-Woohoo…. Designing a course module is not as easy as it looks. But anyways, I am grateful for this class and the additional learning experience I have gathered. When we were asked to design a course profile, my mind wandered away a bit on what I could possibly design to fit the present context I find myself in. After much deliberation, I decided to choose something I realized might be adaptable to health education.

I created a course in Medical Terminology and subsequently designed two modules. Medical Terminology is the basis for efficient communication in the healthcare sector. Understanding medical terminology is particularly crucial for anyone interested in the medical field, either as a medical professional, administrative staff, or other health-related careers. In designing my course prototype and profile as required in this class (EC&I 834), I decided to create an online medical terminology course with the aim of providing an interesting, accessible, and flexible learning approach to diverse learners who might be interested in the course. A summary of my course prototype is presented in this blog post, highlighting important design decisions, difficulties, and potential future directions. Nevertheless, I have included my course profile, as it provides a clearer picture of the course format, target population, and every other piece of information needed.

Course Design and Rationale

When designing the course prototype, a lot of things had to be considered so as to enhance the teaching and learning process. Based on the discussion we had in class, I understood the fact that our prototype should contain a look and feel of how we want the course to be. I thought in my mind at first that I wasn’t ready for this…you know, thinking of interactivity, assessment, and compatibility of whatever you are using or doing with the LMS you intend using. Alas!!! I managed, even though the prototype wasn’t perfect.

Elearning development/prototypes in elearning course development (Bacha Chatia)

The course follows a fully online, asynchronous format, allowing students to learn at their own pace. This decision was driven by the need to accommodate students from different time zones, work schedules, and life commitments. The course is hosted on a Google Classroom and incorporates interactive multimedia resources such as video lectures, self-paced quizzes, and discussion forums. To ensure accessibility, I integrated visual aids and animations to illustrate complex terms as well as flashcards and interactive games to reinforce learning in an engaging way. I feel this approach will enhance students motivation and also foster a sense of accomplishment as students master key concepts as documented in my course overview.

Developing the course prototype presented some challenges. The first one was ensuring accessibility for learners with low bandwidth or limited access to devices, which requires optimizing resources for mobile compatibility and providing downloadable materials. I think I was finally able to address this by providing presentation slides that students can easily download for offline use. Another challenge I think I encountered was supporting EAL students, which required the inclusion of more visual and auditory learning aids, as well as ensuring complex medical terms were broken down into digestible explanations. I really can not tell if I have done justice to this. However, I believe turning the subtitle button and captions of the video on, as well as reducing the speed of the video as students listen or watch, will go a long way in helping EAL students. Based on the feedback from the initial review of my prototype, I have tried to balance students’ self-paced learning with engagement. I have tried to integrate peer discussion prompts as a way to keep students accountable for their learning outside the scheduled live sessions. Here is a link to the course LMS, and below is a walkthrough on what it looks like.

As mentioned earlier, the development of this course prototype might not be perfect. However, I am glad with the process and lessons learned as I look forward to exploring more ways of designing courses with particular features that support equity and inclusivity in the learning process.

“Feedback is the compass for greatness; it tells you what to avoid, what to learn, and where to excel.”  – Henrik Ceder, Netigate

Creating my first module using the Google platform was a good experience for me. Even though I am familiar with Google Classroom, I have never used it as an LMS where I need to inculcate a lot of materials and design. The feedback received really showed that I did put a lot of effort into what I’ve done, and I still need to improve on my module design. Based on the feedback, I will be modifying my prototype and course shell in the following areas.

1. User Experience and Enhancement

One of the feedbacks received is the need to provide direct links to specific sections of textbooks and activities to streamline content access. This idea is actually welcomed; however, my intention for integrating the whole textbook was because learners will be using the same textbook as their reading source for the whole course. Nevertheless, I recognize the importance of making content navigation as seamless as possible. I will update the course materials by embedding direct links to specific textbook sections and relevant activities, ensuring that students can access the required content without unnecessary searching. This will enhance efficiency and minimize potential learning barriers.

During the review process, I revisited the course shell and realized a problem with the Padlet I integrated. Even though this was later identified by the reviewers, I already corrected the settings to enhance user experience in posting responses.

Another concern raised was the issue of the navigation challenge and pinning the initial course message in the Google Classroom “Stream” page to ensure easy access. One major problem is that “pinning is not a feature in Google Classroom. However, one thing I think I will try doing is to ensure that important messages or posts are moved to the top of the “stream page.” This will give access to visitors to easily read instructions that would help them navigate to the “classwork” tab.

There was also an issue around the lack of clear labeling for accessing and timing of synchronous sessions that need to be addressed. I acknowledge that this was an oversight because instructions and information regarding this were given in the video presentation before integrating it under the welcome section. However, I will create a separate label to indicate clear information about the synchronous session. This section will also include explicit information on the modality state and estimated weekly time commitment (as indicated in the profile and course shell)

2. Content Organization

The feedback also focused on resource clarity and learning outcomes. Though I had indicated the learning outcomes in the beginning of the presentation slide. Based on the feedback received, I guess the learning outcomes should have a visible section in the course shell so that it can be easily seen by everybody and provide clearer expectations for students. A big misunderstanding was also the fact that the module is covered within a week, and all subtopics addressed in the module were already integrated into the presentation “Notes and resources” section. Even though this appeared as a mismatched title to the reviews, I will have to include a clear instruction on what has been embedded in this section so as not to create confusion for students.

It was also indicated that the course profile does not explicitly detail policies or strategies for addressing attendance concerns. Even though the importance of attendance in the module was implied in the scheduled Zoom meetings and live quizzes. Hence, I will outline attendance policies and also provide options for students who may miss synchronous sessions, such as recorded lectures or alternative assignments in the course profile.

3. Engagement and Interaction

I integrated a discussion board into my course module. However, it is suggested that an introductory post from me (the instructor) could help initiate discussions and promote engagement. This will be taken into consideration in my next module, since it is considered a way of modeling interactive behavior to encourage student engagement in forums.

In the quiz design, one of the reviewers suggested the use of the H5P module for fill-in-the-blank exercises to enhance interactivity and engagement. I used H5P in some aspects of the quiz, and I also used a feedback mechanism through the Google quiz. I also thought to include a traditional set of questions in the module so that students could reflect and provide answers. This was done intentionally so that in case students had to do the quiz in the live class, it would give me the opportunity to discuss the answers with them. The suggestions will be considered when designing my second module. I will also be including feedback for wrong and correct answers with explanations in the Google quiz as suggested by one of the reviewers. This would help students understand their mistakes and learn from them.

4. Inclusivity and accessibility

Concerns around providing additional language support for EAL students, as well as low bandwidth and student access to devices, were raised. To address these concerns, I already included links to free open resources that are downloadable for students’ use. I also included presentation slides and videos that students can download with limited internet resources and use offline. I will also be providing additional language support resources to enhance understanding of the course, particularly for EAL learners.

These past few weeks have been an amazing one as we all explored how to create H5P content. Reflecting on the various types of H5P content I came across, I can say that H5P content offers numerous benefits in educational settings, enhancing both teaching and learning experiences. As an interactive content creation tool, H5P facilitates the development of engaging materials that promote active learning, improve student engagement, and support diverse learning styles. While developing my H5P content, I realized that they can help students to self-assess their understanding through interactive features, which help clarify concepts and reinforce learning, and the feedback mechanisms within H5P activities allow students to track their progress and identify areas for improvement (Rahmi et al., 2024; Sharmin et al., 2023).

However, I struggled a bit before I could merge different types of H5P activities into my video. I think teachers need to be adequately trained on how to develop H5P contents for effective implementation in their teaching practice.

Integrating H5P interactive videos, quizzes, and drag-and-drop activities into lesson content can help improve student motivation and participation. Here is a link to my Interactive video and below is a sample of what my interaction module looks like .

The interactive module and other learning resources have also been integrated into the LMS I am using for teaching this course. Here is the link to my course shell: Basicshell: Google Classroom. Here is what my Google Classroom looks like.

You can check under the classwork section for the course introduction, course overview, and all other resources (power point slide, interactive videos, assessments) that students will use in the first module. I am still busy developing the second module,

References

Rahmi, U., Fajri, B. R., & Azrul, A. (2024). Effectiveness of interactive content with H5P for Moodle-learning management system in blended learning. Journal of Learning for Development, 11(1), 66-81.

Sharmin, N., Pandya, J., Stevenson, T. R., & Chow, A. K. (2023). Interactive learning content to supplement didactic lectures in dental education. Journal of Dental Education, 88(Suppl 3), 1758.

My course module is strictly an online one. As a result, content delivery will be done by giving students pre-recorded videos of basic concepts before the class. Students will be assigned a self-paced quiz based on the pre-recorded lesson. This will then be followed by live online sessions for discussions and questions and answers, as well as the presentation of slides and notes to students for personal reading or revision. Within the course, I plan to use various interactive formative assessments that include statement questions, single-choice, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-gap methods of assessment. Students will also label body planes in interactive diagrams.

During the live online sessions, I plan to ask real-time questions using polls via Zoom at the beginning of the lesson to check for students’ understanding. As the online session proceeds, students will be assigned to break-out rooms for further discussion with peers on specific activities. Towards the end of the lesson, students will be given reflection questions in the discussion board.

Students will also engage in open-ended questions that require class members to give their views on answers given in the class. At the end of the lesson, additional interactive activities, assignments, and quizzes will be given to students.

Our third week’s blog post is about designing a course profile. To have a better understanding of how to fill the necessary sections of the ADDIE template, I had to do further readings, and I came across the Remote/Online Course Design Checklist on the University of Toronto’s website, which creates a simple road map on basic things that need to be considered when designing online learning courses. So, let’s get started with specifics about the course. See the link to my ADDIE: Medical Terminology Course Profile

Welcome to this online course. MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY (MTHS101)

This course is designed for medical students and professionals interested in learning or refreshing their knowledge and application of healthcare languages. This course is also relevant for medical-related professionals who work in non-clinical healthcare careers and students who aspire to work in these fields. These include fields like medical transcriptionists, continuing care assistants, healthcare administrators, and health information managers

For example, there is a growing need for health administrators across the country because they are essential to the efficient running of medical institutions. However, many students enrolled in health administration courses often struggle to understand and use medical terms. Medical terminology is a foundational skill and language required by many healthcare professionals to enable them to communicate clearly and effectively across various settings. Without proper instruction, health administration students may find it difficult to interpret and document medical conditions, patient information, billing and coding procedures, interact with patients, and communicate with other healthcare professionals. This lack of knowledge can cause mistakes in patient care and inefficient administrative processes, as well as make students less credible in their responsibilities.

Course delivery

This is a self-directed online course that will run synchronously for 9 weeks with daily class reviews through Zoom, and course content, assignments, and related materials will be shared using Google Classroom. Videos and live photos of content related to the course will also be shared during the class review.

All assignments and exams are done online through Google documents that will be shared in the course’s Google Classroom site.

Course structure

• Topic 1: Introduction to Medical language and health care today
• Topic 2: Respiratory system
• Topic 3: Cardiovascular system
• Topic 4: Nervous system
• Topic 5:  Integumentary system
• Topic 6: Gastrointestinal system
• Topic 7: Blood and lymphatic system
• Topic 8: Skeletal system
• Topic 9: Urinary system

Course objective and learning outcome

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify, describe, and pronounce the combining words that form the foundation of medical terms
• Understand the meaning of medical term constructions and its relation to anatomy and physiology
• Identify and describe the major anatomical position, body systems, plane and direction
• Identify the various structures of the human body and describe their functions
• Identify and describe common diseases and how they are diagnosed and treated.
• Explain the critical role of accurate medical terminology in various healthcare professions.

Assessment Overview

Assessment of this course will be done through the following:

• Online Quiz(zes), weighted at 20%
• Assignment Weighted at 30%
• Exam Weighted at 50%

The minimum passing rate for the assessment is 70%

Time allowed for online quiz (zes) is 120 minutes

Quiz(zes) are done during Friday class with webcam’s on.

Here are free resources that can also help in learning this course:

Medical Terminology Quizzes

Interactive medical terminology exercises

Learning Materials

All core readings for this unit are provided for free through the Building a Medical Terminology Foundation—Simple Book Publishing, which will be uploaded on the unit’s Google Classroom site. However, if you would like additional readings, you may wish to purchase:

• Textbook: Medical Language: Immense Yourself, 5^th edition, Susan M. Turley, Pearson Canada
• Pearson Canada: My Medical Terminology Lab. Students can have access to online resources and quizzes to each chapter to enhance learning. Links are available in the contents.

IT Resources

You will need access to the following IT resources:

• University Student Email
• Internet
• Unit Website (Google Classroom)

Attendance

• Regular online attendance in this course is mandatory to ensure optimal learning. Though the medium is different from regular classes, it is still expected for you to be interactive and participative in every online and offline activity.
• Should there be any mitigating situation that could lead to a student’s absence, please notify the instructor accordingly before the class.
• Students are responsible for learning any missed material due to absence(s).
• Students are required to review the course material before coming to class in order to develop a basic understanding of the course content.

HyFlex Learning represents an educational model that integrates both hybrid and flexible methodologies. The hybrid component pertains to instruction delivered either in-person or through online platforms, whereas the flexible aspect pertains to the autonomy granted to students in determining their mode of attendance, whether virtually or physically. In other words, HyFlex learning is distinguished by its hybrid and flexible methodology, which empowers students to select between attending in-person or engaging online within the same course. According to the Ideal Consortium, this structure offers learners three distinct avenues for participation in the course:

• in-person attendance
• virtual engagement during synchronous sessions using a web conferencing application, or
• the completion of asynchronous activities.

Each mode of instruction remains consistently accessible, except in situations when in-person classes are necessitated to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions or other emergencies. According to Beatty, this instructional model is “an approach to serving fully online students without abandoning current classroom students,” and it aspires to cultivate a flexible educational environment that caters to the varied needs and preferences of students (choosing what is best for them on a weekly or daily basis).

In his work, Beatty explained that the HyFlex approach shares similar characteristics with other instructional formats used in higher education institutions around the world, like Mode-Neutral, Multi Access Learning, Flex Learning, Converged Learning, Peirce Fit, Multi Options, Flexibly Accessible Learning Environment (FALE), Blendflex, Comodal, Flexible Hybrid, Synchronous Learning in Distributed Environments (SLIDE), gxLearning, Blendsync, and Remote Live Participation (RLP).

HyFlex learning offers a flexible learning model that allows students to choose between in-person and online attendance, accommodating individual schedules and preferences (Cumming et al., 2024). This model supports accelerated course delivery, aligning with students’ desires for speed and convenience (Dickinson et al., 2024), while also catering to diverse student needs and enhancing participation and retention rates (Dickinson et al., 2024; Yang et al., 2024). It increases access to courses (e.g., when in-person attendance is problematic or when desired classes are scheduled concurrently), students tend to have greater control over their daily schedules, and the flexibility to choose the most effective learning methods to meet their individual needs and preferences (Beatty, 2019).

The work of Beatty also explains how the HyFlex model provides opportunities for faculty to develop online teaching skills without sacrificing in-person instruction, provide a built-in alternative for students facing scheduling conflicts, and serve more students with existing resources.According to Dickinson et al. (2024), the model supports varied learning styles and can accelerate course delivery, aligning with students’ preferences for convenience and efficiency. This aligns with the work of Beatty, which explains how faculty valued the HyFlex model due to its increased capacity to support diverse learning needs through this flexible model and providing opportunities to conduct pedagogical research on their own teaching practices and potentially publish their findings within their academic discipline.

While HyFlex learning presents innovative solutions for modern education, it also raises concerns in several areas. For instance, Tulekova et al. (2023) claim that the HyFlex model can restrict meaningful interactions, as students may not engage as fully in discussions or collaborative activities when participating online. Moreover, the online component of this model requires substantial time management skills (Beatty). Studies suggest that remote learning can sometimes lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from peers, potentially impacting student engagement and academic performance (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004; Gillis & Szabo, 2024). Nevertheless, it is believed that implementing the HyFlex model will require significant investments in technology and faculty training, which may present a challenge for some institutions. This could also extend to students, as argued in the work of Beatty, where he indicated that students could lack the personal and technical resources most commonly required: hardware, network access, the ability to engage with online learning platforms, and the ability to learn through mediated experiences. These resources are essential for successful participation in the online version of the course. I also think that giving students autonomy to choose how they want to attend instructions could compromise the depth of learning for some students who may prioritize convenience over active engagement.

Reflecting on the above discussion and aligning it with the evolving educational landscape characterized by the use of emerging technologies, particularly those that emerged during the health crisis, there is clear indication that the HyFlex model presents a promising future for education due to its flexibility and adaptability. However, I believe teachers utilizing this approach require ongoing training and professional development on strategies that effectively integrate various learning modalities, with a particular emphasis on assessment and student engagement. Furthermore, while student autonomy in lesson participation is valuable, it may need to be carefully guided or controlled to prevent situations where courses devolve entirely into online learning. In such classrooms, clear expectations for both online and in-person participation must be established and consistently communicated to students.