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


We interviewed Milwaukee Area Technical College Instructor, Del Wakley, about planning your course with Connect.

How would you recommend a new faculty member get started?

"The beauty of a McGraw Hill Connect® course is the plethora of digital assets you'll have to choose from to create your online course. But really, whether it's a face-to-face, blended, or an online course, the getting started process is the same:

1. You can either create a Connect section from scratch (In Connect My Courses, click Add course, enter text author, select text, enter Course and Section name, the Create Course.

OR

Have your MH Rep provide you with a copy of an OLC-Aligned Course, which will already be populated w/digital content.

2. Review the text Table of Contents to get an overview of how the subject matter is organized. There is a link to the eBook under Section info on the right of your Connect section or review your hard copy. Make a list of the chapters you'll use–whole or partial–and organize or group them to your liking. This provides an outline of your course.

3. In your Connect section, click the Library icon at the top, then select Instructor Resources.  Here's where you'll find your Instructor Manual, PowerPoint Presentations, etc. Download the Connect Matrix spreadsheet to see all the digital assets available for your adopted product organized by chapter, learning objective, AACSB, difficulty level and Bloom's Taxonomy. This will help you select which assets to use with each chapter. If you are working with an OLC-Aligned Course, many of these will already be in your section. You'll need to examine these to see how they align with your course outcomes."

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

"If you are working with an OLC-Aligned Course provided by your MH Rep, you'll be working with a preconfigured Connect section that's been created using OLC’s quality scorecard to align with best practices in online course delivery. Review the content in the Instructors Only - Training Resources area, which includes Instructor Training Resources, More About the Digital Resources Inside Connect, Delivering an Effective Online Course, and OLC-Aligned Connect Configuration Course Overview.

Good course design = accessible course design. With that in mind, if you are creating your Connect course section from scratch or adding content to an OLC-Aligned Course, make sure you use assets or question types with keyboard navigable alternative versions. When you add an assignment in Connect, use the Accessibility, Keyboard Navigation to filter your results.

Additionally, it's important to provide your students with an orientation or overview of your course. Within Connect you'll find student orientation videos for Connect, SmartBook®, Marketing Analytics, and Application-Based Activities. Be sure to make them available to your students by assigning them.  "

What specific Connect tools would you recommend using?

"Every chapter should start with a SmartBook 2.0 module. This adaptive learning tool takes the student through the chapter based on the learning objectives you deem most important to their understanding. For my time-starved students, I tout SB as the most efficient means to gain an understanding of the subject matter covered in each chapter.

Most chapters also include an Application-Based Activity (ABA). This allows students to apply what they have learned from their chapter readings. Based on student feedback, the students enjoy the interactive nature of the ABAs and increased their learning."

What is your most relied upon Connect resource when building out your course?

“As noted earlier, the Connect Matrix spreadsheet aligns digital assets with Bloom's Taxonomy. This allows you to select digital assets that cover the broad range of learning levels– remembering, understanding, applying, etc. Personally, I look for assets that engage students at the higher level of thinking skills (apply and above). So, every chapter includes an Application-Based Activity and I filter test questions to include only those at the apply or higher level of thinking."