VIUonline
Vancouver Island University has assembled an Online Development Team of highly skilled individuals with years of experience and formal education in technology-based distributed teaching and learning. Internal and external collaborators work closely with members of VIUonline.
Our team has years of experience in the design and development of curriculum for post-secondary institutions in educational technology and online learning. Additionally, we have expertise with web-based course development for government employees and workplace based training. We have strong project management experience in technology-mediated teaching and learning.
Many members of our VIUonline team actively teach in a variety of online programs at the post-secondary level and are also currently completing advanced courses online. This continued experience ensures that our team members develop and maintain a balanced perspective that addresses the needs of both online learners and instructors.
In addition to curriculum design and web development skills, our team has experience with a variety of Learning Content Management Systems, such as WebCT, Moodle, Prometheus, First Class, Click Book, OLE, and Blackboard. Most members are also proficient with other industry-specific software programs and groupware including: Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, 3D-Studio Max, Premiere, Contribute, Articulate Presenter, Breeze, Respondus, CourseGenie, Learning Object Creator, audio and video production.
Commitment to Quality Online Teaching & Learning
We are committed to pedagogically sound instructional strategies and the development of best practices for online teaching and learning. Student success is our focus.
In our online courses, we integrate learning activities to address the following pedagogical issues:
- Multiple learning styles
- Variety of learning domains
- Gradually testing higher levels of knowledge and skills
- Providing ways for students to interact with the content in relevant ways that simulate real world experiences
- Learner centric - empowering learners to check their own understanding, receive immediate feedback, identify areas of weakness that require additional review and/or practice
- Learner control - allowing learners to self assess and choose how often they complete a self assessment and/or an interactive learning exercise, in private and at their own pace
We believe these type of Interactive Learning Objects help students improve their chances of success in completing and doing well in online courses!
Our Process
VIU is committed to pedagogically sound Instructional Design for the development of online courses - from Planning, Analysis and Design through to Development, Implementation and on-going Evaluation - P. A. D. D. I. E. This ensures our online teaching and learning is engaging and effective and that our learners have successful educational experiences.
VIUonline works closely with faculty to design and develop new courses and to re-purpose existing face-to-face courses for online teaching and learning. We offer continued support to both faculty and learners throughout the delivery of online courses and perform on-going, formative and summative course evaluations in an effort to promote continuous improvement. This ensures we meet the educational needs of our online learners.
Our Instructional Design Strategy
VIU designs and develops high quality, learner-centred interactive online courses. We believe it is vital to ensure our learners have opportunities to interact with the course content, the instructors, authentic sources of data and third-party expertise, as well as with their peers and colleagues in collaborative group work for the development of a strong online learning community.
We provide multiple paths through the course content to accommodate the background and experience of our learners in order to address their individual learning needs and varied learning styles. We strive to engage our learners by making the content relevant and practical to real-world situations. We present content in a variety of formats, using a wide range of examples integrated with links to additional references and relevant supplemental resources.
Our instructional strategy provides opportunities for learners to check their understanding as they progress and receive immediate feedback, apply the knowledge and skills they have learned, and connect new concepts with prior learning as they share experiences and build knowledge together with their colleagues in online learning communities.