Conquering the Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design (Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning) [Paperback]

Robin M. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0787994421 | ISBN-13: 978-0787994426 | Edition: 1

As the sixth volume of the Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning series, Conquering the Content provides a highly-practical blue-print for course development and content presentation for web-based courses. While providing guidance for incorporating learning theory into online courses, this book primarily furnishes online instructors with the practical templates, learning guides, and sample files to construct and manage their course content.

Unlike other books about online instruction that cover theories of teaching and learning, instructional design, or even graphic design this book gives the "how to" of preparing an online course by focusing on content. The much needed step-by-step guidance in this book will result in fully formed courses where high-quality content is the central feature.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Conquering the Content

Conquering the Content is a practical resource for faculty who tackle overwhelming amounts of course content that must be tailored for Web-based learning. This important guide offers step-by-step instructions for creating online learning experiences that are manageable, effective, and of the highest quality.

Written by Robin M. Smith, an expert on online learning, Conquering the Content provides guidance for incorporating learning theory into practical online courses. Designed for online instructors at all levels of experience, the book is filled with the templates, learning guides, and sample files that can be easily applied to construct and manage course content.

Comprehensive in scope, Conquering the Content helps instructors

• Identify learning outcomes

• Create an easily updateable course

• Address assessment issues and challenges

• Develop a well-designed learning guide

• Design courses that are "information transfer"-based

• Avoid common pitfalls

• Focus on issues of navigation

The ideas and methods contained in this resource have been successfully applied in a wide variety of disciplines from institutions across the United States.

Conquering the Content is the fifth book in the Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning series, which offers concrete and practical resources to help higher education practitioners meet the challenges of the online learning environment.

About the Author

Robin M. Smith is coordinator of Web-Based Learning at the Office of Educational Development, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Formerly, Dr. Smith developed and directed the Center For Web-Based Learning at Southern Arkansas University Tech and was the first Certified WebCT Trainer in the South Central United States.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787994421
• ISBN-13: 978-0787994426
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reference to keep as close as possible!, July 5, 2009

By 

Vicky Gilpin "Lifelong Learner and Scholar" (Decatur, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conquering the Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design (Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning) (Paperback)

I've found many of the Jossey-Bass books to be of high quality. Robin Smith's book does not disappoint. This slim volume is packed with excellent information that immediately gets to the "nuts and bolts" of creating an online course or developing an online course from a face-to-face course.

Many people think that crafting an online course is "easy"---you just put the same stuff on the 'net that you use in your classes, right? Um...no.

Smith does a great job of guiding the reader through the steps of developing a course that will be engaging and effective. She is careful to note various approaches to the process.

One of the most helpful aspects, I found, was the reader-friendly set up. Something that may benefit those who think they can just "throw something on the web" and call it online learning is the emphasis on Time. Conquering the Content does an excellent job of providing timelines and realistically approaching the amount of time each step may take.

I teach face-to-face, I've taught hybrid courses, and I have taken years of courses online. I'm currently in a program toward a Master Online Teacher Certificate, and Smith's book is in my "go-to" bag for every course I've taken. Her concise prose is straight-to-the-point and beneficial.

I highly recommend this book for educators, future educators, administrators, and stakeholders pondering implementing online learning; this book demonstrates the realities of online course development: my copy is highlighted and dog-eared---it does not just sit on a shelf and get dusty.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, January 1, 2010

By 

Lydia Mong (Clarksburg, WV United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Conquering the Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design (Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning) (Paperback)

This book is a must for anyone teaching in an online environment. If you're just starting the transition from classroom to online, Robin M. Smith has it all there for you. Follow her exercises and recommendations and you can't go wrong. If you have been teaching online for a while, I guarantee you'll learn some new and very productive tricks. Every online instructor should read this book, and then keep it on the desk for easy reference.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clearly organized & Very helpful, December 27, 2008

By 

J. M. Price "Traveling Matt" (Olathe, KS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conquering the Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design (Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning) (Paperback)

Robin Smith presents helpful advice for instructors--neophytes and experienced--in organizing their course content for online delivery. Her methods are not limited to online instructors. Smith focuses on ideas like "chunk-ability" and gives several sample formats based on her ideas in the appendices that will help professors only teaching face-to-face.

If your desk looks as cluttered as mine, Smith's book will give you sound advice to make course content organization (or re-organization) something to look forward to rather than to avoid.