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Tag: online courses

online courses

3 Important Lessons That Will Make You Appreciate the Course Creation Process

nico_blogThis post was written by Nicolas Mindreau, Senior Instructional Designer and Course Editor for the Instructional Design Team in the Digital Learning Department. Nicolas graduated in 2001 from Berklee with a degree in Music Production & Engineering. He is also a psychologist, and has worked in Bilingual Publishing in the Boston area.

It is easy to take for granted that we are always learning, especially when we think we are officially done with formal education. We get our degree and off we go, thinking: “I’m done with this studying business. Let’s do the real thing now.”

I’m a Berklee MP&E graduate and, as many others, I went to pursue some opportunities in the recording industry. After some very valuable experiences in the Big Apple, and for some circumstances that I couldn’t foresee, I found myself working at a publishing company as a bilingual editor—a job that I thought would last for a few months. It turned out to be a six-year gig.

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Writing Tips from the Trenches

blogcoverThis post was written by Kathleen Howland, who teaches in the Music Therapy Department, with a specialty in music and cognition. She is a licensed speech language pathologist and holds a Ph.D. from University of South Carolina. She maintains a busy music therapy practice, and is an active music therapist, and performs regularly on baritone saxophone and clarinet. She is in the process of writing several online courses for the forthcoming Music Therapy masters program at Berklee. She shares her thoughts on writing here.

When I was first assigned to write online courses for my department, I needed to first build capacity to do this. I had the ability, but not the know-how. These tips are to help you think through and prepare for your process. Perhaps my learning curve will be your tailwind in writing efficiently and producing the best course you can.

First Steps.
Taking the online course that our Faculty Learning Community (FLC) has written is an important first step in looking at your capacity, desire and drive to meet the writing demands. Writing an online course is a hybrid between brick-and-mortar teaching and writing a book. It is also unlike teaching in a traditional classroom or writing a book. You work at a very detailed level, which varies from the spontaneity of relationship-based teaching. You write in a style that is unlike a textbook. It is a cross between informal speech and formal writing. That’s why going through the FLC course is key to your success. You have to get a sense of style and timing of online courses in order to write optimally.

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Online/Blended Course Development: What’s the Process?

colorful_pattern_backgroundThe following post was written by Susan Gedutis Lindsay, Associate Director for Instructional Design in the Department of Digital Learning.

When you have an idea for an online or blended course to be offered to on-campus students on Inside Berklee Courses, the first step is to propose your idea to the Curriculum Committee. The course goes through a two-part approval process. First, the Curriculum Committee gives it preliminary approval. Then, you will be enrolled in a short online course, “Introduction to Online Learning.” This course, written by a group of Berklee faculty through a Faculty Learning Community, will walk you through all the details of writing an online course.

It also gives you a chance to experience what it’s like to take an online course. You’ll watch videos, post in discussion forums, take various types of quizzes, learn from graphics, and get a preview of the kinds of media development that will be available to you in putting your course together. By the end of it, you will have completed a course overview, course outline, and a sample lesson.

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