The Building of a Fully Online Program Prepared by Carol Atkinson Howe , chowe@sccd.ctc,

1. The Building of a Fully Online Program Prepared by Carol Atkinson Howe, chowe@sccd.ctc.edu, Presented STEMtech Conference, Orlando, Fl. October 2010 Featuring the work of Aaron Nelson Cer. A.T. Manager of Anesthesia Technical Services Education The Seattle Community Colleges is an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals disabilities. This project was funded in part by a grant awarded under the President’s Community-Based Job Training Grants, as implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration. This presentation is available online: http://facweb.northseattle.edu/chowe/course_design/Course_Design.ppsx

2. Overview • The Anesthesia Technical Services program consists of 6 fully online credit courses. There is in addition, a fully online Continuing Education course offering professional credits. This presentation focuses on the course navigation used to cohesively present the many technologies in a user friendly interface. A listing of the multiple technologies as well as a video demonstration of the interface are presented as well. • The challenge was to present highly interactive lab materials that have never been online before to an audience that in general has limited experience with online learning technologies. • The underlying criteria used by the Instructor when designing this program included: • Finding tools that most effectively presented material that engaged the targeted audience • Simplicity and consistency of access and design for both the student and the instructor • Interactive whenever possible • The initial development of this project included a plan to develop a single design that would accommodate all of the classes. How to make the student's job easier was an important consideration as well as presenting the material to be less overwhelming and more manageable for the student.

3. This listing represents the collection of courses within the Anesthesia Technical Services Program. This collection of courses was designed by Aaron Nelson and utilizes a basic style of navigation that is presented consistently throughout an individual course and across the multiple courses that he’s created. To visually distinguish one course from another, he uses a particular course theme color. The color of the navigation buttons work together with the course theme.

4. This is the Course Home page in ANGEL. The designer uses the same home page arrangement of course information boxes for each course created. In some cases, the content within an information box remains the same as well. E.g. The student user tutorials. The designer uses only 4 of the 6 available tabs. When possible the instructor shares information materials such as tutorials across all courses as well.

5. The Lessons show 11 weeks with buttons containing pictures as icons for visual recognition. Note the Course Guide on the Left side is open to the Lessons page. It too, presents a simple and consistent grouping of links. Pictures are not present on the Course “Guide on the side” and may be a preferred navigation view for those who aren’t attracted to the colors and pictures. This same grouping and page layout is consistent across multiple courses within a single program. The theme, color and specific content change from course to course.

6. Here we see the content of each week. 4 steps each week: • Reading Assignments • Online Activities • Discussion • Quiz • The individual week requirements remain consistent throughout this course and across all courses within the program. Note the Course “Guide on the side” navigation remains clear and understandable.

7. The contents of Step 1 and every following step are presented with minimal words and limited scrolling – to avoid reader confusion.

8. Minimal text with no scrolling. Links to course content activities. A button, clearly labeled ‘Continue to Step 3’ is provided that connects students directly to their next step. This relieves learners from wondering ‘Where do I go next?’. This strategy also facilitates focus by directing to task and eliminating opportunities for distraction. These strategiesprovide support to online learners.

9. In this course, multiple means of communication are incorporated including ANGEL discussion tools and an offsite wiki that is open to industry members internationally. The Instructor is careful to include his instructions for completing Step 3. You can see that the consistent use of symbols applies here, effectively conveying at a glance which item is a Discussion forum and which is the external wiki and which is leading to the next step.

10. ICON KEY Buttons designed by Coryl Celene-Martel InstructionTechnologist, Assistant Manager, Teaching & Learning Center North Seattle Community College ccelenem@sccd.ctc.edu

11. The change in color seen below helps to cue the student that this is a different course within the program. The content headings and their arrangement on the course home page have not changed. This remains consistent across all the courses in the program.

12. Though this may be a new course that presents increasingly greater challenges within the content, the same basic design remains unchanged and therefore, students have a foundation of knowledge and experience from which to proceed with this new course. The color of the symbols has changed to reflect the new course. The picture on the symbol remains the same.

13. The steps are designed to parallel what was done in the previous and following courses of the program.

14. Fully Online Anesthesia Technical Services Program Featured Technologies

17. I would appreciate it if you would take the time to evaluate this session: http://www.league.org/stemtech/evaluation