Attention Kent State faculty! Get ready to elevate your online teaching with the new Design, Build, Teach Pathways, introduced by Lydia, Senior Instructional Designer at Kent State Online. This exciting series of self-paced Canvas courses is designed to help you master the art of online course creation. With the Kent State Online to Teach Framework as your guide, you’ll explore innovative strategies to make your online courses both effective and enjoyable. Dive in and see how these resources can transform your teaching experience!
Are you teaching an online course?
Introducing the new Design, Build, Teach Pathways, a series of asynchronous, self-paced Canvas courses that guide you through foundational concepts and best practices as you design, build, and teach online courses.
These pathways are based on the Kent State Online to Teach Framework, which establishes a philosophical underpinning for designing online courses that promote teaching interactions.
Enrich Your Knowledge
This program has been carefully designed to provide you with the knowledge and tools necessary to design, build, and teach online courses at Kent State University. We believe that through these pathways, you will gain valuable insights and practical skills that will significantly benefit your students and your own professional growth.
The Design pathway explores topics such as the Backward Design process, learning outcomes, selecting learning materials, developing an assessment plan, and structuring course content so that the learning experience is consistent, organized, and appropriately sequenced. The design process will provide you with a guide that you can use to build your fully online course in the Canvas learning management system later.
Courses in the Design pathway include Introduction to Backward Design, Creating an Assessment Plan, Curating Content, and Organizing Your Course
The Build pathway focuses on technology and provides the foundational knowledge necessary to build a fully online course in the Canvas learning management system (LMS). Starting with a basic knowledge of Canvas tools, you will receive how-to’s and best practices to build a high-quality, engaging course with pedagogy in mind.
Courses in the Build pathway include Starting Fresh in Canvas, Deploying Content Through Modules & Pages, Adding Activities and Assignments, Creating Groups and Group Activities, and Syllabus, Settings, and Review
The Teach pathway is centered around online learning and teaching pedagogy. Each course focuses on essential topics such as the instructor experience, the student experience, KSU resources, creating teaching presence, engagement, building community, communicating effectively, grading, and providing feedback. Along the way, we will discover tools in the Canvas learning management system (LMS) that will allow us to put pedagogy into practice, including Grades, the Speedgrader, Announcements, Inbox, and more. Finally, we will review what it takes to prepare your course for delivery by reviewing the Canvas Ready Checklist to help ensure you are on the road to success!
Courses in the Teach pathway include Introduction to Online Teaching, Establishing Teaching Presence, Building Community, Communication Strategies and Tools, Grading and Providing Feedback, and Preparing Your Online Course
Ways You Can Participate
This training series has been designed to accommodate a variety of learning preferences with several options for participation.
Explore at Your Own Pace.
Looking for information on a specific topic or a resource that you can review as time allows? Explore courses at your leisure based on interest. Browse and review relevant information and resources. Find topics most pertinent to you and apply those strategies to your courses.
Guided Participation.
Depending on your learning goals, you might choose a more in-depth approach incorporating optional activities, personalized feedback, and support. Choose courses that are of interest to you. Review the course learning materials. Check your understanding by completing the Knowledge Check Quiz. Put course topics into practice by completing the Practical Application Activity. Discuss how you might incorporate this new knowledge into your own online course during a 1:1 consult with a member of the Online Learning Team.
Earn an Award!
The Bronze Teaching Recognition Award recognizes learning evidence-based practices for instruction and developing a plan to use them. Once you complete all activities in a course, be sure to apply to be considered for this Award!
Support
Our goal is to ensure you have a rewarding and successful experience throughout the process. Whether you need assistance with an aspect of the course design, have questions about best practices, or seek advice on leveraging technology to enhance learning, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Learn More!
Visit the Design, Build, Teach Pathways website for more information and to get started!
