The file contains a worksheet for planning your own lecture series, sample lecture schedules & an action plan for developing the series. Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

1. Improving Online Student Engagement through Synchronous Learning Sessions Using a College-wide Lecture Series Approach
Session Worksheet – Design your own lecture series
Course Name __________________________________________________________________
Reason for selection :
What type of content can you deliver during a live virtual class session?
NOTE: anything you can do on-campus, you can do online…it just takes a bit more creativity and time to prepare 
CURRENT STATUS GOALS
Success Rate/Pass Rate
Grade distribution/Average score
Retention
Course Lead/Project Manager:
Rasmussen College 1

2. Rasmussen College Medical Terminology Lecture Series – Winter 2012
Archived presentations & materials available at http://www.screencast.com/t/4dn12vQiz
RSS Feed http://www.screencast.com/users/HeatherZink/folders/M120+Review+Session+Archives+-+Winter+2012/rss
Sample Lecture Schedules
18 sessions
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Morning Morning Morning Morning
10, 11, noon 9, 10, or 11 8, 9, or 10 7, 8, or 9
Afternoon Mid-day Afternoon Mid-day Mid-day
2, 3, or 4 11, 12, or 1 12, 1, or 2 11, 12, or 1 11, 12, or 1
Late Afternoon Afternoon
2, 3, or 4 2, 3, or 4
Evening Evening Evening 2 Evening 2 Evening
6, 7, 8, or 9 7, 8, or 9 5, 6, or 7 6, 7, 8, or 9 6, 7, 8, 9
2 2 2 3 3 3 2
24 sessions
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Morning Morning Morning Morning
10, 11, noon 9, 10, or 11 8, 9, or 10 7, 8, or 9
Afternoon Mid-day Afternoon Afternoon Mid-day Mid-day
2, 3, or 4 11, 12, or 1 12, 1, or 2 12, 1, or 2 11, 12, or 1 11, 12, or 1
Late Afternoon Late Afternoon 2 Afternoon
3, 4, or 5 3, 4, or 5 2, 3, or 4
2 Evening 2 Evening 2 Evening 2 Evening 2 Evening
6, 7, 8, or 9 7, 8, or 9 5, 6, or 7 6, 7, 8, or 9 6, 7, 8, 9
3 3 3 4 5 4 2
Rasmussen College 2

3. Live Lecture Project Plan
Status Update for __________
Complete In progress Not started New line since last update
Pilot Projects for Live Lectures
Action Item Owner(s) Due Date Status Update
Identify course lead to manage the synchronous session project and lead Academic
Week 2
Live Lecturers. Management
Select qualified Live Lecturers with experience delivering synchronous
sessions.
Consider availability for delivering sessions throughout the week
– must have a team to offer sessions morning, afternoon, Online Deans &
Week 3-4
evening, and weekend. Course Lead
3 lecturers to deliver 6 1-hour sessions per week (total of 18
sessions, separate contract received serving as course prep.
Course lead will deliver 1-4 lectures based on needs of the group.
Sections 1-10 of the course will be designated for the pilot live lecture
requirement. Work with the Deans to determine which faculty should be Deans, Course Lead Week 4
teaching these sections.
Obtain a synchronous meeting room space.
Adobe Connect
Course Lead Week 5
Wimba Classroom
BB Collaborate
Obtain a location to house materials to be shared with the Live Lecture
Course Lead Week 5/6
Team and Course Faculty
Meet with Live Lecturer team to discuss procedures for the term.
Discuss availability for session delivery. Course Lead Week 6
Submit needs for headsets & webcams.
Develop a weekly schedule of sessions – included morning, afternoon,
evening and weekend time slots.Started required sessions in Week 2 of Course Lead, Live
Week 6/7
the quarter (allow the first week for an ‘orientation’ or ‘open house’ Lecturers
session to introduce the live lecture process to the students.
Establish an attendance procedure for the sessions.
Course Polling – students enter attendance code obtained from
the session into a poll in their individual course Course Lead, Live
Week 6/7
Assign specific homework exercise during the session to be Lecturers
submitting to course for grading.
Approximately 5% of grade is received as a result of attendance.
Rasmussen College 3

4. Review course content in each module to develop presentation materials
for each week. This can be divided up amongst live lecturers.
Lesson plan should accompany each lecture – to include SMART
objectives, plan for lecture and assessment techniques, as well as
any answer keys/presentation notes for live lecturers.
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Attainable. Course Lead, Live Starting Week
Required elements for Live Lecture: 1 ice breaker, 5 course Lecturers 8, on-going
polls/quick quizzes, 1 video/animation, interaction with student
every 5 minutes, webcam use & picture on the screen.
Consider having at least the first 3 week’s material developed
before the start of the term.
Develop 1-2 lectures per week until all sessions are created.
Provide training for Live Lecturers group on the synchronous tool selected
to ensure knowledge of all functions of the software. Course Lead &
Week 9/10
Track training through documentation, should contain areas for Project Manager
improvement and dates of follow-up evaluation.
Establish plan for communicating expectations to students in the course.
Add Syllabus language.
Create consistent announcements across all sections.
Post schedule/information sheet with all communication and
include it in the General Course Questions forum. Course Lead, Live
Week 9
Include information in Welcome announcements. Lecturers
Add a standard block of information to a widget onthe course
homepage. Include general information about the requirement,
link to schedule document, and video on how to access
synchronous meeting room.
Submit schedule of live lectures to Project Manager for communication
Course Lead Week 10
across the academic team and with technical support.
New quarter begins
Hold course Open Houses/Introductory Webinars for pilot sections to
Week 1 of Pilot
introduce students to the software, establish expectations for attendance, Live Lecturers
Quarter
and discuss goals and content to be delivered during the sessions.
Maintain ongoing statistics of attendance and student performance for
each week.
Live Lecturers email attendance reports following sessions.
Weekly, by
Track numbers in Excel to report to Academic Mgt. Course Lead, Live Sample Excel sheets included with materials.
Mondays at
Include session attendance data and individual section data in Lecturers Submit by email to Project Manager.
6pm
report.
Include attendance, course average and pass rates in report per
section.
Meet with Academic Mgt to discuss recommendations for project as
Course Lead Week 4
synchronous sessions scale to include all course sections.
Rasmussen College 4

5. Meet with all faculty teaching the course to discuss pilot results. Week 5/6 of
Course Lead
Discuss changes to course structure for upcoming term. Pilot Quarter
Meet with live lecturers individually to evaluate presentation styles,
provide recommendations based on training documents.
Serves as professional development and to ensure all students are
being engaged in the sessions.
Course Lead, Faculty
Live lecturers to submit archive of their session for evaluation. Week 4/5
Manager
Individual meeting to occur to discuss the session and provide
feedback on performance.
Work with Faculty Managers to determine how best to
communicate feedback.
Create SurveyMonkey for pilot group of sections asking about the session Course Lead& Project
Week 5/6
content, schedule, delivery, etc. Manager
Course Lead, School
Meet with School Director to discuss current course design and
Director,
suggestions for improvements based on student performance and faculty Week 5/6
Development Team
recommendations.
Representative
Synchronous Sessions Across All Course Sections.
Establish faculty needs for delivering sessions. Suggested guildelines:
Pilot Phase: 3 live lecturers for 18 sessions, 15 or less sections of a
course
Full Course Rollout: 4 live lecturers for 24 sessions, 16-40 sections Course Lead &
Week 4
of a course Faculty Mgt Team
Full Course Rollout: 5 live lecturers for 30 sessions, greater than
40 sections of a course
Identify additional qualified faculty to participate as live lecturers. Online Deans Week 4
Schedule live lecturers for teaching up to 2 sections of the course, must
Online Deans Week 5
reserve 1 course prep for delivering live lectures.
Meet with new/veteran live lecturers to discuss the goals of the review
sessions and discuss procedures for upcoming quarter.
Course Lead &Live
Establish schedule of weekly review sessions – faculty to deliver 6 Week 6
Lecturers
per week, include a weekend rotation
Send webcams/headset needs
Enroll new live lecturers in synchronous meeting space. Course Lead Week 7
Provide training for live lecturer group on the synchronous tool selected to
Course Lead Week 9/10
ensure knowledge of all functions of the software.
Enroll course lead in all course sections of the course to be able to enter
CMS Administration Week 10
and record attendance during the session.
Rasmussen College 5

6. Meet with all faculty teaching course to provide updates on synchronous
session project. Share resources to add to courses (announcements,
syllabus alterations, Open House template) to assist in explaining the
review sessions.
Information shared for Syllabus language, consistent
announcements across all sections, post schedule/information
sheet with all communication and include it in the General Course
Questions forum, include information in Welcome
announcements.
Add a standard block of information to a widget on the course Course Lead Week 10/11
homepage. Include general information about the requirement,
link to schedule document, and video on how to access
synchronous meeting room. Request that faculty hold an Open
House/Introductory Webinar in Week 1 to explain the new course
setup.
Provide faculty with short video explaining the required
synchronous sessions to students, include clips of past sessions.
Suggest that faculty attend one session per week and invite
students to that session specifically.
Submit schedule of live lectures to Project Manager for communication
Course Lead Week 10
across the academic team and with technical support.
New quarter begins
All faculty hold course Open House/Introductory Webinar to explain the All Faculty teaching
Week 1
course setup. the course
Weekly Sessions begin Live Lecturers Week 2
Maintain ongoing statistics of attendance and student performance for
each week.
Faculty presenters email attendance reports following sessions.
Weekly, by
Track numbers in Excel to report to Academic Mgt. Sample Excel sheets included with materials.
Course Lead Monday at
Include session attendance data and individual section data in Submit to Project Manager.
6pm.
report.
Include attendance, course average and pass rates in report per
section.
Rasmussen College 6