Inspire Blog

Modular Course Design at OSU Ecampus

Why Modular Course Design The Course Development & Training team at Oregon State University Ecampus promotes modular course design in our online courses. Laura Crowder (2011) defines modular content as “a collection of learning resources developed as a single learning object”. The major benefits of modular course design include: Saving time in the development and updating of course content Modular components are easily repurposed across courses Student learning is improved since the content is presented in smaller chunks Modular Course Design in Online Education Modular course design has been highly recommended by various pioneers in online education. Stephen Downes (Downes, 1998) stated in “The Future of Online Learning” that, “…Online courses will be modular. A course – especially from the … Modular Course Design at OSU Ecampus
by · August 7, 2015

Citations in Online Discussions

In the classroom we often discuss readings and other sources of information. Because students are often accustomed to digital communications in which sources are rarely cited, they can benefit from guidance concerning your expectations regarding citation. The instructor for TCE 512, Psychology of the Adolescent, worked with Ecampus to create an infographic through which she provides such guidance. This infographic is licensed under a Creative Commons license, so you can feel free to download and post it in your own courses. Also, remember that we enjoy collaborating with Ecampus instructors to create innovative resources, so if you have any interesting ideas we would love to work with you!
by · July 20, 2015

Canvas Resources and Guides

With the migration to Canvas comes many new features and methods for facilitating your course. The Canvas Guides provide a lot of information, but you may be wondering, where do I even start? Here at Ecampus, we’ve put together a few guides to help you become familiar with some of the tools in Canvas. First, if you’re wondering, “I did this in Blackboard, but I can’t find it in Canvas; how do I…?”, we’ve created a few design options for that. These design options explore how to adapt features that you’ve used in Blackboard to the new Canvas environment. Design Options – Adaptive Release Design Options – Blogs Design Options – Discussion Boards Design Options – Folders and Items Design Options … Canvas Resources and Guides
by · February 10, 2015

Locating OER

Where can I find Open Educational Resources (OER)? Here is a list of Websites that offer (OERs) – open source (copyright free) materials, such as images, audio, and textbooks. Search Creative Commons This site allows you to search for resources using Europeana, Flickr, Fotopedia, Google, Google Images, Jamendo, Open Clip Art Library, SpinXpress, Wikimedia Commons, YouTube, Pixabay, ccMixter, and SoundCloud. Along with providing a selection of search services, Search Creative Commons allows you to filter your search for materials that you can use either for commercial purposes or for materials that can be modified and adapted in order to meet different needs. OER Commons This site offers support services and open educational resources (OERs) in a multitude of subject areas, grade … Locating OER
by · October 2, 2014

We can revisit and revise multimedia

Recently, we added 24 new birds to this “silhouette shape recognition” interactive for FW312. This was the 3rd time we expanded this interactive tool, and it serves as a nice reminder that Ecampus can continue to help improve your course materials year after year.
by · September 2, 2014