WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

Pamela A. Gibson and Pamela Trump Dunning
objectives; (b) remaining student-centered in the specific elements needing to
include in the course design; and (c) creating mechanisms to ensure that students
have multiple opportunities to perform and receive feedback, engage with one
another and the instructor, and track their successful progression through the
course objectives.
The improvement of course designs occurred in three prominent arenas:
the establishment of standards whereby learning objectives, method and type
of instruction, and assessment of student performance are linked; the creation
of interactive functions to produce a “community” in which learning can most
actively occur; and the construction of quantifiable actions required from the
class participants.
Although these objectives are certainly applicable to the improvement of all
instructional formats, a more varied method and type of instruction was required
in creating a virtual community online, where more diverse demonstrations
of learning are occurring than would be seen in a traditional classroom
environment. The following subsections represent instructional design criteria
incorporated into both the syllabi and the Bb course shells as a result of the
QM assessment.
Alignment of Standards
The link must be made between learning objectives, the tools by which
information is transmitted, and the assessment or measurement by which it
is determined that students met the objectives (Chaney et al., 2007; Killian,
2004). These key components comprise the standards for assessing course design
quality. Alignment among them is crucial. When aligned, each course element is
directly tied to and supports the learning objectives, thus ensuring students meet
the desired learning outcomes.
The learning objectives need to describe outcomes that are measurable as
well as specific to the individual module of learning (Koszalka & Ganesan,
2004). The learning activities that an instructor develops should align with
these objectives and facilitate the student’s achievement of them. The MPA
program has adopted a course design matrix that is a required part of the course
syllabus for courses in which any part is offered online. The matrix links each
course learning objective to a module of instruction, the specific course content,
the learning strategy, and the assessment mechanism (see Appendix B for
instructions and an example).
Although the template is the same for all courses with an online component,
instructors are required to adapt it to their individual course. Also, while this
alignment strategy can be considered a key part of course design in both a
traditional and an online course, the online environment affords additional
opportunities in course design to demonstrate these essential linkages.
Development of the matrix was found to be the most important and most
214 Journal of Public Affairs Education