Abstract:

World of Turf is an elective course for undergraduates at Michigan State University. It is the institution’s largest online course and the fourth largest course overall. In addition, it is the largest up-front full-tuition for-credit course known to be offered by any institution. The course utilizes the Brightspace by D2L learning management system. The content consists of video recorded lectures with accompanying slide-show presentations. Large lecture-specific question pools have been populated over time and are randomly sourced to generate quizzes and exams, thus drastically reducing the probabilities of duplicate assessments. The software grades these assessments and generates a gradebook. An add-on tool developed by the university grades students’ participation in discussion forums, which are monitored by a few undergraduate turfgrass majors. Repetitive instructions for navigating the course are in the syllabus and other documents, in successive widgets on the course homepage, in a frequently asked questions feature, and in selective emails generated by the software’s intelligent agent tool. A university-wide service center provides interactive telephone and email assistance for students needing individual help with using Brightspace. The center’s personnel has become particularly adept at providing timely assistance for students taking World of Turf. During its eight years as an online offering, enrollment has increased from 100 students to over 4000 students in the most recent academic year. Yet, the number of emails from students asking questions has been relatively flat. Exit survey results have shown that the students have been overwhelmingly glad they took the course and would recommend it to other students. In total, this single instructor, without the need for any graduate teaching assistants, has been able to maximize his teaching efficiency and provide new-found worth to his department, college, and university.

Keywords:

Higher education, instruction, distance learning, LMS, Brightspace, D2L, turf.