I'm not sure about you, but here at Kennebec Valley Community College in Maine, we have been going through a stream of different LMSs (learning management systems). Each time this happens, many of us have had to copy material from one system to the other. Not all systems transfer information in the same way and this has become quite labor intensive.
NOT IN MY DEPARTMENT!
The Department of Social Sciences and Psychology has for years published all course content in the form of digital (and now print!) CourseBooks! The CourseBooks are stand-alone or are aligned with a textbook and contain all the lectures, assignments, rubrics, and other resources for the student. The LMS is only used to create quizzes, discussions, and drop boxes.
Pages makes it easy to write out your course content and include other elements such as links, slides, movies, and pictures to support your content. The template I have been using actually comes from iBooks Author (RIP). It is formatted in landscape and looks great on an iPad.
I have written the content for nearly all of the courses in my Department and they are all available on the Apple Bookstore. Here is an image of them (more will be coming in the Spring, namely Forensic Psychology, Research Methods, Constructionism, and Personality.)
Click here to view my Introduction to Psychology CourseBook and access the whole series
I have also used Pages to create PDF versions for my own students' use and for print publication with Amazon. The print versions are very popular due to the actual landscape layout of the CourseBooks!
I'm sharing the CourseBook Template that I use to build new courses. Of course you will likely delete all of MY stuff in there. The Template is formatted inline with my own Instructional Design methodology.
ALOTA is an acronym for the parts of each Chapter. ALOTA is a variation on Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, a tool for ensuring that you include the basic elements to facilitate learning. Each Chapter has the following four sections:
- Attention
- Learning Outcomes
- Teaching
- Assessment
I am currently working on a CourseBook about t ALOTA itself. Reach out to me if you would like to know about it when it comes out.
Have a great time breaking free from your LMS chains!
September 18, 2022
So smart! Such a good way to make courses and content continue to be accessible. Thanks for the idea, template and online books!
This action is unavailable while under moderation.
This action is unavailable while under moderation.