Effective Online Course Design: A Catalyst to Direct Learning

Effective Online Course Design: A Catalyst to Direct Learning

Directing the learning process in an online format can challenge even the most experienced online instructor. Asynchronous formats, limited teacher-learner interaction, misalignment of expectations are only a few obstacles instructors navigate as they strive to direct learning in an online course.

This presentation will not provide all the answers to the online teaching challenges, but it will provide course design examples that apply choice architecture (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008) using Canvas tools. In this session you will learn how to effectively direct the learning process by improving learner decision making using:

  1. Pre-reading and Post-reading Learning Outcome Surveys
  2. Muddiest Point Group Discussions
  3. Exam Wrappers

Carefully constructed learning environments can nudge learners towards self-evaluation and reflection of one's own knowledge and effort resulting in higher levels of metacognition.

About the presenter

Gloria Preece, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Assistant Dean, Director of MBA and MPM Programs, and Assistant Professor of Personal Financial Planning and Marketing
School of Business
IU Kokomo
gpreece@iuk.edu

Excited about innovating practice and sound pedagogical methods, Gloria Preece has a strong teaching agenda. Her teaching approach focuses on course design utilizing choice architecture to improve student academic behaviors. As an Assistant Professor in Personal Financial Planning and Marketing for the School of Business at Indiana University Kokomo, she teaches marketing courses both online and in person and has been instrumental in the development of a first-year seminar course that contributed to a significant increase in persistence towards degree completion.

In addition to teaching, she serves as the school's Assistant Dean and Director for the MBA and MPM graduate programs. As an IUK alumna, she appreciates the opportunity to give back and is dedicated to improving the lives of first generation college students. Gloria earned her PhD in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University. Her research interests include how psychological characteristics and socio-economic factors impact financial behaviors, student financial well-being, and the use of debt to increase consumption. Gloria considers herself to be a lifelong learner with a wide scope of professional and personal interests, but she is most passionate about promoting student success and improving economic inequalities through education.