1.5 Faculty spotlight: Examples of online courses
While online courses can vary dramatically depending on your discipline or pedagogical choices, it can be helpful to see how others have structured their online courses. Several faculty at UBC have agreed to share parts of their online courses with their UBC colleagues. Please note: in order to restrict access to UBC accounts, you will be prompted to enrol in the Canvas course shell before access will be granted.
ADHE 328 951: Institutions of Adult Education - This course introduces students to the historical and social foundations of adult education via a condensed one-month summer schedule. As a learning community, we discuss the theoretical underpinnings of critical adult education and engage with key areas of study such as Indigenous pedagogies, feminist pedagogies, social movement learning, lifelong learning, immigrant and citizenship education, and workplace learning. The course includes explorations of the relationships between adult education and the significant global events of 2020 (e.g. COVID-19; Systemic Racism; Black Lives Matter; Climate change, etc.) Given that this course is exclusive to B.Ed students who are already educators in their own right, and who bring rich backgrounds and experience, there is a heavy emphasis on participation, teaching, and peer learning. Thank you to Kari Grain for making this course available.
CHIN 465 921: Fantasy in Chinese Literature - This course introduces undergraduate students to themes in Chinese literature. The course content is organized weekly and chunked into four modules to help students form learning patterns. For each week, the course is delivered online with readings, lectures, synchronous group discussions, asynchronous discussions, and low-stake self study (formative) quizzes. The students’ academic writing skills are trained and assessed formatively in short analysis papers as well as in the final capstone project. Thank you to Xiaowen Xu for making this course available.
CRWR 209 001: Introduction to Writing Fiction - This introduction to writing fiction course introduces undergraduate students to basic and foundational concepts so they can explore and practice the basic fundamentals in writing engaging fiction. Course content is organized into weekly modules made up of video micro-lectures, assorted reading and reflection exercises, one or two discussion threads, low-stakes writing exercises and peer- and self-assessment all geared to help students build skills, experiment with process and practice, cultivate confidence and generate momentum towards their three major writing assignments. Thank you to John Vigna for making this course available.
EOSC 116: Mesozoic Earth: Time of the Dinosaurs (course displays as LDW 101B - Preparing For Fall Course Design Ideas) - This course is designed as a sample "template" for faculty new to online teaching. Using materials from EOSC 116 it includes a one-page syllabus, a section about "Learning To Learn Online", and a sample lesson. Thank you to Louise Longridge for making this course available.
FOPE 501: Geomatics in Forestry: Data Collection and Management - This course encompasses a diverse field of science that primarily deals with the collection, analysis and interpretation of data relating to the earth’s surface. The course includes a video introduction to the course website along with other supports for online learners. Course modules include video lectures, self-assessments, and a variety of activities to support learning. Thank you to Nicholas Coops and Chris Colton for making this course available.
FOPE 502: Introduction to Urban Forestry in the Asian Pacific Region - This course provides a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of urban forestry and its application to the Asian Pacific Region. The course is divided into modules and topics with video lectures, mini-quizzes, assignments and tests/exams. Thank you to Cecil Konijnendijk and Lorien Nesbitt for making this course available.
NURS 512 99C: Leadership in Nursing - This course introduces graduate student to contemporary leadership theories and practices in the context of complex, constantly changing healthcare environments. The course content is organized into four learning units, weekly small group discussions, group summaries and a learning activity or application exercise. There are a couple of opportunities throughout the course for live virtual interaction with senior leaders in practice. The course has been organized into four units (each unit offered in 2-3 weeks) with reading material and activities at the end of each week. Thank you to Farinaz Havaei for making this course available.
OSOT 553: Innovations in Occupation: Developing and Evaluating Occupational Therapy Programs - This graduate level course is delivered across the final two terms of the Master of Occupational Therapy program. To address the occupational needs of diverse communities in local and regional contexts, students learn, critique and apply program development approaches and build on past learning of program evaluation. This course uses a team-based learning approach and 40% of student teams partner with community organizations for their summative program development project.
If you're willing to share your course (or part of your course) with colleagues, please contact Andrea Han for more information.