This Toolkit contains design documents, tools, and templates to assist instructors to in their creation of high-quality technology-enhanced courses. The Toolkit is an integral part of the Saint Joseph College Technology-enhanced Curriculum Programs Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for the design, operation, administration and support of Saint Joseph College Technology-enhanced Curriculum programs. New elements of the toolkit are periodically introduced in Faculty Academic Technology Workshops.

Swimming with the Sharks
Currently, the landscape in Higher Education is awash with highly competitive (and highly funded) online learning programs. Colleges and Universities of every size continue to pour resources into online (and other flexible format) programs to secure market share. The challenge that faces small schools such as Saint Joseph College is to maintain a liberal arts identity and academic integrity while competing in a sea of online predators. These materials were developed to provide a ‘plain English’ resource for faculty who are developing flexible format courses at Saint Joseph College. The practices and standards outlined herein have been designed to insure that courses designed for this program leverage the traditional academic strengths of Saint Joseph College, and provide and effective and enriching learning experience for students and faculty alike.

Design Philosophy for Technology-enhanced Curriculum Courses
To ensure that TEC courses developed and delivered at Saint Joseph College maintain and reflect the strengths of the institution, the following design considerations have been identified as key pedagogical elements that must be reflected/ incorporated into TEC courses:

• Tradition - Regardless of delivery mode, Courses must maintain an appropriate level of Academic Rigor, challenging students to achieve and grow while maintaining the personalized ‘high-touch’ characteristics that have become a hallmark of the college.
• Flexibility - TEC courses must be recognized as Educational Opportunity for students, providing previously unavailable access to higher education.
• Community - Regardless of delivery mode, TEC courses must cultivate a sense of community within the class. Access to multiple modes and contexts of communication should be an integral element of the course design. Even if they never set foot on campus, students must be made a part of the Saint Joseph College community.
• Ownership - TEC courses should be designed to provide students high degree of control over their educational experience through Flexible Formats, elements of Individualized Instruction, and robust Evaluation and Feedback processes and opportunities.
• Literacy - Courses will be designed to include integrated elements of Information and media literacy in addition to traditional academic literacy.
• Collaboration - Students must be challenged to engage with faculty and peers in group work, discussion, critique, etc. throughout the instructional process.
• Diversity - TEC courses must embrace and leverage the diversity of not only participants’ personal experience and points of view, but also of the instructor’s instructional methodologies and design.
• Craftsmanship – Instructors will design and deliver their own TEC courses. It is expected that the instructor’s ‘voice’ (if not personality) be an integral part of the learning experience. Courses are ‘hand-crafted’, and should fully reflect the instructor’s point of view on the subject matter. We are not in the ‘Boilerplate’ business.

If the only tool you have is a hammer,
you tend to see every problem as a nail.
Abraham Maslow

Using the Toolkit
Resources in the Toolkit are accessible by clicking on the links below. Most tools are accompanied by a brief narrative outlining their functionality as well as a guide to proficient use. If needed, individual consultations on the use of any of the tools of the TEC Toolkit is available. New elements added to the toolkit will be periodically introduced in Faculty Workshops or at the Faciulty Roundtabe.

• To help instructors prepare for teaching a Saint Joseph College TEC course, the Instructor's Guide provides an introduction to the strategies and theories of technology-enhanced teaching and learning,

• The Course Design Blueprint, an organizational tool designed to assist instructors in converting their instructional strategies and goals into specific policies and procedures that become the building blocks for a TEC course.

• Proposed Formative and Summative Evaluation Instruments.

• The Instructors Handbook* (original draft, soon to be updated) that introduces basic concepts of online teaching and learning, addresses and dispels common fallacies, and explores in detail essential tools and strategies for online course design, development and delivery.

• The TEC Method* for course development and material creation; a multiple document system designed to maximize consistency and utility while accommodating various learning styles.

• A Preflight Checklist* course design pre-evaluation tool to ensure that UC Online courses are developed to a high standard of quality and effectiveness. Identifies eleven critical concepts faculty should consider and address throughout the development of their online course.

• An Online Course Development and Delivery Model*; that provides a conceptual illustration of the interrelationships of the critical course components necessary for the successful delivery of an online course.

Example Course Components:

• A complete Example Course* illustrating the effective use of HTML and media rich design, as well as an Individualized Instruction (self directed learning) methodology.

• Module Zero, an icebreaker/ introductory module for SJC TEC courses.

• An example Reusable Learning Object in the form of a mini-course on computer ergonomics.

• An example web-based Learning Object* a media-rich, self contained ‘nugget’ of information introducing a particular subject or concept.

• An example Webquest*. First developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University, a Webquest is "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners inter-act with comes from resources on the Internet." Webquests offer an introduction to the World Wide Web as a research tool while hone students' general research, discovery, analysis and synthesis of information skills.

• An Online Skills Training Module* for firemen and resuce personnel with Documentation*.

Services and Support

In addition to the toolkit, the Academic Technology unit provides a multitude of training, support, and consultation services.

Instructional Design Services:

• Assistance with course material creation including HTML coding, layout, and graphic design
• Instructional strategy development and creation of online learning activities
• Course evaluation and assessment tools and techniques
• Development of Communication Strategies and implementation of various web-communication modes.
• Traditional-to-TEC course conversion support
• Benchmarking and best practices
• Customized and continuous faculty Instructional Design support

Multimedia Services:

• Creation of interactive and engaging instructional elements, multimedia, etc.
• Conversion of traditional material for online delivery.
• Support for integrating multimedia elements into an online class.

Support Services:

• Faculty Academic Technology Workshops
• The Technology Roundtable
• Individual consultations in the Insructional Innovation Incubator Faculty lab.
• TEC Cohort course development drogram.
• Help Desk (phone and email) to support students and faculty.
• Faculty Information and Media Technology Consulting and support

note:
The Academic Technology Knowledge site and TEC Toolkit are designed to serve as resources for instructors who wish to incorporate technology into their instructional efforts. Content indicated with an asterisk (*) was developed for University College of Syracuse University, and still carries SU branding and logos. As the integration of TEC courses continues to evolve, new tools and resources designed specifically for Saint Joseph College will be developed. Click Here to see the SU version..