Your Day 1 Challenge includes a short reading (below) and completing an assessment inventory of the design elements in your course. Your results will help you determine where your design is already solid and where it could use some adjusting.

The concept of course design encompasses a great many aspects of pedagogy and user experience, which is much broader than our focus in the 5-Day Challenge. The synopsis below lays a foundation for course design in general.

Good Course Design Makes a Difference

Many instructors are surprised to learn that the quality of course design and organization can impact student success as much, or more than a student's ability to learn and apply course concepts. (If you've ever taken a poorly designed course, you'll know what we mean. 😀) For example, searching for something amidst misleadingly labeled pages or documents (e.g., important tech help "hidden" on a page called Resources or mentioning the Course Q&A as a link in the Syllabus but nowhere else) can cause undue stress and frustration. Not a conducive frame of mind for learning.

Teaching online is a different experience than teaching in a face-to-face setting. In fact, the issue of "course design" often isn't even much of a consideration for face-to-face classes, yet makes a world of difference when teaching online. A well-designed online course will be comprehensive (without being bloated), transparent, and easy to navigate.

What Is Good Course Design?

The features of effective online course design include:

clear and measurable learning objectives,
alignment between course objectives, content, and assessments,
a consistent module structure,
a variety of assignments and learning activities,
both formative and summative assessments,
and a good balance between theory and application.

Learners can be overwhelmed by the amount of information (and the amount of technology) in the online learning environment which can impede their ability to process and absorb the information—and even cause them to quit the course altogether. Below are three proven strategies for building a successful course.

Involve the Learner

A common perception is that online courses require students to simply read articles or view videos, and then regurgitate the information in a quiz or discussion post. But students don't learn simply by accessing information; learners construct their ideas and understandings of concepts through interactions with instructors, other students, and with learning materials.

There is plenty of research to indicate that the social/emotional aspect of learning can't be discounted—a sense of connection and belonging support online student success (Palinscar, 1998; Durlak et al., 2011; Weissberg, Durlak, Domitrovich, & Gullotta, 2016, to name a few). Providing ways for students to connect with you and interact with their classmates can translate virtual experiences into tangible connections for online students.

Creating opportunities to involve students in the learning process allows them to become aware of how they learn and why certain skills benefit them. As a result, students tend to be more motivated and more likely to apply those skills when working independently.

Develop a Consistent Structure

Often, instructors have a lot of information that they feel needs to be crammed into their online course, which can create a disinviting learning environment. In order to create an intentionally inviting online environment, courses should have a clear and consistent structure based on the content necessary to meet course learning objectives and that offers intuitive navigation.

An effective way to develop your content modules is by planning backward. Look at your course learning objectives and chunk them into themes or units, which become your learning modules. Next, determine what assessments will help you measure the learning for each theme/unit. Then provide tasks, assignments, supplemental resources, and tools to enhance content mastery. Put it all together and your modules are done! This ensures your content is sufficient to meet the learning objectives without spilling over into overwhelm for students. If you have "nice to know" content that isn't crucial to the learning objectives, consider including it on a module summary page as clearly identified optional learning supports.

It's helpful for students when the location and format of reading materials, assignments, tasks, collaborative opportunities, etc. are consistent across modules.

Reflect and Revise

Effective instructors always seem to be tweaking their courses. But tweaking alone won't necessarily improve students' learning experience. If we learned nothing else during the pandemic, it was that instructors must develop skills in changing one’s approach to meet students’ needs and flexibility in responding to shifting circumstances.

Getting feedback on your course will help you improve the design, content, instructional and assessment measures, and even objectives and outcomes of your course. It's also helpful to engage in self-reflection throughout the course so you can develop a sense of changes that would be most effective. The reflection/revision process might include student feedback (or from colleagues or an instructional designer), keeping a design journal of things that come up during a semester, and/ or using a formal course design rubric.

Summary

Regardless of instructor proficiency, content matter, or student ability, the design of an online course is one of the most powerful factors impacting successful online learning outcomes.

Good design is not content-specific. It's best to begin and end the design process with the student experience in mind; thoughtfully collated learning materials will culminate in meaningful assessments that demonstrate student achievement to both instructor and student, with everything wrapped in a consistent structure and flow to facilitate learning.

Your Challenge

Step 1

Using the Quick Course Design Inventory, take a look at your course with fresh eyes. Determine which items in the inventory you've already met successfully and which could use a little attention.

NOTE: It's helpful to locate and jot down specific examples of how an item is being demonstrated in your course (rather than just think, "Oh, yeah. I do that.").

Step 2

Make a list of the "not quite there yet" items from your inventory, arranged in your order of preference for completion. (Perhaps you'd like to take care of the "low-hanging fruit" right away or maybe you prefer to tackle the "big stuff" first.) Each day, make whatever adjustments are needed to complete one item until your list is done.

Our Course Design Resources shell has many ideas and examples that can help!

References

“4 Expert Strategies for Designing an Online Course | Inside Higher Ed.” 4 Expert Strategies for Designing an Online Course, www.insidehighered.com, https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/advice/2017/03/15/4-expert-strategies-designing-online-course. Accessed 20 July 2022.

“Designing An Online Course.” The Center for Teaching and Learning, ctl.mesacc.edu, 9 Feb. 2011, https://ctl.mesacc.edu/teaching/designing-an-online-course/.

Dumulescu, Daniela, et al. “Frontiers | Learning Design for Future Higher Education – Insights From the Time of COVID-19.” Frontiers, www.frontiersin.org, 1 Jan. 2001, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647948/full.

Focus, Faculty. “A Course Design Process That Works for You | Faculty Focus.” Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, www.facultyfocus.com, 23 Feb. 2021, https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/course-design-ideas/a-course-design-process-that-works-for-you/.