Let's Get Started
Course Overview
Welcome to the Open Metacourse in Online Instruction (MOI) for The University of Texas at Austin. We were asked several months ago by Butler School Director Mary Ellen Poole to create this brief course for the faculty and teaching assistants in the Butler School of Music, but we've since received many requests to make this available to the wider UT Community. We're happy to do so. The content of our Metacourse is not tied to a specific discipline. Instead, we address principles of online teaching that are broadly applicable across the university curriculum.
We've set this up to be as simple, clear, and uncluttered as possible, and we designed the course with two goals in mind: first, to provide a brief model of an online course in Canvas that will allow you to experience some of the most important features of the platform for conducting courses online; and second, to provide brief learning experiences that will lead to your building the basic framework for your fall online course. Note the emphasis on brevity. Taking this metacourse should require no more than 90 minutes of your time, and when you've finished you'll have a good start on planning for the fall. We will not focus primarily on “how to use Zoom software” and other components of technology, although we've included a couple of supplementary videos about that in a supplementary module; instead we’ll focus on principles of excellent instructional design that can be applied to online learning.
Our course is premised on the following central principle of effective learning: In order for learners to acquire information and develop skills that persist in memory, learners must generate information/explanations/demonstrations on their own. Effective learning requires effortful engagement beyond simply listening, watching, or reading. The so-called "generation effect" in learning has been observed in hundreds of investigations over the years and is a stable feature of our understanding of human learning.
Logistics and Navigation
Our course is arranged in four Modules, each of which includes the presentation of information and opportunities for you to write and create. The contents in each module are arranged in order, so you should begin by watching the first video and then proceed to the examples and assignments that follow. Even though the entire course can be completed in 90 minutes, we recommend that you not go through the whole thing in one sitting. It would be best if you took some time between modules to allow yourself to consider what you experienced in each one and think about the MOI assignments in relation to your fall course(s).
Important note about browser software: If you're using the Safari browser on a Mac, you'll need to open the Safari Preferences, select Privacy, and uncheck the box called Prevent cross-site tracking. The Panopto video server, where our course videos are hosted, can't communicate with Canvas if this option is checked.
In the interest of efficiency, we've created a Discussion thread for you to post questions about the course, since we anticipate that if any one of you has a question, there are probably others with the same or similar questions. Click on the blue Discussions link in the left margin of this page (up there on the left), then click Logistical Questions about MOI, then click Reply when you're ready to submit your question.
When you're ready to begin the course, click the blue Modules link (also up there on the left). After you watch each video or review materials in each part of the module, you can move to the next part of the module by clicking the Next button on the bottom right of each module page. Or you can go back to the Modules link and skip around.
We're glad you're here. Let's get started.
Jeff Hellmer and Bob Duke
University Distinguished Teaching Professors