In this course, quality is defined as, “Teaching
methods that successfully help learners develop the knowledge and skills they
will require in the digital age.”
Formal
national and institutional quality assurance processes do not guarantee quality
teaching and learning. In particular, they focus more on past ‘best’
practices, processes to be done before actual teaching, and often ignore the
affective, emotional, or personal aspects of learning. Also, they do not focus
particularly on the needs of learners in the digital age.
New
technologies and the needs of learners in the digital age require a re-thinking
of traditional campus-based teaching, especially where it has been based mainly
on the transmission of knowledge. This means re-assessing the way you teach and
determining how you would really like to teach in the digital age. This
requires imagination and vision rather than technical expertise.
Blended and especially fully online learning require a
range of skills that most instructors are unlikely to have. Good course
design not only enables students to learn better but also controls faculty
workload. Courses look better with good graphic and web design and professional
video production. Specialist technical help frees up instructors to concentrate
on the knowledge and skills that students need to develop.
Make the optimum
use of existing resources, including institutionally-supported learning
technologies, open educational resources (OER), learning technology staff, and
the experience of your colleagues.
Regular and
on-going instructor/teacher presence, especially when students are studying
partly or wholly online, is essential for student success. This means effective
communication between teacher/instructor and students. It is particularly
important to encourage inter-student communication, either face-to-face or
online.
The new
learning goals of re-designed courses should be aimed at developing the
knowledge and skills needed in the digital age. The re-designed courses should
be carefully evaluated in their goal achievement and the ways in
which the courses could be improved should be identified.
