Volume 2, Issue 1 (2022) The DCR is a Treasure Chest!

Thanks for reading this issue of KSU’s Distinguished Course Repository! We are happy to include five courses that are exemplary of excellent course design. Though these courses represent innovative models in hybrid and asynchronous formats, the features and components that make these courses effective are instructional and management gems that can be integrated into any content area and any modality.

For example, as instructors, we have all likely felt the pang of annoyance that comes with the email sent by a student asking a question about a course policy that we have clearly included and explained in the syllabus – bold printed, underlined, and highlighted! How can we encourage students to read the syllabus and how can be sure that they have?

In her syllabus for her course, “Recreation Programming,” Anne DeMartini has included a Signature Page that students sign and return indicating their awareness of and intention to follow course policies. Students also give their consent for recording and posting the class discussions online on the Signature Page. A great idea for any class!

Other courses, such as Hedrick’s “Principles of Information Security,” Keyser’s “Work Measurement Study,” and Hill’s “Electronic Circuits and Machines” require students to take a syllabus quiz, the score indicating that students have read and accept their responsibilities as described in the syllabus.

Other great ideas to note:

• DeMartini’s and Johnson’s alignment tables in their syllabi that clearly show the alignment between class activities and achieving student learning outcomes for the course

• Hill’s video announcements that effectively contribute to maintaining instructor presence throughout the course

• Hedrick’s wonderful self-introduction video that immediately begins to establish the all-important relationship with her students

• Keyser’s effective and consistent course organization that facilitates course navigation

• Johnson’s self-introduction video that allows viewers to toggle between the video and the transcript.

• Examples of clear and measurable course objectives included in each course

• And many more!

If you teach one of the courses that is included in this or the previous issue of the DCR, you’ve hit gold: a distinguished course to access and use. Send an email to the DCR Librarian to request access. No matter what your discipline is, consider requesting access to these courses to find the treasures inside.