Development & Review

Obtaining approval in principle

Faculty interested in teaching an online course through UNB Online should express their interest to their Chair or Dean and obtain their approval in principle before a contractual agreement can be reached with UNB Online. Regulations pertaining to the collective agreement might have an impact on the choice of who can develop and teach a UNB Online course.

Contacting UNB Online

Once approval in principle has been granted by the Dean or Chair, intent to develop and teach an online course should be conveyed to the UNB Online Manager who will then draft contracts for course development and delivery (teaching).

Contracts

Terms pertaining to the development and delivery of online courses are outlined in development and teaching contracts. (Click on Documents to see contract samples.)

Approvals

Once terms have been reviewed by all parties, contracts are circulated for signatures. Development can start after approval has been granted.

Requesting a D2L development shell

The first step of development requires that an empty 'shell' be created in D2L. Developers should send a request to d2l@unb.ca, asking that such a shell be created.

D2L   training

The Centre for Enhanced Teaching & Learning offers D2L training regularly. To find out when the next session is offered, visit this page for faculty training schedules.

Technical help & assistance

UNB Online employs technical specialists who can help you with course development. (More info about development support.)

Course review

It is recommended that your course content be reviewed by a peer (generally someone from your unit), and that the course format and organization be reviewed by UNB Online before opening it to students. UNB Online has a convenient worksheet to help with the review process. Upon positive review of your course, it is considered ready and complete.

Setting up a section in Datatel

After your course has been peer reviewed, let UNB Online know so that they can set up a new section in Datatel. This automatically creates an empty shell in D2L—we call this the 'official' shell—which is where students who register in your course end up.

Copying course content

Once your course has been developed and reviewed, you need to copy its content from the development shell to the 'official' shell (mentioned in the previous paragraph). If you need assistance with this step, contact UNB Online.

Requesting payment for development

Once your course has been developed and reviewed, contact the UNB Online Manager to arrange payment for development.

Posting a course description on the UNB web site

In order to advertise your online course, you need to send a course description to the UNB Online Manager. Use this template (Word document).

Giving students access to your new course

Once your course content has been copied into the official D2L shell, you will need to activate the course. Activating (or deactivating) a course is easy. Just enter your course, click the EDIT COURSE link in the upper right corner of the interface, then click "Course Offering Information", then simply select (or deselect) the checkbox for "Course is Active", and click "SAVE". (After doing this make sure you see the SAVED SUCCESSFULLY message in the bottom right-hand corner). To re-check it, go to any other course page, then return to look at the setting to see if it changed/successfully saved.

Teaching your course

The important points to keep in mind when delivering your course online are presented under 'Best Practices'.