It has been a long while since I have had to really think about the development of a course. It is hard. I am glad I have help. I work on my classes all the time in little ways, but I am working to design and build a fully on your own time online physics 111 (algebra based mechanics) class to start using in the fall, and it is a lot of work.
I spent today just working on writing new homework assignments and setting up the final project statement. I had already written the final project paper, but I needed to create the intro for it for the online platform. Just putting together 6 homework assignments (with only 4 questions per homework) and the final project intro took me well over an hour. And I don’t even have solutions for those homework questions written yet. So, that will be well over another hour of work. I even chose to work with some questions I have used in years past, but I also had to write some new questions as well.
This class will be a huge amount of work, but I am getting paid extra to design it, but boy I know this was another reason why I never wanted to do the online development of a class. The front end is SO much work. I still have to create video introductions to each section, reflective homework assignments and solutions, pick out labs, and create a video showing students how to proceed through each week’s worth of course material so they don’t get lost. I have time to do it, but the thing is I need to make sure I don’t lose track of time and then have to scramble at the end of the semester to get it all done (like my students). I am a fan of getting things done right away, but at the same time it is a time and brain drain. But it is also fun in a certain way.
It is like so many other things in life that are new. It takes time, and I knew it would.
I am sure that when it is all said and done the class will be a good class. I am hoping it will be one of the better on your own time classes that students will take in their lives (for those that choose to take it). I don’t want this class to be a drain and a pain for students. Physics is already a hard subject for many, and this class will take focus and determination to complete for them (and for me). I hope that this calss will have some “fun” to it that will add to the student enjoyment.
We’ll see…