Online course development FAQs
The Instructional Design & Educational Technology team in the Office of Digital Learning is available to help with any questions or issues with your online class. We have a team of instructional designers and instructional technologists (including those you worked with at 365 Learning!) who are here to help. You can reach our team by emailing odl@unr.edu.
To begin the course development process, an online course approval will need to be submitted via Curriculog. This proposal represents the initial application to develop a course, and attests that the faculty member has sought the approval their department chair. Once the course proposal has been approved by the department chair, college dean, the Office of Digital Learning, the Vice Provost for Online Education, and the Provost’s Office, development may begin.
Faculty may choose to develop a course on their own, or with the help of a development team from ODL’s Instructional Design & Educational Technology team. You can learn more about the process on ODL’s Overview of the new online course development process webpage.
Yes, you will be designing and building your online class. However, you will be working with a course development team assigned to you that includes an Instructional Designer, Instructional Technologist, and Librarian to help with any questions you may have.
Yes, you will be responsible for recording, editing, and producing your own videos, as well as deploying those videos in your online class in WebCampus. Don’t worry, though! The Instructional Technologists at the Office of Digital Learning will be available to help with training in video recording and editing tools, using best practices, and any questions you may have in the editing, producing, or deploying processes.
Courses are approved for online development via a process that includes department head, college dean, the Provost’s Office, and the Vice Provost of Online Education. Please see the Online course development process webpage for more information.
Course proposals will need to be approved by the department head, the college dean, the Provost’s Office, and the Vice Provost of Online Education. The length of time that the approval process will take depends on how long each individual approval takes.
All online and hybrid courses offered by the University must meet University Standards for Digital Instruction to maintain quality assurance and accessibility standards and current best practices in online and digital education. Meeting standards ensures student satisfaction and fosters learning.
The University Standards for Digital Instruction were specially created for the University as a collaborative effort between the Office of Digital Learning and the Provost’s Office, with Faculty Senate Approval. In the summer of 2021, the former Online Learning office merged with Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) to form the new Instructional Design & Educational Technology (IDET) team within the Office of Digital Learning. One of the goals of the merge was to create digital standards for online course quality assurance. The IDET team drafted the UNR Digital Learning Standards based on research-supported and published best practices derived from two nationally accredited standards-based organizations: The Online Learning Consortium’s OSCQR Course Design Review and Quality Matters, of which the University maintains memberships. The standards were routed across campus and shared widely with requests for feedback fall and spring of 2021-22. They were formally approved in the summer of 2022.