Course Design

Clearly written goals and objectives serve several important functions in an online course. They provide students a “successful pathway to learning,” indicate to the instructor teaching points to hit when teaching the course, and suggest appropriate teaching and assessment methods, says Sandra Bennett, instructional designer

A person will attempt to complete a task in an unfamiliar environment until frustration hits a critical level, according to user experience research. Frustrated online learners may abandon assignments or drop courses. This is why it’s important to understand how the student experiences the course.

When Annie Hough-Everage, professor of education at Brandman University, surveyed her graduate-level online students about what factors helped and hindered their learning in the online classroom, she was surprised by their teacher-centered rather than learner-centered orientation. These were adult, graduate-level students who were themselves teachers

When designing an online course, it’s important to consider how to create learning experiences that will spark learners’ intrinsic motivation. While different learners may be motivated by different factors, there are several models that can provide useful guidance when you’re designing motivating learning experiences. Two

Faculty members who are new to teaching online often don’t know the important role that an instructional designer plays in helping create effective learning experiences. Creating an online course entails more than simply posting materials online. For the faculty member, it requires an understanding of

Managing instructor presence—students’ perceptions of how instructors interact with them and guide their learning during a course—is the key to overcoming frustration. It’s not unusual for instructors and students to have widely different perceptions of instructor presence during the same course.

With today’s technologically savvy student, the online learning environment should be an effective platform for course delivery. And it is—for some. But attrition rates for online courses remain high. How is it possible to have a nation of higher-education students who understand how to operate

Successfully transferring a face-to-face course to the online learning environment requires careful preparations that take into account differences between these two modalities.“If you simply take your face-to-face class and put it online and teach it electronically, you will fail miserably,” says Paul S. Caron, director

Scenario-based learning can be an effective way for students to apply what they have learned to realistic situations. There are many different ways to design scenarios for online delivery, from text-based case studies to interactive, immersive simulations. Regardless of the resources that you have available,