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Online Professional Development Courses

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The ITaLI eLearning team provides support to staff throughout the process of publishing new Online Professional Development courses. 

How do I start using the support?

You can nominate by emailing elearningadvisers@uq.edu.au and including the following information in your email:

Subject line: New Online Professional Development Course

​Message:

  • Title of online professional development course:
  • Learn.UQ (Blackboard) course code (if a course already exists):
  • Course audience (staff/students):
  • Number of people who will need to complete the course:
  • Production option (in-house/external supplier/commercial product):
  • Contact person:

What support is available?

  • Assistance with the use of eLearning systems.
  • Advice on how to find course content designers and builders to generate the learning materials.
  • Creation of the assessment items (e.g. Learn.UQ Tests) to track completion.
  • eLearning support to address technical issues (email help@elearning.uq.edu.au).
  • Creation of the actual Learn.UQ (Blackboard) course site (email help@elearning.uq.edu.au).

The ITaLI eLearning team does not have services for the following:

  • SCORM support

Note: Due to some SCORM packages not working reliably in Blackboard, its is recommended that modules be published as HTML5, or use H5P for the content and assessment, or use a Blackboard quiz for the assessment. This means that only formative quizzes can be included in your module (i.e. marks will not be returned to Grade Centre). Due to known unsolvable limitations with SCORM, it is not possible to provide support to investigate problems for coordinators that choose to use it. Any assessment of learning should be done using a Blackboard Quiz/Test to reliably pass on the grades.

  • Creation of the learning materials, or editing learning materials
  • General site administration

What are the pre-requisites?

  • The organisational unit must have the resources to produce and maintain an online course, including access to a resource for learning material creation (using for instance Articulate).
  • The online course owner (organisational unit) and coordinator must be clearly designated.

What are the learning material production options?

There are three main options for producing learning materials for the online course (e.g. eLearning modules, videos and assessment):

  1. Produce in-house (either employ someone with the required skills or upskill a current team member).
  2. Contract an external supplier.
  3. Purchase a commercially available product.

What categories of online courses are offered at UQ?

  • Induction and OHS courses
    • Courses that are applicable to all staff or students and are compulsory.
    • Courses are published in the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) course Induction and OHS courses.
    • All staff and students are automatically enrolled in the Induction and OHS courses.
    • Completions are recorded in the Induction section in Aurion.
    • The transfer of results to Aurion is automated.
    • The results are also available from a MIS report.
       
  • University Staff Development Program (USDP) course.
    • Courses are applicable to a section of the UQ community.
    • Courses follow the same approval process as face to face USDP courses. Refer to Presenter & Coordinator Information on the Staff Development site for further information.
    • Courses are published in a Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site.
    • Course enrolments can be automated based on the organisational unit or self-enrol.
    • Courses are advertised on the Staff Development site.
    • Course completion information can be downloaded from the Learn.UQ course Grade Centre.
    • Completions are recorded in the Training Record section in Aurion.
    • The results need to be manually transferred to Aurion.
       
  • Organisational unit courses
    • Courses that are applicable to staff in particular organisational units or roles.
    • Courses are approved by the head of the relevant organisational unit.
    • Courses are published in a Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site.
    • Course enrolments can be automated based on the organisational unit or self-enrol.
    • Course completion information can be downloaded from the Learn.UQ course Grade Centre.

What are the format recommendations?

  • Course content and assessment is published in a Learn.UQ course site.
  • Course content is published in HTML5 or using H5P  (SCORM is not reliable and therefore not supported).
  • Course content is produced using eLearning authoring software (H5P, Kaltura Capture).
  • Course assessment is produced as a separate Learn.UQ test or H5P (SCORM does not pass marks reliably)

How should I design my course?

  • Clearly determine the learning objectives for the course.
  • Reduce the content covered to the minimum needed to meet the required learning objectives.
  • Course length: Maximum 20 minutes (divide content into parts if needed).
  • Include regular interactive activities to engage participants through out the course i.e. formative quiz questions.
  • Follow the UQ Branding guidelines.
  • Track staff completions of the course using a Learn.UQ test.
  • Tests should consist of 20 questions drawn randomly from a pool of at least 30 questions. The test pass mark should be set at 80% and allow for repeated attempts.

What resources are available on course design and production?

A collation of resources for designing a course are available in the Online Professional Development Course Design guide.

How long will the content stay current?

Organisational units need to ensure they have the resources to update learning materials when required. Depending on the production option selected you need to ensure:

  • All resources files needed to produce the learning materials are stored and their location documented.
  • If the learning materials are to be produced by an external supplier, suppling the resources files needs to be included in the contract.
  • You retain expertise within your team to update the course or allocate budget to updating learning materials when needed.
  • You own the IP for the learning materials if they are produced by an external supplier.