Week 4: Online Course Design

Q: What did you learn about the design of online courses this week that will affect how you think about this form of instruction in the future?

A: Good online course design must focus on essentials. These include:

-- varying levels of interactivity

-- age appropriateness

-- thoughtful organization of material

-- orderly instructions

-- multimedia

-- offline and online activities blended when appropriate

-- optional activities for further enrichment

-- relevance to real-world goals

One class I saw that I rated as having poor design has stayed with me. It was a middle school keyboarding course, now featured online, but seeming like it was taken from a mid-20th century textbook geared toward secretaries preparing for careers in typing pools. The course objectives made incorrect assumptions about the learning goals for digital natives, 21st-century learners (imagine 12-14 year olds learning how to format business letters!). The outline of the materials seemed uninspired.

It is not enough for an online course to be interactive and multimedia. The content has to be relevant and interesting. It is the course designers' responsibilities not just to turn offline courses into online versions. There needs to be creation of the online course with knowledge of the learner group and with attention to what skills should be developed so learners can move forward and build on what they've learned.

Technology alone doesn't create a great online course. High-quality content must be primary. The design of the course is determined by the content and objectives.