1/pr_tg_assessment_tem
  plate.htm

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Productivity Tools

• Module Introduction Template
• Lesson Introduction Template
• Study Template
• Interact Template
• Module Summary Template
• Summative Assessment template

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Presentation Tools
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Presentation Tools

• Cascading Style Sheet
• Recommendation That a standardized style sheet
  be applied to all web pages used in the delivery
  of online curriculum at Red River College.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/COGS/Recommendations1/
  prfs2003066css.htm

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Presentation Tools

• Cascading Style Sheet
• Navigation Protocol
• Recommendation That all HTML documents used to
  deliver online curriculum at Red River College
  use a standardized set of navigation rules.
  http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/COGS/Recommendations1/
  prfs20030626navigation.htm

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Presentation Tools

• Cascading Style Sheet
• Navigation Protocol
• RRC Course Icons
• Recommendation That Red River College adopt a
  standardized set of icons for use with online
  curriculum delivery. http//sharepoint.rrc.mb.ca/C
  OGS/Recommendations1/prfs20030626icons.htm

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Presentation Tools

• Cascading Style Sheet
• Navigation Protocol
• RRC Course Icons
• Protocol on Web Colours
• Recommendation That colours and backgrounds of
  HTML documents used in online curriculum delivery
  at Red River College be standardized to
  complement the approved RRC Colour Palette and to
  brand RRC online curriculum. http//sharepoint.rrc
  .mb.ca/COGS/Recommendations1/prfs20030626webcolour
  s.htm

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Presentation Tools

• Cascading Style Sheet
• Navigation Protocol
• RRC Course Icons
• Protocol on Web Colours

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Lessons Learned
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Lessons Learned

• Its about curriculum
• Regardless of delivery mode, effective
  curriculum must be relevant academically sound
  learner centered sharable and sustainable
  through development, delivery and maintenance
  phases.
• It must reflect sound adult learning principles
  and best practices.

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Lessons Learned

• Its about curriculum
• Convergence

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Lessons Learned

• Its about curriculum
• Convergence
• Curriculum management workflow processes
• Quality assurance in curriculum at an institution
  as broad and diverse as RRC, needs infrastructure
  services and related work flows that are
  ubiquitous to teaching and learning activities.
• Faculty and program delivery must be freed to
  fully apply their expertise in areas for which
  they are most qualified (i.e. curriculum
  development and instructional delivery).

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Lessons Learned

• Its about curriculum
• Convergence
• Curriculum management workflow processes
• Standardized course outline as focal point for
  curriculum management and systems convergence
• It serves as a legal contract between Red River
  College and its students. As such it articulates
  the commitments for which the college is
  accountable to its students as well as the
  commitments for which students are accountable to
  the college.
• As an instructional tool, its function is to both
  inform and guide students in their learning.
• It is a gathering tool for academic information
  (i.e. body of curriculum assets) at the
  institutional level

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Lessons Learned

• Its about curriculum
• Convergence
• Curriculum management workflow processes
• Standardized course outline as essential driver

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Implementation
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Implementation

• Start with a database driven standardized course
  outline

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Implementation

• Start with a database driven standardized course
  outline
• Develop and adopt a Standardized Course Outline
  Web Application
• Our college has a COW! Bossy grazes on RRCs
  course information and ruminates on it to help us
  manage curriculum and related workflow processes.

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Implementation

• Start with a database driven standardized course
  outline
• Develop and adopt a Standardized Course Outline
  Web Application
• Implement balance of COGS recommendations over
  time through policy changes as well as gradual
  culture change within the institution.

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Implementation

• Start with a database driven standardized course
  outline
• Develop and adopt a Standardized Course Outline
  Web Application
• Implement balance of COGS recommendations over
  time through policy changes as well as gradual
  culture change within the institution.

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Q A