Curriculum Development
Our instructional designers assist faculty to create academically rigorous online learning activities and courses. We can recommend approaches to incorporate Universal Design for Learning into instruction as well as ways to engage your students in the online environment. The Media Production team has the ability to shoot video and photography (both in studio and, in many cases, on location), create motion graphics, record audio voice overs, and edit video. Our media services are reserved for instructional media to be used in for-credit courses. The Learning Innovation team will help faculty to integrate content with the capacity and flexibility of the Web to enhance learning rather than simply replicating traditional classroom teaching methods.
Quotes from Faculty
Here are a few recent quotes from a Faculty Survey about their experiences with our Curriculum Development Team:
Instructional Design
Our team of experts is skilled in best practices for designing learning experiences that promote active learning and the development of critical thinking skills. We are dedicated to helping faculty maximize opportunities for student engagement, success, and retention. We provide unique solutions to foster an impactful student experience.
24-Week Course Process
Our standard course development process entails 24 weeks of collaboration between a “faculty developer” and two Curriculum Development experts: an instructional designer and a course builder. Through design, course building, and review phases, we support faculty and programs in achieving their curricular goals in the online environment through our knowledge of best practices, the VCU teaching landscape, and the latest educational technology. Our ultimate goal is a high-quality, accessible, and equitable learning experience for VCU students
Course Development Documents and Tools
We use a number of documents to ensure clear and efficient creation of high-quality learning experiences.
Our course plan helps to make sure all assessments, content, and course units align with learning objectives.
Our course storyboard allows faculty to outline exactly how they want their course to look while creating an organized and efficient framework to guide our staff as they build your course.
If you have questions, or if you want to put your course online and need help from an instructional designer please contact us.
Media Production
We can do a whole lot with a little, including:
- Studio Production (including a teleprompter, green screen, cameras, lighting equipment)
- Video Field Production (on campus and off)
- Animation
- Motion Graphics
We hope you will check out some of the work we have done on the VCU Online YouTube channel. There you will see collaborations with faculty that serve a variety of learning experiences, whether you are teaching online or face-to-face classes. We are also available to teach faculty the skills they need to become content creators themselves or to help faculty design multimedia student assignments.
Learning Innovation
We work with faculty to make all sorts of educational things happen on the Internet. You bring the passion and academic expertise and we’ll bring a deep knowledge of technology and where it intersects with teaching and learning. We’ve worked with faculty to build everything from interactive charts and tools for gathering data, to online textbooks and interactive online courses.If it has to do with learning and it uses the Internet (or you’d like it to), we want to work with you to do it better, faster, and more easily.
Online, Blended, Hybrid
If it has to do with learning and it uses the Internet (or you’d like it to), we want to work with you to do it better, faster, and more easily.
In addition to supporting online, blended, and hybrid courses we also work on learning-focused community engagement projects, grants, and other activities aligned to VCU strategic initiatives.
