Conquering the Content

A review by Catherine Hillman

This is one of my go-to books in my “online learning” shelf because it addresses not only the magnificent vortex of an adjustment that is online teaching, but also because it offers some truly beneficial and practical suggestions for course preparation. There are terrific insights that will help you map out your approach to an online course from a pedagogical point of view, as well as avoiding certain technology pitfalls that can derail the process of converting your lecture materials to an appropriate online activity. While the book does not cover any specific learning management system, it does (correctly) assume that any major LMS will offer an html-based platform for arranging and presenting your materials, and is therefore helpful regardless of your delivery platform. The portion of the book that deals with new approaches to online course design serves as an equal challenge to those of us who also teach Face-to-Face, as it challenges our assumptions about teaching and learning.

Smith offers seven practical and insightful approaches to design, beginning with a change in our traditional approach to course design. A common mistake for first-time online instructors is to pile on the text-based handouts and expect students to read and absorb the material correspondence-course style, without providing a venue for reflection, discussion or discovery. While the book’s scope focuses more on practical ways of arranging and chunking material for student consumption, one key question Smith raises about student information retention has haunted me for the past two semesters: “What if you knew your students were going to be tested six months following the completion of your course, and you would be held legally liable for any portion of the course the students did not remember? How would you teach differently? Would you?”

Much of this book also covers some incredibly practical and time-saving approaches to content organization and file management. A key concept Smith covers early on is to develop the scope of the entire course and use placeholder materials in advance, rather than focusing on the completion of one solid module or section. That sense of understanding the gestalt of an online course prior to filling in the nitty-gritty will force the designer to ask some of the bigger questions of content relevance, common and sequential learning processes and understanding outcomes rather than simply trying to shovel as much information into students’ heads as possible. Knowing how to set up files and learning modules that correspond to appropriately “chunked” sections creates a saner workload for the instructor. I can say with confidence that the section on file naming conventions (p30-31) has saved me many hours of searching over the past year.

Online teaching and learning is a challenge, and an adjustment for both the instructor and student, and Smith’s personal touches add human factor to the chapters. Smith offers her hard-earned wisdom generously, with wonderful ideas for personal productivity and professional growth as an instructor. No matter what you are struggling with – and developing an online course is certainly a struggle – you’ll find help and relief in these pages.