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Instructor Handbook

Print-Based Courses

Study Guide Publishing Process

Overview

Contact the editor before you begin writing for orientation and preliminary guidance.  The editor will provide help to make your job easier.  Once the completed manuscript arrives at our office it progresses through several stages.

  1. Initial evaluation: This preliminary step ascertains that all components needed for editing and production of your distance education course are present.  These include text designation, study guide, permissions, exams, and answer keys.
  2. Editorial evaluation: Just prior to the start of editing, your editor will map out a plan for producing the course guide.  At this point, you may be contacted to discuss scheduling or other concerns.
  3. Editing: The editor will help assure clarity, completeness, and consistency of your manuscript.
  4. Author review of edit: This step is combined with proofreading.
  5. Design and layout: This step is performed by the editor and/or the Senior Word Processor.  Study guides are produced utilizing Microsoft Word. 
  6. Proofreading: You, as well as the editor, should proofread your study guide.  Content integrity, however, is your responsibility.
  7. Final corrections: The editor will incorporate your corrections with his or her own and produce a final copy.
  8. Printing: Once your study guide is finalized, it will be produced in house and will be available the same day.

Course Content Checklist

Study guide format and course design continually evolve as we respond to student feedback and discover more about how students learn and how instructional design can be improved.  The outline here reflects the study guide format we now use, we encourage you to apply your own experience and creativity as you write the introductory materials and the course units. In developing your distance learning course, we will provide an existing study guide and a study guide template to help guide your course development.

Introductory Items
Title (title page or title on online course main page)
Copyright to DCE (on copyright page or online course main page)
Welcome letter (optional)
      List or Table of contents
      Biographical sketch (optional)
      Study guide introduction
                  Course goals
                  Learning Objectives
                  Required materials
                  Course procedure
                  Written assignments
                  Assignment submission
                  Description of examinations
                  Information on grading
                  Study suggestions

     Study Guide Body: Lessons
      Lesson introduction and objectives
      Text, audio, video, and other assignments
      How to use media components (if applicable)
      Discussion
      Suggestions for additional reading (optional)
      Self-help/self-test exercises (optional)
      Written assignments

Concluding Items
Self-help/self-test key (if applicable)
Appendices (optional)
      Course bibliography (optional)
      Exam preparation page
      Standard peripheral materials and forms (supplied by DCE)
                  Exam request forms, grade reports, and evaluation forms

  • Introductory Items
    Title or Title Page    : For the full title, provide title copy including the full names of all authors and their up-to-date academic titles and affiliations. The title also gives the course number and the number of credits to be earned.
  • Copyright and Masthead: The standard copyright notice, inserted by the editor, appears on the back of the title page.  Credit lines, permission notes, and acknowledgments may also appear on this page.
  • List or Table of Contents: Provide a fairly detailed overview of the course structure.
  • Biographical Sketch of the Course Author (optional): This describes your educational background, academic honors and accomplishments, and personal information you want to include.  You may write the sketch yourself or give the information to the editor. Please let us know if this can be included just in the study guide or if it can also go on our website.
  • Study Guide Introduction: The introduction states the focus of the course. You can use the introduction to pique the student’s interest in the subject and establish its importance and context.  The introduction is also a good place to encourage students and assure them of success.
  • Course Procedure:
    This section describes the mechanics of lesson flow and gives specific advice on preparing written assignments, information on grading standards, and similar details.  The section should contain the following information. The editor will supply standard Flexible Learning information, but you must supply all information specific to your distance education course.
    Describe the function of the course structure and content, mentioning that it does the following:
    1. Directs the student through the work of the course.
    2. Supplements, expands on, interprets, and focuses study of the course subject matter.
    3. Integrates material from textbooks, audio, video, computer, or other components.
    4. Provides self-testing opportunities.
    5. Contains written assignments or other means for two-way communication.
    6. Describes the nature and format of the answers required by assignments, including the length and type of answers expected (samples will help).
  • Course Goals: Enumerate areas the student will have knowledge in upon completion of the course. 
  • Required Materials: If not given on a separate page, course components including (as applicable) the study guide, textbooks, kits, audio or videocassettes, mailing labels, and/or web references and other online materials should be listed.  Make sure all required materials are either included with or linked from the course, or easily available to all students. Please note that print based courses need to be self-contained in order to serve students who will not have access to outside materials.
  • How to use Media Components: Explain how the audio or other materials fit into the unit’s assignments.  This could be as simple as recommending that the student listen to the audio after reading the textbook assignment or as complex as describing how to use a computer program.
  • Special requirements: Describe in detail any special course requirements for which the student must make arrangements, such as a field trip, a research project, computer use, interviews, and surveys.
  • Examinations: Communicate to students how many exams the course contains, where request forms are to be found (after the last lesson to be covered in each exam) and when exams may be taken.  For each exam, describe the material covered, the types of questions, the types of answers expected (samples may be a good idea), and the exam’s length and time limits. If you plan on using Respondus for online tests, please check with DOCE to ensure that all testing requirements are met.
  • How Exams will be Evaluated: Explain what the instructor will look for when evaluating answers and identify the grading system used.  Graded exams are not returned to the students. Students who want to review their exams are required to do so in a proctored environment.
  • Course Grade: Explain how the course grade will be determined, describing the relative weights of written assignments and exams and the grading scale to be used (with numerical equivalents if appropriate).
  • The Body of the Study Guide: The instructional units or chapters are the lessons of the study guide.  Each unit contains, at a minimum, a reading, listening, and/or watching assignment; notes on content (usually titled Discussion); and a written assignment. This may vary greatly in online courses, but a comparable system of materials and similarly standardized structure from lesson to lesson should be used.
  • Components of a Lesson:
    A lesson should include the following:
    • Reading Assignment (Audio/Video): Briefly state the assignments.  Cite textbook chapter numbers rather than page numbers where possible, this allows for ease in accommodating minor textbook revisions.  For audio or video state which section is to be listened to or viewed.
    • Objectives: Students are more apt to achieve course objectives if they are clearly stated.  The function of stating objectives in Flexible Learning/Correspondence Study is to communicate what is important and expected from each student. 
      One way to formulate course objectives and their derivative unit objectives is to write the course examinations first and work back from them.
    • Discussion: This section often fills the role of a classroom lecture.  It highlights information from the reading assignment that will help the student, including supplemental text, clarification, background information, amplification, interpretation, charts, graphs, maps, figures, drawings, photographs, sample equations and solutions, whatever the subject demands. Try to anticipate students’ problems with the material, providing answers to the questions you commonly get during lectures. Online courses may also use the discussion forums for larger class discussion.
  • Suggestions for Additional Reading (Optional): A short bibliography, perhaps with annotation, is a boon to enterprising students.  You may prefer a single bibliography, placed at the back or the front of the study guide.  Students are more likely to use additional resources presented in a unit, however.
  • Glossary or List of Key Terms (Optional): A glossary or list of key terms can alert students to the importance of the vocabulary associated with the subject being studied. When applicable, glossaries are encouraged.
  • Self-Help Exercises and Key (Optional): Self-help or self-test exercises may take many forms; frequently they are questions with multiple-choice or short answers.  You can use a self-test to reinforce the factual knowledge required for discussion and synthesis in written assignments.  Provide a key for the self-tests either in the unit or another section.
    It’s a good idea to give the student some incentive to use self-tests. You could say, for example, “Questions similar to these will appear on the examination.”  Or use the heading “Exam Preparation” for all self-test exercises.
  • Written Assignments: Whatever its form, (problems, short-essay questions, a research paper, or a language exercise), this final element in the unit should begin with concise directions that make clear how much and what kind of work the student is to do, for example, how many paragraphs a short essay should contain or whether to show all work for a mathematical problem.  Generally, we recommend using a variety of question types and activities.  Allow students to choose among questions, if appropriate.
    The written assignment should promote student-instructor communication about the subject matter and reinforce learning, give students an opportunity to apply unit content, and prepare them for course examinations.  Questions should demand critical thinking.
  • Answer Keys: An answer key is required for each written assignment and exam developed for the Study Guide.  A key helps ensure that in the event of instructor absence the process of grading students’ assignments is not interrupted. We will secure these in a file in the Course Production unit.  For objective and or essay questions, please provide specific terms or phrases that the student would need to include in their work for a passing grade.  In order to process payment for services rendered we must receive answer keys.
  • Concluding Items: Key to Self-Help or Self-Test Exercises (If Applicable)
    If a study guide contains self-help or self-test exercises, a key must be included.
  • Appendices (Optional): Examples of appendices are tables, charts, reprints of articles, and detailed lists.
  • Course Bibliography (Optional): The bibliography may list additional readings or cite the sources you consulted in developing the study guide.  You may prefer to provide short unit bibliographies.
  • Exam Preparation Page: Provide an examination preparation page to serve as a review for the student.  This page immediately precedes the examination request form (this form is inserted by the editor).  Use this page to describe the types of questions to expect, time limits, topics or units to be covered, required special preparations, materials the student should bring to the exam, and to offer encouragement and suggestions for study.  Provide a preparation page for each exam.
  • Standard Forms
    Exam and Evaluation Forms
    The course editor inserts standard forms the student needs for the course. An examination Request Form for each exam follows the unit after which the student is to take the exam and contains directions and Flexible Learning exam regulations.