An OLLIE cohort for AEA consultants will be offered during the 2012-13 school year. This is an internal offering or “site-based,” meaning there is no cost to take the course. Participants can pay a minimal amount for credit, if desired.
What is OLLIE?
OLLIE is a 5-course sequence, geared toward helping educators to teach online, either for K-12 students, or in the case of AEA consultants, for adult learners. These courses are immersive, hands-on applications of research-based best practices in online pedagogy. Each course is entirely asynchronous, meaning learner participate at their own time, place, and pace. The sequence transitions teachers from an introduction to the look and feel of an online course at the beginning, through the learning of how to create content in Moodle, to the building of a course, to the teaching in a course, and ending with the process of assessing for learning.
For more on those courses, check out http://www.iowaaea.org/pages/Area_Education_Agencies/Iowa_AEA_PD_Online/Project_OLLIE.
What is OLLIE Cohort 6?
While these courses are offered on the AEA PD Catalog (which any educator can sign up for), we have found a better way to offer this professional development is in the form of cohorts. That is, having a group of educators move through the sequence together, becoming familiar with each other, leads to collaborative learning at a higher level. In fact, in past cohorts we have had many participants working on joint projects, developing a course together.
OLLIE cohort #6 is for AEA consultants. Each AEA will have the opportunity to choose their consultants who will take part. We will have large numbers in this cohort, so participants will be grouped in smaller, more collaborative groups, both for role-alike similarities, as well as local AEA collaborative learning teams. We’ll make some decisions around grouping after we find out more about who is registered. These courses will be taught by AEA PD Online’s Instructional Designer team.
So, what’s the goal of Cohort 6?
The purpose is a year-long ramp-up, where at the end of the cohort (next May), you will have created an online learning opportunity. That could be an online course that you are offering for credit, a hybrid/blended learning course that you are offering for credit or an online accompaniment to the services and support that you offer districts and educators.
An example of that last one: Heartland’s science consultants now offer an online sequence that couples their CAB initiative. Now, science teachers can access the materials referenced during face-to-face sessions and share ideas with other teachers, in between sessions. Other consultants have done something similar when working with a local district’s professional development implementation for the year.
What are the dates of the courses?
• Technology for Online Instruction – Sept. 5-Nov. 13
• Instructional Design – Nov. 28-Feb. 12, 2013
• Facilitation – Feb. 20-May 7, 2013
Normally, these courses are each five weeks and cover one unit each week. However, we are extending the courses to 10 weeks (without adding more content) to basically cover one unit every two weeks. This pace is intentional, as it will better allow participants to complete the work in conjunction with their present job duties.
What are the costs of this?
There is no cost for participants to audit the course. If a participant would like credit, they may elect to take it. Each of the courses is 2 credits (6 total for the cohort). Costs for EACH course are $25 for 2 license renewal credits or $140 for 2 Drake EDMA graduate credits. (These courses are a joint partnership with Drake, so only Drake graduate credit is available).
To register for the courses
Technology for Online Instruction – https://prodev.aeapdonline.org/4DCGI/22001199991301INV=True*
Instructional Design – https://prodev.aeapdonline.org/4DCGI/22001799991301INV=True*
Facilitation – https://prodev.aeapdonline.org/4DCGI/22001599991301INV=True*
For more information, contact Evan Abbey, Project Director for Statewide AEA Online Learning, at eabbey@aea11.k12.ia.us.
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