Organize Your Online Course
At last, we are working with content!
Finally, we are going to start putting course content in the platform that you've chosed for your course. This may be OSU's learning management system (LMS), Carmen. First, I want to say a word about learning management systems. Wherever you go to teach, there will likely be an LMS. Various LMSs will look very different on the surface, but they all have basically the same tools (like the gradebook, the discussion board, the place where content goes, etc.). Once you learn to use the tools in a pedagogically sound way, moving from one LMS to another is just a matter of learning how the tools function (which buttons to push and when, basically). So, don't be shy about teaching at another institution because they have an LMS you aren't familiar with.
Also, you may be tempted to use something new, different, and "cooler" than your institution's LMS. I won't tell you not to, but be advised that your institution's LMS is probably the best place for your online course if it is a for-credit, academic course because of the support that probably comes with it for both you and your students. If you choose some other LMS or application that isn't centrally supported at your institution, you are, in effect, taking on the burden of technical support for yourself and your students. I've already addressed this in the QM Standards unit, so I won't overwork the point here.
Why is it called Carmen when it's really Desire2Learn (or D2L)?
Carmen is actually the name used for a set of e-learning tools (which includes only the LMS, CarmenWiki, and maybe Connect at the time of this writing) used at Ohio State. The LMS has commonly become known as Carmen, and that is what most people think of now when they hear or use the word in a work context at Ohio State. Carmen is based on Desire2Learn, and it is named Carmen because of that name's historical significance at Ohio State.
Many institutions, including K-12 schools, use Desire2Learn, but only we at Ohio State refer to it as Carmen, so if you are searching for information on the internet about our LMS, use the term Desire2Learn or D2L to get the best search results. If you are searching for help with the LMS specific to Ohio State, use the term Carmen.
First, find your Carmen course
Go to https://carmen.osu.edu, log in, and click on your Instructor tab. You will find your course on your instructor tab, and it will be titled with your name-dot-number first, and then "Course Development Shell." (If you don't see this course by Week 3, send me an email.) Click on the course title to enter the course.
Many of you are already used to working in Carmen as a student, and you may have experience in the instructor role as well. If you know how to use Carmen as an instructor, you are in a very good position to move ahead to the next step. If you need some orientation to using Carmen in the instructor role, please refer to these Carmen support pages from the OSU Office of Distance Education and eLearning (ODEE). The link to these resources is also under the Resource Section in our Carmen course.
