Toiere is a course for staff on best practice in online course design, and how to create a course that is accessible and engaging, and which actively supports and enables student success. First developed in 2020 for Blackboard this is Toiere 2.0, updated for Nuku.

The name Toiere refers to the waiata (song) paddlers in a waka sing to keep in time and maintain motivation as they move forward together. This name was suggested by Dr Meegan Hall and is a metaphor that perfectly fits the objective of this course.

The idea is that we are all together in this waka, advancing our learning about online delivery of courses. Our goal with enhancing our courses' online component (through the best practice showcased in Toiere) is to ensure they can be delivered flexibly when required, and that there is a consistency of both staff and student experience across courses.

Within this waka, we have paddlers who are more comfortable with this learning environment and this mode of delivery than others, and this is another reason why the waka metaphor is so apt. Every person contributes to the overall forward movement of the waka and paddlers support each other in this process. Toiere is a key element of this support.

This course is an example of a fully online course that has been designed as a shared resource for staff to learn more about our digital learning environment. It is meant to be an example of what your course could look like. Your course design is your choice and will be influenced by many factors. Think of it as a resource to integrate best practice into the online component of your teaching, explore the options you have within our learning environment, and include different tools and features into your course.

This course has been designed for teachers and other staff directly supporting courses in Nuku, but all interested staff are welcome to enrol. To enrol in the course, select 'enrol', which will add a card to your dashboard for easy future reference. Enrol in Toiere.

Toiere - A guide to course learning design