Behind the screen: Collaborative development of an online theater course

Abstract

This case study outlines the development and adaptation of a skill-based theater course offered in the online mode during the academic year 21-22 to undergraduate students pursuing Bachelors in foreign languages at Goa University, India. The study highlights the presence of two distinct phases in collaborative course design. These phases when carried out remotely were characterized by synchronous and asynchronous collaboration techniques that the instructors used while designing and developing the course. Similarly, collaboration was employed by the students while brainstorming, practicing, and rehearsing for the final class performance. It was observed that the processes followed by the course designers were organic but similar to Design-Thinking cycles and instructional design models. The results of the case study bring to the fore the use of multilingualism in fostering the inclusion of students, lowering the attrition rate and increasing student participation in the course.