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Course designers at work: a critical case study of optimization in online course design.

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Title: Course designers at work: a critical case study of optimization in online course design.
Authors: McDonald, Jason K. (AUTHOR)
Source: Educational Technology Research & Development. Oct2025, Vol. 73 Issue 5, p3315-3339. 25p.
Subjects: Online education, Higher education, Educational outcomes, Mathematical optimization, Ethnology research, Designers, Industrial efficiency, Educational resources
Abstract: In this paper, I report a critical case study of optimization in online course design within the context of higher education. Through ethnographic work conducted at a university in the United States, I studied an office of online course design, investigating how the office (comprising course designers, administrators, other staff, and the faculty they worked with) enacted optimization as a practical concern. The analysis revealed that optimization was not only the result of interactions between various actors, but also the influence of multiple artifacts that mediated the transformation of educational ideas into concrete learning resources, presumed to be calibrated for a specific purpose. However, since optimization was not a singular construct, course designers regularly found that optimizing along one dimension (perhaps to comply with a policy) caused damage in another (such as providing an engaging learning experience). Furthermore, the practices of course design tended to deemphasize matters purely associated with the quality of learning, while trending towards forms of optimization related to organizational efficiency: streamlining, standardization, reliance on quantified measurements, and developing mechanisms of interchangeability. I conclude by discussing how these findings complicate our understanding of course optimization as well as of course design itself, and what implications this understanding holds for the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Educational Technology Research & Development is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: In this paper, I report a critical case study of optimization in online course design within the context of higher education. Through ethnographic work conducted at a university in the United States, I studied an office of online course design, investigating how the office (comprising course designers, administrators, other staff, and the faculty they worked with) enacted optimization as a practical concern. The analysis revealed that optimization was not only the result of interactions between various actors, but also the influence of multiple artifacts that mediated the transformation of educational ideas into concrete learning resources, presumed to be calibrated for a specific purpose. However, since optimization was not a singular construct, course designers regularly found that optimizing along one dimension (perhaps to comply with a policy) caused damage in another (such as providing an engaging learning experience). Furthermore, the practices of course design tended to deemphasize matters purely associated with the quality of learning, while trending towards forms of optimization related to organizational efficiency: streamlining, standardization, reliance on quantified measurements, and developing mechanisms of interchangeability. I conclude by discussing how these findings complicate our understanding of course optimization as well as of course design itself, and what implications this understanding holds for the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Educational Technology Research & Development is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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