Spanish Faculty Member Recognized for Work Streamlining Course

Brenda Magnetti, who teaches Spanish at the U of A, will receive an Excellence in Course Design award from Global Campus for her work on the Elementary Spanish I course.

Camie Wood and Amalie Holland, instructional designers at Global Campus, announced the award this week in the lead-up to the Better Learning Together conference put on each year by Global Campus. The virtual event Oct. 22 aims to bring together faculty and staff to explore innovative ideas, share expertise and enhance learning strategies. The instructional design team at Global Campus also intends to give the design award annually.

Magnetti was recognized in part because her work benefits multiple Spanish faculty members. All students enrolled in the online Bachelor of Arts in World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Spanish concentration in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences must take the Elementary Spanish I course. That means the course is typically taught by at least five instructors each semester. The bachelor's degree is offered both on campus and in a fully online format.

The program rotates teaching assignments each semester so different instructors teach it and the Elementary Spanish II course, which Magnetti also redesigned with the same principles in mind.

Magnetti, who is the Basic Spanish program director and a teaching assistant professor, called the award meaningful, both personally and professionally.

"I have been involved in distance education and, later, online courses for many, many years," Magnetti said. "From day one, I have always wanted to make each course better as new technology and new approaches to teaching became available.

"When I started teaching, I never imagined that my first degree, in graphic design, would shape the way I created materials for my face-to-face courses and, later, my online courses. I feel honored that the countless hours dedicated to making courses more attractive, but also simpler to navigate, are being recognized."

Recognition Process

Wood and Holland explained that courses going through development (either new or rebuilt courses) are nominated every development cycle of summer, fall and spring. The instructional designers vote on the nominations, choosing one for each cycle. The winner for the year is chosen from the winners of the three development cycles throughout the year.

Magnetti said the award also shows that the Spanish program and the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures keep adapting and trying to offer better courses to the many students who benefit from taking online courses.

"We are very proud to offer a full Spanish major online," Magnetti said. "A recognition like this speaks well of our commitment and inspires us to keep improving all our courses."

Organization Is Vital

Holland said the Elementary Spanish is not a flashy course with lots of involvement by Global Campus' media production team, which creates video, animation and other graphic elements.

"The course is not anything wildly exciting in terms of newness," Holland said. "Brenda solved problems we had identified over the last few years, and she found nice, interesting ways to solve them. Because the course is taught by multiple instructors, it needs to be handed off easily to these other instructors."

While many courses delivered online have a standard weekly assignment deadline on Sunday night, language courses need several touchpoints each week so that students practice and retain what they're learning, Holland said. Structures for that were built into the course, with efficient organization a high priority to create a seamless process for both faculty and students to be successful, she said.

"With language, you lose your learning if you are not constantly updating it through the week," Holland said. "Making fixes in previous iterations resulted in lots of folders and links to folders. We thought, 'This is the time to really go all in on making the organization really clean and easy to use with that many instructors teaching it.' It's a pragmatic and practical design.

"From the student side and the instructor side, the cleaner we keep it, the better," Holland said. "I was really proud of Brenda. I thought she did such a nice job of finding solutions to things that weren't straightforward issues."

Global Campus Resources

Magnetti described working with Global Campus as a fantastic experience.

"Each of the instructional designers I have worked with, as well as all the Global Campus team members who have guided me or answered my questions, has been incredible," Magnetti said. "I especially want to recognize instructional designer Amalie Holland. I have had the pleasure of working with her over the past few years, and her guidance, suggestions, instruction and, especially, her patience have been phenomenal!"

Other instructors who teach online should know that there are many tools available today to help bring their ideas to an online course, Magnetti said. The Global Campus team can help instructors find tools and learn how to use them.

"If you have ideas to improve a course so that students can understand the material in a different and better way, reach out to your program, share your ideas and get the approval you need," Magnetti said. "Then Global Campus can support you in making those ideas happen. For those who have never taught online and are considering developing a new course, do it! Global Campus will support you and guide you each step of the way."

Learn more: The U of A offers more than 100 degrees, licensure and certificates delivered online. You can learn more on the U of A ONLINE website.