How Magellan Helps Our Clients Create Quality Curriculum

In this episode, we are joined by Kathy Calvert, Director of Learning Design and Development at Magellan Learning Solutions. Through the dedicated work of the Learning Design team, we help our clients produce quality curriculum that facilitates learning in schools, business environments, and custom solutions. But what exactly is good curriculum and how do we help our clients create it? Join our conversation with Kathy and the Magellan partners, Wayne Patton, Aaron Traphagen, and Emily Heady, to learn a little more about how Magellan can help your students succeed.

If you or your school is looking for help with RSI, your online ecosystem, curriculum, or course development, think Magellan; our team would love to help. Reach out to us at thinkmagellan.com. Thank you for joining us on the Magellan Podcast: Navigating Education in the 21st Century.

Podcast Topics and Show Notes:

1. What we do before we begin creating content. This includes planning the program/course, helping the SME’s vision flourish, setting goals and outcomes, and training in the LMS.

• Explaining the backward design model can be difficult for SMEs to grasp. They are not used to always planning their course this way. Helping them understand it is important to know where (outcomes) we are going before we figure out how we will get there.
• Invest in building a working relationship with the SME as early as possible. It is important to have mutual respect and trust for a smooth development. SMEs have different ways of writing or planning, and communicating. It is important to give and take on both sides to settle on what works for both.
• How will we assess or confirm we got where we intended to go? The assessment or assessments will show student attainment of the outcomes.

2. The work we do during the building process. What makes a quality online course? Alignments, types of content, pacing and time on task, ADA, RSI, and more. These are all things our Magellan team helps to develop and knows to look for.

• It is important to keep directing the SME back to the outcomes we are trying to help the student attain and show attainment of.
• A good course will map every item added to the course, and it will either teach or assess a CLO.
• Building in the accessibility pieces is important. With a good solid template, building a course that meets the criteria is easy.
• Another important element is building a consistent course design across all courses. This is also where a template comes in.

3. What barriers can impede the successful development of an online program/course? How can an institution proactively plan to avoid getting “stuck” in the common pitfalls that we often see during development?

• A lack of clear, observable, and measurable Program, Course, and Module Learning Outcomes can make course development very difficult.
• It is important on a project to have the plan and expectations that Magellan, or other companies, brings to the table communicated and confirmed by the administration. Lack of administrative communication leads to many additional conversations in order to clearly communicate the objectives and standards to create quality courses.
• Being an ID is like dancing with a partner. An ID works to show respect to the SME for their knowledge, vision, and dreams for a course, while guiding the course-building process to use best practices and established standards. Sometimes the SME leads, and sometimes the ID leads.
• Regular communication is key. ID to SME and SME to ID. If an SME is stuck, they need to let their ID know, so an ID can help them clear a path where it may not be clear. In both cases, the 2 must learn how best to talk about their work and issues to create the best quality content.