6.1 Creating a Calendar for an Online/Hybrid Course
The very first step in creating an online or hybrid course is to make the course calendar. Unlike calendars for seated courses, calendars for online and hybrid courses must give great detail regarding weekly topics, readings, assignments, discussions, objectives and due dates. Online and hybrid students need this calendar in order to make sure they are accomplishing everything they should in a given week.
When the instructional design team builds a course, the first thing the team asks from the subject matter expert (you, the instructor) is the course calendar. From this calendar, we can build any course. We use it as a course design map, to make sure that we, too, have included all necessary materials in the course to ensure students can successfully navigate and complete a course.
So, creating the course calendar is an essential first step. Skip this step, and your course is likely to miss pieces and become confusing for your students. It would be like building a house without a blue print! You'd end up with the Winchester Mansion instead of Buckingham Palace.
When the instructional design team builds a course, the first thing the team asks from the subject matter expert (you, the instructor) is the course calendar. From this calendar, we can build any course. We use it as a course design map, to make sure that we, too, have included all necessary materials in the course to ensure students can successfully navigate and complete a course.
So, creating the course calendar is an essential first step. Skip this step, and your course is likely to miss pieces and become confusing for your students. It would be like building a house without a blue print! You'd end up with the Winchester Mansion instead of Buckingham Palace.
Calendar Templates
The instructional design team keeps a collection of templates for building effective calendars for online and hybrid courses. The only difference between a calendar for an online course and a calendar for a hybrid course is that a hybrid course calendar includes on-campus meeting days in the "notes" section.
Here are our calendar template for a full-semester class. Spring and Summer semesters generally have 14 weeks and then a final exam. In the Fall, because of Thanksgiving week, we usually have 15 weeks and then the final exam.
Here are our calendar template for a full-semester class. Spring and Summer semesters generally have 14 weeks and then a final exam. In the Fall, because of Thanksgiving week, we usually have 15 weeks and then the final exam.
template_-_summerae14_-_online_course_calendar.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Essential Parts of the Calendar
The course calendar is broken into several parts:
Date/Topic:
In this column, we list the name of the week ("Week 1"), followed by its dates, then the topic(s) to be covered in class that week.
Date/Topic:
In this column, we list the name of the week ("Week 1"), followed by its dates, then the topic(s) to be covered in class that week.
Readings:
This section of the calendar lists textbook chapters, articles, and other items students must read in the given week.
Assignments:
This section lists assignments students must complete that week. In this case, "assignments" means anything due during the week, including discussions, tests, essays, group projects--if it's due, it goes on this list.
Points:
This column lists the point values for the assignments in the previous column.
**Best practice with points is to make the entire course worth 1000 points. This way, students can figure out their grades easily, with no mystery attached. Weighted grades are not a best practice--just assign point values up front so students know where they stand at any given time. This also saves the instructor time--students don't ask nearly as many questions about the status of their grades with the 1000 point scale versus other grading scales.
Objectives:
Weekly objectives are listed in this column. These are the student learning outcomes for the given week. Weekly objectives should support your course-level SLOs in your syllabus.
Notes/Reminders:
This section of the calendar is yours to do with as you please. Leave your students handy notes with important due dates, or if you have a hybrid class, remind them of in-class meetings in this section.
This section of the calendar lists textbook chapters, articles, and other items students must read in the given week.
Assignments:
This section lists assignments students must complete that week. In this case, "assignments" means anything due during the week, including discussions, tests, essays, group projects--if it's due, it goes on this list.
Points:
This column lists the point values for the assignments in the previous column.
**Best practice with points is to make the entire course worth 1000 points. This way, students can figure out their grades easily, with no mystery attached. Weighted grades are not a best practice--just assign point values up front so students know where they stand at any given time. This also saves the instructor time--students don't ask nearly as many questions about the status of their grades with the 1000 point scale versus other grading scales.
Objectives:
Weekly objectives are listed in this column. These are the student learning outcomes for the given week. Weekly objectives should support your course-level SLOs in your syllabus.
Notes/Reminders:
This section of the calendar is yours to do with as you please. Leave your students handy notes with important due dates, or if you have a hybrid class, remind them of in-class meetings in this section.
Calendar Example
The following calendar is from a QM-recognized course at LSSC, and should serve as a good example:
geb1011_course_calendar_spring2014_v2.pdf | |
File Size: | 344 kb |
File Type: |
Next Steps
When you are ready, continue to Section 6.2 Course Objectives and Bloom's Taxonomy.