The First Things to Consider in Online Course Design
Культурологія та соціальні комунікації: інноваційні стратегії розвитку : матеріали міжнародної наукової конференції (23–24 листопада 2017 р.) / Харківська державна академія культури ; відп. за вип. Н. М. Кушнаренко. Харків : ХДАК, 2017. 404 с. · Секція «Інформаційно-комунікаційні технології глобального соціокультурного простору» · 2017
Olha Oliinyk writes about where a teacher building their first online course should start — and the answer is: not from a blank page. Universities abroad have developed a ready course template: the basic structure and navigation, introductory modules, and suggestions for content. You take it as your foundation and customise it from there, which noticeably cuts development time. No two courses are alike, but six elements belong in every one of them: a detailed syllabus, course content, opportunities for interaction, opportunities for feedback, assessment, and accessibility.
The syllabus gets its own treatment: it is not a schedule of events but an academic contract between instructor and student, defining how the course objectives can be met; it is handed out at the start, and changing it afterwards is discouraged. For an online course it is no different from a face-to-face one, and it runs to 15 items — from the course description and required texts to attendance, grading, and academic honesty policies. The second priority is learning outcomes: their verbs must be measurable (discover, appreciate, and know are not), and the outcomes, the assessment, and the learning material must all align and match the level expected of the student. The reference point here is the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Культурологія та соціальні комунікації: інноваційні стратегії розвитку : матеріали міжнародної наукової конференції (23–24 листопада 2017 р.) / Харківська державна академія культури ; відп. за вип. Н. М. Кушнаренко. Харків : ХДАК, 2017. 404 с. · Секція «Інформаційно-комунікаційні технології глобального соціокультурного простору» · pp. 225–227 · 2017
Extensive research and best practices in distance education offer a course template for developing a quality online course in many universities abroad. The aim of this paper is to identify the primary thing to be taken into consideration while designing an online course by the faculty who are new to teaching online or who wish to explore new technologies to enhance an existing online course.
The template under consideration is recommended for usage as the foundation upon which to build a new course, customizing it as necessary. The template provides the basic course structure and navigation, introductory information modules, and suggestions for content to enhance the course site. Using the template also speeds up development time for your online course.
While no two courses are the same, there are important elements that should be a part of every online course:
A syllabus represents a formal academic agreement between an instructor and students. Rather than a schedule of events, a syllabus serves as an academic contract defining how students can successfully meet the objectives of the course. All instructors are required to provide their students a detailed syllabus at the start of each quarter in every class. Changes to a syllabus after the course has begun are not recommended and may only be made in the case of unusual and extenuating circumstances.
The elements of a syllabus for an online course are no different than the elements of a syllabus for a face-to-face course. The template identifies the following elements to be included in a syllabus:
One of the first phases of course design following audience identification is the creation of course learning outcomes (LOs) for use in the syllabus, (broader goals of the course) and learning objectives (specific performance measures of each module). In e-learning, instructional designers use these measureable and observable descriptors to assess the structure and completion of each learning module. When creating the LOs, you must select the best verb use to describe what the student must be able to accomplish to achieve success. Terms such as discover, appreciate, comprehend, and know are extremely difficult, if not impossible to measure or observe, and should be avoided. As you develop each learning objective, the verbs selected must also match your means of assessment. More importantly, the content (learning material, engagements, activities, and communications) provided must provide the student the means to accomplish the task at that level.
In short, after you design your learning objectives, you must build your assessments with those objectives in mind. Then, you must ensure you provide the appropriate learning materials to achieve student success at the level desired and matching the assessment.
Finally, the verbs used in the LOs should match the level of learning demanded by the task. Are students tasked to simply remember or understand, or are they going to be required to apply, analyze, evaluate or create something based on your instruction? Consider using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy when building your LOs, assessments, and content and develop strong relationships between them to promote student success.
Co-founder of the school, teacher
31years of teaching experience
PhD, holder of the top global certificates CELTA and TESOL, graduate of prestigious US programmes (Universities of Arizona, Oregon, George Mason), a certified trainer of the US Embassy and a speaker at the international TESOL and IATEFL conferences.