A variety of professional development opportunities in instructional design is available to course lecturers and instructors teaching at the School of Continuing Studies.
Teaching in the classroom
McGill Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) offers one-on-one course design consultation as well as a number of workshops on topics such as teaching strategies, assessment of learning, and student engagement.
We encourage you to visit TLS’s website and to request a Teaching Consultation.
Teaching online
Will you soon be teaching an online class? Or maybe you are just interested in learning more about the differences between “traditional” classes and online classes?
If so, the newest iteration of our popular Online Teaching Essentials course is just for you!
- Learn the basics of designing a course aligned with clearly articulated curricular outcomes.
- Learn how to apply our course design to the online development process within MyCourses.
- Submit an online course module in MyCourses to get feedback and suggestions for how to move forward with their creative course ideas.
The Winter 2023 Online Teaching Essentials course will take place
from February 23 – April 13, 2023
The format shall be asynchronous online modules with one initial synchronous meeting via Zoom, 4-5 p.m. on February 23rd. The short course will follow the topical outline provided.
Successful completion of Online Teaching Essentials provides the required qualification for teaching online courses with the McGill School of Continuing Studies.
Course Outline
February 23 (synchronous via Zoom 4-5 p.m.): Workshop Overview & Introductions
- As we introduce ourselves and become familiar with the Online Teaching Essentials short course, we will also discuss why we teach “online”, what this means for our learners, and some of the key differences between “traditional” courses and online courses.
March 2 (asynchronous): Mapping Your Course Curriculum
- Participants will learn how to align course assessment and instructional strategies with clearly articulated learning outcomes and complete a course mapping activity demonstrating mastery of curriculum alignment principles. (Due March 16.)
March 9 (asynchronous): Designing Assessment
- Participants will explore assessment as a cognitive tool for scaffolding learning where emphasis will be placed on supporting skills transfer with authentic assessment strategies and design a brief assessment to showcase mastery of various assessment strategies. (Due March 23.)
March 16 (asynchronous): Fundamentals of Lesson Design
- With curriculum and assessment strategies now in place, participants will learn how to align instructional activities, teaching support resources, and interaction design to conceptualize and sequence a complete outcomes-based lesson. Participants will then complete a basic lesson outline using a provided template. (Due March 30.)
March 23 (asynchronous): Building Your Online Learning Space
- Participants will learn or refine their understanding of common features of a learning management system as well as evaluate how these features can be leveraged to support their outcomes-based lesson.
- Participants will be introduced to commonly used rubrics and guidelines for assessing the quality of online courses.
- Project: Participants will build a complete online course module and conduct an evaluation of the module using a common set of guidelines for online course design. Due April 13.)
March 30 (and after as needed):
- Participants will schedule a brief meeting with the workshop facilitator in order to demonstrate their ability to use Zoom to interact with learners and present basic instructional content.
April 13: Online Course Module Project Due.
Academic Matters
For questions related to academic matters, please refer to the list of contacts within academic units.