QM Conference and Modules

I'm at the Quality Matters conference in Tucson, AZ. As is often the case, the best part of the conference is the people I get to talk to between the sessions. 

Today, I sat down with George Guba, an instructional designer from North Carolina.  as we were talking course design, he talked about the challenges in persuading faculty to change their ways to more pedagogically sound practices, like getting away from weekly work.  I was aghast. I always use weekly modules.  I stopped him mid sentence - why would I want to stop using weekly organization and what would I go to instead?  He suggested that the research supported a two week module as being a better fit for adult learners who are learning online.  As he explained it, I could see his point -easier to get in the small nuggets of learning that are better than large chunks, easier to arrange around busy lives, etc. I could also see how this would work better in a 15 week semester than a 10 week quarter. I tossed that issue into the mix. He still advocated for two week units.

Now, this is especially relevant for me because my American Government class did not start 2 weeks ago. We decided very last minute (like the first day of the quarter) to turn it into a late start compressed class. So, the class begins on Monday, Oct 8.  I need to cram my 15 modules into 8 weeks.  I need to completely rethink the organization of the class.  I've been so perplexed by the best way to do this that I have put it off, hoping that clarity would come to me. Well, perhaps it has, in the voice of George.  I promised myself that I wasn't going to bed tonight without having this finished, so I'll let you know how it goes.

I also talked with Jo Ann Monroe from Tacoma Community College. I learn something new every time I talk to her - she's great.  Today we were talking at lunch about our Canvas pilots.  She talked about one challenge of Canvas being that it was very easy for students to skip (intentionally or unintentionally) important but non-assessed parts of the class, like lectures and readings, and just go straight to the assignments.  Jo said she took care of this by having the course open straight to the modules and requiring they be completed in order.  This would certainly achieve the goal of getting the student to move through the materials properly, but it also seems really big brother to me.

However, yesterday in a session on universal design (QM Standard 8), the presenters talked about cognitive load and course design. Should the student's mental energy go towards figuring out where stuff was and how to accomplish the work? Or is it better spent learning the material? Well the answer to that is a no-brainer - of course I want the energy going towards learning content. So, I am seriously planning to make those modules more linear and required.  Again, I'll figure this out today and let you know.

Resources:
Nuts and Bolts: Brain Bandwidth - Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design by Jane Bozarth