The Online Educator: People and Pedagogy
Design engaging courses, make your teaching more inclusive, navigate online research ethics and shape your digital identity.
32,946 enrolled on this course
Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
4 hours100% online
How it works
The Online Educator: People and Pedagogy
Enhance your online teaching with strategies from educational technology experts
As e-learning becomes ever-more widespread, online educators are being required to design learning experiences that engage and meet the needs of very diverse learners.
This course, developed by The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, explores four myths: that learning design is about technology and content; that innovation and accessibility are incompatible; that researching online learning is an ethics-free zone, and that educators’ online identities are irrelevant.
Studying the course will help you enhance your practice through videos, quizzes and discussion with peers.
What topics will you cover?
Week 1 - Disruption and design
- Current developments in online teaching
- Navigating the hype about disruptive innovation
- The relationship between content, technology, people and pedagogy in learning design
- The challenges of meeting diverse students’ needs
- The use of personas in creating relevant online courses
Week 2 - Innovation and accessibility
- Myths about accessibility and digital innovation
- Types of digital exclusion
- Finding and evaluating accessibility guidelines
- Applying accessibility guidelines to your teaching
Week 3 - Ethical evaluation of online teaching
- Myths about researching and evaluating online teaching
- Evidence and ethics
- Navigating the hype around educational technology innovation
- Evaluating research reports
- Evaluating your own teaching innovations
- Ethical considerations when researching online teaching
Week 4 - Who am I online?
- Myths about online identity
- The value to educators of a carefully constructed online identity
- Evaluating your own online identity
- Using Twitter to build an identity online
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Develop personas to inform the online learning design process
- Identify the ethics considerations involved in researching online teaching
- Apply accessibility guidelines to online teaching contexts
- Identify key accessibility issues related to online learning
- Reflect on your exisiting digital identity and plan for its future development
- Explore ways of shaping a digital identity as an online educator
- Discuss the relationship between technology, content, people and pedagogy in online courses.
Who is the course for?
This course is suitable for anyone involved in online education or training, including teachers, trainers, course designers and researchers. While it will help to have a current practice setting to draw on, this is not essential.
What software or tools do you need?
To take part in this course you need an internet connection. No specific software is required.
Who will you learn with?
Dr Leigh-Anne Perryman leads The Open University's Masters in Online Teaching programme. Her research explores the relationship between equity, social justice, online teaching and open pedagogies.
I am Professor of Educational Technology at the OU. My interests are in digital scholarship, open education, OER and MOOCs.
I'm a professor at The Open University, focused on educational futures, learning analytics, MOOCs, innovating pedagogy & online social learning.
Who developed the course?
The Open University
As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.
Established
1969Location
Milton Keynes, UKWorld ranking
Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choose the best way to learn for you! | $104/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
| Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
| Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 11 Nov 2024 |
| Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
| Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
| Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
| Tests to check your learning | tick | tick | cross |
| Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$104/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 11 Nov 2024
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 31 October 2024 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 31 October 2024 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn
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