Instructional Design & Development

Faculty Spotlight: Rick Hughes

A recent article by Margaret Brooks in the Chronicle of Higher Education suggests that the growth of online programs is inevitable and excellent. A primary reason for this is that learning online affords students ways to engage that may not be present in face-to-face classes.

Under the guidance of Rick Hughes, the Media Arts department at The University of Montana has moved a number of its studio classes online. One key benefit of this transition has been the improved effectiveness of the peer critique of coursework. As Hughes puts it, “One of the problems in studio classes and Art classes, be they Music or Visual Arts, is the critique. You go into a room and you’ve got 15 students in there. You put somebody's work up on the board, and turn to the class and go ‘What do you think?’ You are lucky if four or five hands go up.

Often this is the first time students have seen the work because they've been busy working on their own stuff. They don't have a basis of comparison, so they are reacting off the top of their head to what they are seeing in front of them. What happens in the online course is that students send their work to me, and then I upload their work to a gallery on Blackboard. The next day the students all have access to that gallery. They then have a week to go online at their convenience, look at the work for as long as they want, and select three to critique. What's good about that is that they take their time, and they are very honest because they're critiquing when they are in the moment…the expansiveness of the process of critiquing has a much more profound effect on the student”.

Pivotal to this improvement is that the student is placed at the center of the learning experience. There is a great deal more opportunity for students to interact when the instructor takes on the role of facilitator. As Hughes points out, the result is that “horizontal conversation, conversation between the students, has picked up dramatically.” His comments are continued here (1:34).

In Hughes’ opinion, another ‘pleasant surprise’ in the transition to online programs has been the realization that instructors also benefit from developing online programs. As there is often little real-time interaction in online courses, “You have to think and plan everything much more effectively”. Outcomes, assessments, criteria for evaluation as well as activities and content must be designed with learning effectiveness and navigability in mind. As Hughes puts it, this process has ‘actually made me a much better teacher because I have to go back and reassess everything I do and say and upload to make sure it has the most impact.” Listen here (0:52) for the full commentary.