At Course Design & Development (CDD), we use a team approach to the design and development of DFL materials. This allows us to combine specialised skills from a variety of people to produce high quality materials.
It takes a lot of work and commitment to make the switch from traditional teaching or training processes towards flexible learning. To help you make that transition in developing your course materials, you will work as part of a course development team. The course team members are:
- one or more Course Writers – the content specialists;
- an Instructional Designer, the DFL specialist – who usually is the team liaison person for new and revised courses;
- Coordinator Unrevised Courses – who oversees any issues regarding unrevised courses and receives revised assignments for unrevised courses;
- an Education Technologist - who usually is the team liaison person for minor adjustment courses;
- an Electronic Publisher – who usually is the team liaison person for unrevised courses; and
- other resource personnel as required, such as the Multimedia Unit, the Senior Instructional Designer (SID), Book Centre Manager and Library staff.
The team is usually brought together at the start of the development period. The course writer/coordinator or content specialist will be assigned by the Head of Department, while the Course Design & Development staff are assigned by the SID. Other resource personnel and support staff are requested on a needs basis during or after the initial planning phase.
Note: The successful development and production of effective study materials depends on the cooperation of all members of the course team.
Course writer
As the Course Writer (content specialist) your main role is to provide the content of the course. The following is a summary of your responsibilities:
- Ensure all academic aspects of the course (e.g. content, assessment) have been approved through the usual channels.
- Write the text (units, sections etc) following the plan for the course materials outlined in the blueprint--and submit this text to the instructional designer, preferably both in electronic form and as hard copy.
- Provide necessary material for the Introduction and Assignments booklet.
- Ensure that the content is accurate. Fulfilling this responsibility includes careful proofreading, especially in the initial draft stages.
- Provide any media aid (e.g. diagrams, photos) that have been agreed on in course team meetings.
- Provide textbook details in good time to the Book Centre so that they can order the book ready for the required semester.
- If the course is to include one or more readers, provide materials for readings promptly.
- Seek copyright clearance for any necessary copyright permission to be obtained before printing or, for online teaching, uploading.
- Provide materials for any other books being produced e.g. laboratory manuals.
- Check the camera-ready masters (final version) of each book before it is submitted for printing or uploaded for online teaching.
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Instructional designer
Instructional Designers are the project managers of a course development teams which undertake to provide high quality teaching/learning materials for students at a distance.
The Instructional Designer (ID) ensures:
- that the content is presented in a manner that is conducive to the student's learning;
- that the amount of work expected of the students (e.g. the reading, practical work, assignments, tests and tutorials) is realistic in their context of study;
- advice is available on different assessment techniques, writing interactive text, and media aids to enhance the learning materials;
- readability and language use in a context where the majority of students have a first language other than English;
- copy editing for consistency and accuracy; and
- proper layout and publishable quality.
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Education technologist
For new and revised courses, the Education Technologist (ET):
- liaises with course writer(s) throughout the proofreading and correction of all course materials under production;
- liaises with the multimedia specialists regarding media input (e.g. graphics, audio, video);
- assists in producing and drawing diagrams if possible;
- prepares and checks the camera-ready masters; and
- checks the quality of the printed materials.
For minor adjustment courses, the ET:
- is the team leader for minor adjustment courses;
- develops, produces and maintains quality of print materials of minor adjustment courses;
- prepares and checks the camera-ready masters; and
- checks the quality of the printed materials.
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Electronic publisher
For unrevised courses, the EP:
- processes the Introduction & Assignments (I&A) book following receipt of revised assignments from course writers;
- updates assignment details, submission dates and other necessary information for the I&A book;
- monitors the production of the Introduction & Assignments book; and
- prepares existing masters for reprints.
For new and revised courses, the EP:
- templates units;
- scans readings and graphics;
- archives course content; and
- layout art covers for course materials and CD sleeves.
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Multimedia Unit
Click here to view the Multimedia Unit's web page.
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Liaison Librarian
Each faculty is assigned liaison librarians that can assist in providing valuable advice with regard to reading resources that can be used to supplement the course.
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