Frequently Asked Questions
What does a quality online course experience look like at LMU?
A thoughtfully designed online course is:
- Well-Structured and Aligned: Learning objectives, instructional content, course activities, and assessments are all clear and logically organized.
- Engaging and Interactive: The course promotes Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) between students and the instructor, using diverse activities and high-quality multimedia to engage and reinforce learning.
- Student-Centered and Accessible: The course is easy to navigate, well-organized, adheres to quality assurance standards, and incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to support all learners.
What are the benefits of course development with the OOL Design Team?
The benefits of collaborating with OOL Design Team include:
- Guidance that your course satisfies Federal guidelines for distance education and college accreditation standards
- Multimedia and content development support to best showcase your expertise and engage your online learners
- Brightspace course development services that save you time and energy
- A thought partner when selecting and implementing educational technologies and course resources from across the institution (ITS, WHH library, Student Affairs, etc.)
- Access to course design strategies and templates based upon current best practices for online education
The goal is to create rigorous, engaging, and accessible online and hybrid learning experiences.
Who is eligible to participate in the course production development process?
Assorted course production services are provided to instructors teaching hybrid/online courses that have been designated as such by the Office of the Registrar. This generally includes hybrid/online graduate programming and undergraduate Summer course development.
What is the Senior Instructional Designer's role?
The Senior Instructional Designer (ID) provides course building support, Brightspace organization and assembly, program alignment, quality assurance testing, accessibility checks, and student-centered learning design. They lead the course assembly process and collaborate on content creation in partnership with OOL’s Multimedia Specialist.
What is the time commitment and what should faculty expect?
Faculty Role: Faculty serve as the Subject Matter Expert (SME), providing key instructional content and guiding the development of student learning activities and assessments.
Time Commitment: The course development process is a "highly collaborative partnership," requiring adequate time and timely contributions over several months. Faculty should expect weekly or bi-weekly email exchanges and regular meetings with the Instructional Designer over the course of 3 – 4months, depending upon the nature of the course and goals set for multimedia development and video lectures.
How often do course production cohorts occur?
For an individual course, the design and content development process takes many weeks, and projects are managed based on OOL workload and academic program priorities. Timely submission of design requests and materials is strictly required to begin our collaboration. Preferred project submission deadlines are outlined below:
Fall semester: Course requests must be submitted no later than June 1st
Spring semester: Course requests must be submitted no later than October 1st
Summer term: Course requests must be submitted no later than March 31st
How many contact hours should students have each week?
OOL provides resources on activity time and credit hour calculation in alignment with LMU's Credit Policy Guidelines to ensure the course design aligns with LMU's requirements for credit hours.
How do I develop learning objectives for online instruction?
The instructional designer will work with faculty individually to ensure alignment with your Course Learning Outcomes, which must be provided to initiate the process. Faculty can also schedule a consultation with an ID to discuss pedagogy and course alignment at any time.
What kinds of media can you put into my course?
The OOL provides content creation services and collaborates with ITS partners to create engaging media such as videos, interactive presentations, infographics, simulations, immersive technology experiences, and more.