Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 111

Internet Learning
teach online with advanced tools and
pedagogy to improve existing and future
online courses. “The Project” focused on
the development of online modules created
and run by online coordinators, alpha tested
by the developers functioning as program
participants. Online Coordinators were
designated faculty within each academic
department in the CHSS at KSU who acted
as a liaison between department faculty and
the Office of Distance Education (ODE) in
the College. Online coordinators in CHSS
were responsible for supporting distance
education in online, hybrid, and traditional
classroom settings within their departments.
This support was provided in the form of
one-on-one sessions to brainstorm and
troubleshoot distance learning issues with
full-time and part-time faculty and included
department-level training for instructional
technology. The designated faculty received
a supplemental stipend for assuming the
additional responsibilities described above.
A total of 11 modules were created,
10 by the online coordinators and 1 by the
Director of Distance Education. The Online
coordinators were given freedom to select
their own module topic with the guidelines
that it should pertain to best practices and
sharing knowledge and expertise relating to
online learning, and that it should contain
30 minutes to an hour worth of content on
their topic along with an interactive activity.
Each participant was expected to log in each
week and access the module contents and
participate in the activities. Each module
designer was expected to monitor his or her
own module during the week that it was active
and to provide feedback to participants.
The modules created by the Online
Coordinators fell into one of four types: (1)
pedagogy/online teaching, (2) trends, (3)
technology, and (4) tips or lessons learned
relating to the online coordinator position.
The following are a list of the topic titles:
Latest Research into Successful Online
Learning; Best Practices in Mobile Learning,
Faculty Presence in Online Courses, Get
Your Students Heads into the Clouds!, Cloud
Computing at Kennesaw State University,
Strong and Effective Types of Feedback for
Students in an Online Environment, Taking
the Long View, How Online Learning
Has Changed at Kennesaw State, Lessons
Learned: Five Tips I Would Share with New
Online Coordinators, Creative Assignments
in the Online Classroom: The Virtual
Museum, Learner-Content Interaction in
Online Courses, Real Online Programs of
Kennesaw State University, and The Use of
Social Media in Online Teaching.
The design of the modules and the
presentation of content varied depending
on the module creator; however, each
module was created to QM Standards in
order to model best practices. Most online
coordinators used voiceover PowerPoint
to deliver their content (Figure 1), and two
used a PowerPoint with more detailed notes.
Some module designers had supplemental
or required readings. Every module started
with module objectives (Figure 2).
Every module also had a discussion
board where participants were asked to
reflect and interact by answering one or two
directed questions relating to the material
covered. Often participants were asked to
relate their own experiences and methods
of achieving a particular objective, such as
establishing instructor presence in an online
course (Figure 3).
This activity sometimes involved
asking participants to provide examples
from their own courses for all participants to
be able to view and from which they could
benefit (Figure 4).
Content comprehension and
retention were verified in some modules by
using self-assessment quizzes and drag and
drop exercises (Figures 5 and 6).
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