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The purpose of this document is to guide programs and faculty in the design and development of high enrollment online courses. Course design and development is a complex process that must be adapted to meet the individual contexts of the subject matter and the learnerlearners. We hope that this document will help to designers use evidence-based practices when making key decisions in the design of high enrollment online courses.
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There is no ideal size for a high-enrollment online course as instructors find an “ideal” number of students differently. The size of an online course may differ depending upon the subject matter and the amount of instructional support that is available. High enrollment courses may not be appropriate for upper-division courses, which require a high/deep - level of interaction for establishing a depth of knowledge. Taft et al. (2011) suggests that larger classes should emphasize lower-order thinking (e.g., recall/recognition) with a balanced approach of objectivist-constructivist (teacher and learner-centered) teaching approaches, while using some principles from the Community of Inquiry.
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Clearly defined program-level consistencies and expectations, along with guidelines for instructor customization.
Designed to meet Quality Matters™ standards for online course design.
Compliant with university/federal policies related to copyright, accessibility, clock hours, regular and substantive interaction, and academic integrity.
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Focus on building active learning instead of lecturelectures. Create a combination of chunked videos that are interspersed with different opportunities for students to discuss course materials and interact (Lowenthal, Chen, & Bauer, 2015).
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Create a virtual connection with students by disclosing information to help them get to know you better (Elison-Bowers, Sand, Barlow, & Wing, 2011). Also allow for students to self-disclose information about themselves, possibly aided by multimedia.
Create a course-wide discussion forum where students can ask questions not answered by the syllabus or FAQ.
Offer opportunities for flexible synchronous connection such as Zoom office hours where students can ask questions or get other help (Lake, 2019).
Create video introductions, announcements, and module wrap ups that are customized for each run of the course.
Provide thoughtful, personalized, and timely feedback to students on key assignments.
While not specifically studying high-enrollment online courses, Saba (2019) found illuminating significant relationships between perceptions of instructor immediacy and affective effective learning, perceived learning, and course satisfaction. Of those variables examined, the highest correlations for instructor immediacy was (1) providing feedback on work, (2) asking questions, and (3) praising student work.
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Setting clear expectations around group roles (Lake, 2019; An & Kim, 2010).
Utilizing a group agreement, charter, or contract (Lake, 2019).
Model/encourage the use of project management skills such as clarification of focus, collaboration, and creation of final deliverables (Oliviera & Pereira, 2011).
Consider multiple types of activities that groups can accomplish including discussion, small group projects, and collaborative examinations (Swan, Shen, and Hiltz, 2013) .
Assessment Strategies
What consideration should I make regarding assessment in a high enrollment online course?
One of the greatest challenges regarding a high enrollment online course is the associated grading load that can come along with it. While timely feedback has shown to be a critical component of creating instructor presence (Saba, 2019), such feedback is difficult to provide at scale. It is imperative that designers of high-enrollment online courses consider ways that they can effectively assess their students , while still creating a manageable workload for them.
Faculty surveyed by Lowenthal et al. (2019) remarked that objectively scored assessments were a critical strategy for managing grading workload. One faculty commented: “I personally do not include writing assignments at all. It’s just too unmanageable. So it’s all automated grading through Blackboard - multiple choice tests”tests. ” Another faculty member commented on the importance of using the feedback feature in the quiz items to provide corrective feedback to students. Overall, quizzes can be used to reinforce learning of lower-level Bloom’s taxonomy components (such as memorization of facts and terms), while larger assignments can be used to evaluate higher level Bloom’s skills.
When using objectively scored assessments, you should try to design in a way that will mitigate for Academic integrity issues. This includes building large test pools , and carefully evaluating the grade weight that you give to the exams. By increasing the stakes of these exams, you increase the incentive for student dishonesty.
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Many of the design strategies mentioned above will help to support the success of your online students (importantly clear expectations, consistency in design, creation of community of inquiry). However, we want to point out some additional tools for the supporting student success in your high enrollment online course.
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Lowenthal, P., Chen, K., and Bauer, C. (2015). Effectiveness and student perceptions of high-enrolment health studies online courses. Health Education Journal. 75. 10.1177/0017896915581060.
Hilton, J. (2019). Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Education Tech Research Dev (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09700-43
Joosten, Tanya, and Rachel Cusatis T. & Cusatis, R. (2019). A Cross-Institutional Study of Instructional Characteristics and Student Outcomes: Are Quality Indicators of Online Courses Able to Predict Student Success?. Online Learning 23,4
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Lowenthal, P., Nyland, R.; Jung, E.; Dunlap, J., & Kepka, J. (2019). Does Class Size Matter? An Exploration into Faculty Perceptions of Teaching High-Enrollment Online Courses. American Journal of Distance Education, v33 n3 p152-168 2019.
Oliveira, I., Tinoca, L., & Pereira, A. (2011). Online group work patterns: How to promote a successful collaboration. Computers and Education, 57(1), 1348–1357.
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