Introduction
This textbook is meant to fuel an instructor’s creative energy and empower course developers to design more innovative and engaging materials for students. Engagement and innovation do not have to be difficult to implement, it does not even need a different platform or website. It can be done all in the comfort of an institutions learning management system (LMS). This book is built with Moodle’s capabilities in mind, but these ideas could potentially be translated to other LMS options in education.
Proceed through the book with an open mind, recognizing the following about the content provided:
- Ideas will be challenging. Isn’t that what education is all about? Challenging our world-view? There will be ideas that break out of the traditional view of higher education.
- Ideas may not be feasible for everyone,… yet. The more training, the more education, the more options available means there are more solutions for engaging students more effectively. The only limitation is that learning materials and assessments should align with the learning outcomes of the course or program. Otherwise, the possibilities are endless.
- Ideas may need to evolve. Collaboration, trial & error, and student feedback may cause new ideas to evolve over time, but that does not mean that the idea is a failure. Continuous improvement is essential.
This textbook is the sequel of Open Engagement, an introduction to engaging students with well-known forms of engagement in online learning. There will be topics that overlap, but the content will be very different. Open Engagement works with a faculty certification course called: Online Engagement Certification Course offered by TrineOnline. This textbook works with a different faculty certification course called: Advanced Engagement Certification Course and is also offered by TrineOnline.
Course Description:
In this course, participants will focus on creating engaging materials for their courses. Different forms of engagement will be explored and content created that is relevant to the courses that they teach.
Learning Outcomes:
- Create engaging discussion forums. (LO1)
- Design new content for current courses. (LO2)
- Investigate new forms of media to engage students. (LO3)
