The following episodes in Agile Digital Business podcast cover topics related to online course design and learning experience design. Vickie Maris is the host of the podcast. At the time of podcast launch, the show was called Online Course Connections. It has been re-branded to Agile Digital Business as Vickie has been focusing on voice search marketing, and digital transition of content

Whitney Kilgore Talks About Learning Experience Design | Part 2

Online courses, blended learning, & open educational resources

Whitney Kilgore, PhD, of iDesign, shares her perspective on blended learning, open educational resources, and more of her insights on the design of learning experiences in this Part 2 of my interview with her. This is Episode 7 of Agile Digital Business (formerly, Online Course Connections) podcast.

Whitney provides pointers on how to guide a subject matter expert (SME) who often wants to lead with content. “In the online space, it’s important to break content into chunks.”

“A design team will help you break content into chunks and help you make sure that the learning goals and objectives align with the assessments. [The designers] will help you make sure that the path between the two points for gaining knowledge are clear.”

Whitney also touches on the concept of co-creating a syllabus with the students of your class. When doing so in an academic environment, you would want to maintain the academic standards required for accreditation.

I will add here that you could also co-create a syllabus with the customers of your business who will be in your course. 

To reach Whitney Kilgore:

via Twitter @whitneykilgore

via website   idesignedu.org

To listen to Whitney on Episode 2 of Online Course Connections click this link. [Episode 7; revised Aug. 4, 2019]

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Jeff Jennings of Missouri S & T Discusses the Course Building Blocks Blueprint

“Building Blocks Blueprint” tool for mapping learning events to learning outcomes & assessments

Jeff Jennings is with Missouri S & T, and is a former middle school teacher turned instructional designer. In Episode 6 of the show, Jeff and I talk about learning experience design and working with faculty in the mapping of a course plan. 

Jeff earned his MS degree in educational leadership through an online program at the institution that is now called Trident University. He did his graduate work while still serving in the military in the US Army.

We talk about building blocks of course design and he walks through a tool that the course design team at Missouri S & T uses for helping faculty design their instruction. We touch on the importance of updated course descriptions and how to map learning events to assessments in a course and to the learning outcomes.

Missouri S & T is focused on getting courses aligned with the building blocks we discuss in this episode.

Jeff and I met when he was leading a workshop at the 2016 OLC Accelerate Conference with his colleague Amy Skyles, who has also been a guest on Online Course Connections (see Episode 5). Note that the podcast has been rebranded to Agile Digital Business.

The tool that Jeff and Amy presented in the workshop at OLC is the Building Blocks blueprint. Jeff elaborated on the use of the tool.

To find the resource videos that the course design team makes available on their website, visit this link: http://edtech.mst.edu/instructionalservices/facultyresources/instructionaldesignvideos/

Contact Jeff Jennings:
jenningsje at mst.edu
On Twitter: @jenningsje1
edtech.mst.edu

The next episode (Episode 7) is my Part 2 episode with Whitney Kilgore (see Episode 2 for Part 1 of the interview with Whitney). [Episode 6; revised Aug. 4, 2019]

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Creative Methods for Moving Laboratory Classes Online | Amy Skyles of Missouri S & T

Redesigning the laboratory classroom for online or blended

Amy Skyles, Missouri S & T, is my guest on Episode 5 of Agile Digital Business (formerly, Online Course Connections).

She and her colleagues are helping you keep students on pace towards graduation by working with instructors to create alternatives for the design and teaching of lab classes. She tells us about the reasons behind decisions at her institution and how they are answering faculty, student and community questions about online and blended lab classrooms.

The design team at Missouri S & T doesn’t refer to their courses as “online labs.” They are instead referred to as DELTA Labs. DELTA is an acronym for Delivering Experiential Labs to All. 

Another service of the design team is to help instructors come up with a plan for the situation when a student with a disability is in an online course that has a lab component that they would be managing from their remote location.

They also help come up with a plan for disposal of materials from lab experiments. Disposal, even in micro scale, can become an issue if the lab kits are delivered to over 1000 students in the same dormitory. 

You’ll also get to learn about The Laboratory Redesign Handbook, which includes tips and tricks in Part 1 and the “How to get it done” in Part 2.

The handbook is available for purchase as a pdf download or as a bound hard copy. You can learn about the handbook and other resources at the website:  http://edtech.msu.edu/teach 

Amy mentions the Teaching and Learning With Technology Conference which is held in March every year at Missouri S & T during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Here is the link to check out the conference on the campus in Rolla, Missouri. http://tlt.mst.edu/ 

You can connect with Amy Skyles in Twitter @saskyles

To hear more insights like those shared here, please join my email list by sending an email with any subject heading to vickiemaris @ getresponse dot net.

For resources, please visit my website, http://vickiemaris.com [Episode 5; revised Aug. 5, 2019]

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Personal Brand Entrepreneur Resources in Youpreneur Academy

Online educational environment of membership site

You can join other entrepreneurs and business owners in the Youpreneur community hosted by Chris Ducker. In this episode, I share a very unscripted perspective of life as a Youpreneur, and the support that comes from being an engaged member of the community. 

Previously, the site was only opened to new members a few times a year, but it is now open throughout the year.

If you’re an entrepreneur who is building a personal brand, running a small business, or you’re dreaming of doing either of those things in the future, you will want to take a peek in to this community.

This podcast, now rebranded to Agile Digital Business, (formerly Online Course Connections), has come to be, in part, because of the support and accountability I’ve gained from my engagement in the Youpreneur community both online and offline.

Thanks for listening to the show and for sharing Episode 4 in your social media channels with your friends and followers. The links to Youpreneur in this post are my affiliate link provided by Chris Ducker and his team.

Hope to see you inside the Youpreneur community if you’re not already there! [Episode 4; revised Aug. 5, 2019]

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Launching the Higher Ed Scope on Periscope

Melissa A. Venable, PhD, & Jon Ernstberger, PhD, speakers at OLC Accelerate, share lessons learned on podcast creating & hosting on Periscope

Melissa A. Venable, PhD, and Jon Ernstberger, PhD, co-presented during the 2016 OLC Accelerate Conference on their experience using Periscope as a platform for their Higher Ed Scope podcast. Sit in on a conversation I have with them in Orlando at the conference.    Melissa is the education editor with the Center for Online Education at OnlineColleges.net and faculty in instructional design at St. Leo University and University of South Florida.  

Here is a July 2019 article Melissa wrote for Best Colleges. It is titled, “Take My Advice: Lessons Learned from Online College Students,” by Melissa Venable, PhD.   

Jon is the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Mathematics at LaGrange College in Georgia. At the time of the interview for the podcast, he was the Director of Online Instruction.    Here is a link to the replay of Episode 3 of Higher Ed Scope, “Declutter Your Online Course.”   

To contact Melissa Venable: https://twitter.com/melissa_venablehttps://designdoc.me

To contact Jon Ernstberger: https://twitter.com/jernstbergerjonernstberger.com

Join my community:   To join my email list and get notified of new blog posts, podcast episodes, upcoming group strategy sessions and more:  http://vickiemaris.com.

Thanks for listening! Vickie   [Episode 3; revised Aug. 2, 2019]

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Three Ways to Approach the Design of Your First Course | Vickie Maris

Techniques for Developing Course Content for Platforms Like Udemy

Here are three approaches to developing content for an online course platform such as Udemy. 

I describe techniques I have used including:

• Creating an online course around a topic in which you have a high level of expertise and passion.
• Invite a content expert(s) to join you in developing a course. This person could also serve in an on-camera role for course videos.
• Journal your experience in learning a subject, and then create course content from your notes and experiences.

These techniques are ones I’ve used in courses I’ve created at the university as well as in my courses on Udemy and other platforms. [Episode 2; revised July 29, 2019]

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Whitney Kilgore of iDesign – Part 1 Interview

Techniques for Getting More Comfortable Recording Course Videos

In this episode of Agile Digital Business (formerly called Online Course Connections), Whitney Kilgore, PhD, of iDesign takes a student-centered approach as she talks of techniques she uses to help faculty and content experts get more comfortable in recording videos for online courses. She also shares several tools and resources that you will find helpful, no matter if you’re doing online course design for your customers or for your students. I think you’ll agree with me that Whitney is a master in learning experience design! 

Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com/

Yellowdig: https://www.yellowdig.com/

Practice: https://www.practice.xyz/

Part 2 of the interview with Whitney appears later in the show.

To connect with guest, Whitney Kilgore …

Twitter: @whitneykilgore

Website: idesignedu.org

Join Vickie’s mailing list to receive updates of new episodes, online Twitter chats and other ways to collaborate: vickiemaris@getresponse.net

[Episode 1; revised July 29, 2019]

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Introduction | Agile Digital Business

Author, speaker, digital marketer and host, Vickie Maris, describes the podcast, Agile Digital Business

Learn about the focus of the show, Agile Digital Business, and the background of the host Vickie Maris. She shares a story about the importance of listening to the voice of the customer before launching in to content creation or the development of a new product or service. [Episode 0; revised July 5, 2019]

History of Agile Digital Business podcast

When the podcast, Agile Digital Business, was launched back in 2016, it was called Online Course Connections. Host Vickie Maris, who has a graduate degree in learning design and technology, was working in higher ed at that time and was highly focused in leading her team that was responsible for developing and implementing online certificate courses in Lean Six Sigma and project management.

Podcast music in Agile Digital Business

Music in the podcast is by Vickie Maris and her husband, Scott Greeson. See the latest album, Riverside, for the versions of the songs with lyrics.

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Vickie Maris is CEO and founder of Teach! Inspire! Connect! She is an author, keynote speaker, digital marketer and an idea coach. She is also a singer, songwriter and recording artist alongside her husband, entertainer Scott Greeson. They enjoy farm life with their small herd of llamas, two Connemara ponies, Madison and Chirico, and cats, Frank and Dash.