{"id":606,"date":"2020-10-09T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T08:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/?p=606"},"modified":"2020-10-07T16:26:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T00:26:58","slug":"building-an-openly-licensed-course-in-a-box-in-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/building-an-openly-licensed-course-in-a-box-in-a-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Building an openly-licensed \u201ccourse in a box\u201d in a month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A group of KPU\u2019s Applied Communications & Public Relations (ACPR) instructors and Dr. Seanna Takacs, Educational Consultant for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in KPU\u2019s Teaching & Learning Commons and Accessibility Services, teamed up this summer to respond to a unique Call for Proposals issued by BCcampus: to develop an open online course (OOC) within four weeks to be available for instructors in Fall 2020. The team was motivated to create this online open course as a way to support instructors who are interested in exploring open pedagogy and open education resources. As well, oftentimes contract faculty at institutions around the province are hired at the last minute prior to the start of the semester. Having freely-accessible and openly-licensed course materials, or a \u201ccourse in a box,\u201d could be a helpful resource and support to last-minute hires and others.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how does one develop a complete course \u2013 including weekly lesson plans, sample assignments, videos, interactive H5P activities, PowerPoint slides, audio recordings, and readings \u2013 within a one-month timeframe? In short, through a combination of teamwork and resourcefulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team members \u2013 Melissa Ashman, Arley Cruthers, Peg Fong, John Grant, and Seanna Takacs – have been early adopters of open education resources (OER). Notably, Arley currently serves as KPU\u2019s Open Education Teaching Fellow, and Melissa presently serves as KPU\u2019s Open Education Research Fellow. Arley had already developed an online textbook \u2013 Business Writing for Everyone<\/a> \u2013 as part of KPU\u2019s open-textbook initiative, and had spent significant energy on developing a student-friendly online curriculum for CMNS 1140 Introduction to Professional Communications<\/em><\/a>. The course is the first-year business communications course required of all business degree and diploma students at KPU, as well as some additional programs in other disciplines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, members of the ACPR department had also created Student Engagement Activities for Business Communications<\/a> \u2013 an open textbook to provide activities for instructors to consider infusing into their courses that teach principles of professional communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team therefore used both these texts and the CMNS 1140 course template as their baseline and were the first group to submit their final product to BCcampus before the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While aggressive in timeline, the approach taken to develop and package this course is one that can certainly be replicated for those interested in packaging their own OOC or even developing a shared course within a given program or department. The key elements of this approach included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Setting clear goals: <\/strong>The team began the process by mapping out shared goals in terms of what the deliverables would look like, when they were needed, and also how the finished product would be delivered. All of this impacted the overall approach taken, including the development of a Pressbooks<\/a> site as well as a Google Drive folder to host materials that could be easily shared.
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  2. Identifying a project manager: <\/strong>With five team members and an aggressive timeline, it was critical to have one person assigned to serve as the project manager. In this case, Melissa pulled together a task list, kept track of assigned duties, gently poked team members on occasion, and ensured that all of the requirements were gathered and accounted for. Don\u2019t underestimate or undervalue the need for this role.

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  3. Conducting individual reviews of content: <\/strong>Team members individually conducted a review and audit of both the open texts as well as the course template that was used. Notes were taken on a shared document and several meetings occurred where the group discussed and debated about which adjustments were required. Conducting individual reviews allowed for different perspectives to shine through and avoided group-think from potentially emerging.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n