In this series of posts, we’ll ask instructors to describe their experience at the onset of the online GE creation process. Once the semester has finished, we’ll revisit them to see how things went.
Psychology 1100 is a popular GE course that has been taught online through a number of different incarnations. It is currently taught by Ryan Hansen, a graduate teaching assistant in clinical psychology, who will continue to teach through fall semester. The original version was created by Jackie Von Spiegel, who is now an advisor in Psychology Department. We spoke with Ryan, Jackie, and PS 1100 Program Director Melissa Beers about how this course first began and what it has evolved into over the years.Q: Thinking back to the initial decision to create the online general education courses and your involvement, what were some of your first concerns or questions?
Melissa Beers (MB): I was first involved with developing an online section of Introduction to Psychology in 2007. Our biggest concern at the start was what resources it would take to mount the course online. At that time, the only models we had to work with were examples in which faculty programmed their own courses, and those were an enormous amount of work for a questionable return on investment. Carmen was key. From the beginning, the ability to build, structure, and manage the course through Carmen was essential. Carmen makes it extremely easy to manage an online course.
Continue reading Instructor Q & A: Melissa Beers, Ryan Hansen & Jackie Spiegel of Psychology
