Design Your Online Composition Course with Connect® Based on the Quality in Online Learning Certification

We interviewed Glendale Community College instructor, Alisa Cooper, about best practices for planning your course with Connect and your Quality in Online Learning Certification.

How would you recommend a new faculty member get started?

“The Quality in Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Certification stresses the importance of aligning your assessment with your course objectives, so I always recommend faculty start with a simple mapping exercise to help them list the activities and assignments they want students to do to meet the course objectives. After they have created a map, they can match up activities and assignments that McGraw Hill Connect® provides to help meet those objectives. Connect is helpful because it provides many different tools that can be useful including the Adaptive Learning Assignment lessons, Power of Process, and the Writing Assignment Plus tool.”

What are some of the standards you need to keep in mind?

“When designing for online learning, it’s important to be consistent and clear with your design using similar elements and as few technology tools as possible throughout the course. In regard to technology use, the OLC advises, ‘Technical skills required for participation in course learning activities scaffold in a timely manner (orientation, practice, and application – where appropriate).’ Using Connect, with its vast amount of Adaptive Learning Assignments, helps with this. Spacing the assignments out throughout the course will provide timely practice for students and help students not only get familiar with the technical skills needed, but also the skills being taught in each lesson. Another OLC standard is to make sure that frequently used technology tools are easily accessed, and the way that Connect integrates with most Learning Management Systems makes this possible. The seamless integration also provides single sign-on for students, saving them the hassle of having yet another login to remember to access course material.”

What specific Connect tools would you recommend using?

“Good online course design “'offers access to a variety of engaging resources that facilitate communication and collaboration, deliver content, and support learning and engagement (OLC).”' All of the tools in Connect offer this variety, but the three I consistently recommend for composition courses are the Adaptive Learning Assignment, Power of Process, and Writing Assignment Plus tool. All three provide an efficient way to deliver content as well as assess learning that is happening in the online environment. “