When creating any course, there are certain guidelines most of us follow to make the course effective. An online course is no different, and will actually require perhaps more thought than a traditional course. One reason for this is the media and technology that will be used throughout the course can change the effectiveness completely.
First, you will need to look at the course objectives. You need to know who your audience will be so you can cater the learning material to them. As you realize if you course is just for instruction, or if it something the learners will need to be able to pass on to others, you can decide how to best set up the outline of the course.
Media and technology are things that I feel are incredibly important with learning. They can make the course a lot more effective and make the content much easier to learn by the audience. Providing interactive media in an online course is always something helpful for the learners as well as the Instructional Designer to see what knowledge has actually been gained.
As the course is created, be sure to look back at everything and make sure that your course goals are attainable. The learners need to be able to successfully map through the entire course and use the information in their lives. If they can better relate to the material through whatever methods are provided in the course, it will be a lot more memorable for them.
Reflecting and evaluating whether course goals will be reached by the end of the design is a great consideration. Often, after the design process is over, the main goal might have been missed or strayed away from if you are not careful. I think critiquing and evaluating the design prior to launching is key to insuring its success in reaching the main objective/goal.
ReplyDeleteYou have clearly identified that the key to effective design is to continuously check to ensure that all components support your outcomes and objectives. Inexperienced designers tend to get so involved in a specific media piece or interaction that they forget to check that all components are aligned. In the face-to-face classroom, the instructor is able to identify if an element is not in alignment and can easily correct it. However, in an online course, the alignment relies on the instructional designer. The instructor may not catch the lack of support for a concept until after the students have gone through the material.
ReplyDelete