GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING ONLINE COURSESAbigail S. Inapat Ariko

DESIGNING ONLINE COURSES

“Online course design is rooted in the same solid principles of face-to-face teaching, but requires additional considerations.”Karin Kirk, Carlton College

THE COURSE ORIENTATION

The course Instructor briefly introduces him/herself, the course and welcomes students. This is important because it helps the students get a sneak peak into the course and know their teacher upfront. All the Instructors teaching on the course should be listed here including their photographs and contact information. A brief biography about each Instructor helps. The break down of the course content can also be laid out here.

Remind the students of: the university policies regarding exams, cheating,

plagiarism, etc. Include guidelines for the student on how to use

the LMS system you are using. Include software requirements for accessing the

course. This can include bandwidth, speed, workstation specifications etc.

It should also have a course overview again briefly stating what the course is all about.

A statement of the Grading and Instructor expectations (what the minimum grade is, what mark each assessment carries, the assignment deadlines and adherence to them and the teacher’s expectations.

Help Information for the student should be readily available. This includes the use of various tools within the course, using the discussion forums etc. This helps the student not to get lost in the course and should be considered an important part of their course orientation.

The discussion forum provides the students with an opportunity to ask the teacher or the help desk any questions either regarding the course or the technology.

Inform students of office hours, whether to use the LMS message utility or other email etc. Other issues emerge as you design the course.

THE CORE COURSE DESIGN (LAY OUT AND WAYS OF DELIVERING COURSE CONTENT)

Give course objectives upfront Structure subject in a simple, clear and

consistent manner Use colors, fonts, alignments,

presentation methods, terms, spelling and grammar consistently and effectively in each module of the course

State instructions simply and make paragraphs brief

CORE COURSE DESIGN (CONT’D)

Use motivating strategies to introduce the learner to every module

Effectively structure assessments to achieve course objectives and enforce understanding of subject matter (projects, seminars etc)

Every module should have instructions for students

Vary the manner of subject matter delivery e.g. PPS, PDFs, Word, Web etc

CONTENT ENHANCEMENT (ADDITION OF GRAPHICS AND OTHER COMPONENTS)

diagrams, tables, photographs, voice over text or photograph and other illustrations to clarify information presented

interactive activities (created using flash or other software)

Be considerate of the users’ ability to access enhancements without disruption either because of Internet speed or other impediment.

COMMUNICATIONSopportunity for interaction among

the learners or between them and their teacher

Email, social media, skype, chat etc

Teacher clarifies which one the students will use

FEEDBACK

This enables the teacher to assess whether the course objectives were met and what the students liked or disliked about the content, structure, mode of delivery etc of the course.

 This should guide how the teacher

packages the course for the next class.

Theme / Characteristic Online Traditional

collaboration • Promoted by easy online interaction, teamwork and networking are valued

• Classroom is a self-contained unit, basis of individualism and competition.

connectivity and unboundedness/ expanded education access

• Fast and unobtrusive contact through email and conferencing – interaction with peers and experts

• Not place and time dependent.

• Larger explicit and implicit barriers between peers and experts.

• Bounded geographically into “one size fits all” programme.

student-centeredness • Instructors define goals, then largely facilitate or manage.

• Students largely determine direction through participation.

• More structure provided by instructor,

• Less responsibility for learners.

community • Virtual communities possible • Community defined by physical location

exploration • Informal: games• Formal: problem based learning • Facilitated by access to resources and

expertise

• Harder to facilitate in the closed environment

shared knowledge • Via the web – huge resource • Via books, journals – smaller resource:

• Limited by what is at hand locally.

multi-sensory experience • Interactive media-rich offerings • More static media available

authenticity • Learning activities can be realistic • Accusation of lack of realism