I agree that the look and feel of the course or online platform is important for student engagement. It should be easy for students to find what they need in the course like the syllabus, assignments, discussions, etc. If it isn't, students can be too quick to give up on it or fall behind in the course because it dropped in their list of priorities.
Yes, the look and feel can attract or detract potential users from joining or enjoying an online course program. Of course, a more important element in the course is its functionality. If a course does not function or help students to learn, it does not matter how good it looks. You may have a great looking car, but if it does not have a functioning engine, it is not useful; an online course interface is similar. If an online course looks good, it may build excitement, but it really needs to be functional first and foremost.
Yes, the look and feel can attract or detract potential users from joining or enjoying an online course program. Of course, a more important element in the course is its functionality. If a course does not function or help students to learn, it does not matter how good it looks. You may have a great looking car, but if it does not have a functioning engine, it is not useful; an online course interface is similar. If an online course looks good, it may build excitement, but it really needs to be functional first and foremost.
I agree and for several reasons:
We have to create a clear starting point for our course. You might, for instance, create a heading at the top of your course menu and put key course start-up information in that section. This can include a welcome message, technology requirements for the course along with key dates, instructions on reviewing the syllabus, and books to order.
Create an "introduce yourself" discussion board, blog or wiki due in the first few days of the course. This lets you see who has made it to your course. It also begins a process of student communication that can continue throughout the course.
We should rganize the course menu with meaningful names and clear, logical order for all menu items. In an online course, the menu is very often designed by week. So all materials for Week 1 go there, Week 2, Week 3, etc. You delete or change any of the default menu items in Blackboard and give them more descriptive and meaningful names by which to students. Create Dividers or Sub headers to segment the menu, if appropriate.
Have all links open in a new page. Whether it's a link to the web or a document, choose the option to have that item open in a new window. This will help keep the user present in the existing Blackboard while still accessing the new resource. This is real help when students are trying to refer to multiple resources and access assignments and activities because they can juggle and re-arrange windows on the desk top as they see fit.
Name course parts and sections consistently throughout the course.
Provide a visual calendar of course work and assignments.
Provide clear information on how students can find help. Depending on your topic, you might create a designated discussion board or wiki you check daily for student questions. This can eliminate emails and start students giving and receiving answers in a central point.
Tie assignments, activities and discussions together with clear instructions. When materials are posted as files without much explanation, students can find it hard to follow what they are being asked to do. For example, when setting up the description of an Assignment, it can be helpful to reiterate guidelines and due dates, even if this information is provided in the syllabus.
These are just some of the things that I do!
Theresa
There are so many distractions on the internet. Some students start off doing their assignment but then decide to take a quick break which may extend to hours due to all the novelties on the internet. Students need a loving push to encourage them to move forward and complete their online course.
Patrick,
I always hate when I lose a student no matter what the reasoning is.
Shelly Crider
Russell,
Good point, if the student has to remember how to get to where they need to be, they may not remember the content.
Shelly Crider
Helen,
It is interesting, but can be very challenging as well!!
Shelly Crider
Natasha,
Less anxiety will lead to more knowledge transfer.
Shelly Crider
Catherine Affiong ,
Good point. A student does need to be self-motivated to work online.
Shelly Crider
Daniel,
I like how you say "coach movement". This is exactly what we do so that students can soak up the knowledge.
Shelly Crider
Stephen,
Navigational simplicity is indeed what we need to strive for!
Shelly Crider
Yes, The look and feel of online courses are important for engaging the student/learner to be actively involved. For some adult learners the courses online can be very overwhelming. What I see from my online classes is the lack confidence or training to navigate and work through the course. The proper training from the educational institution such as IT technical support can make or break a students involvement no matter how easy the classroom is to navigate. Look and feel are great but without the proper orientation from the college your retention and graduation rate will suffer greatly.
The look and feel of a course is extremely important. The subject matter can be there but if the student fines the site awkward and hard to use they will lose interest quickly and maybe even drop the course. The student has to like the look and feel of the course to be engaged.
Impressive! I like the idea that on-line courses encourage critical thinking and puts the responsibility to learn squarely on the student.
I'm sure this is true.I can't really offer much input on this as I have never taught on on-line course. But I have taken a few (including CEE!) and they were very streamlined. I have never taken a course that has a synchronous chat portion. I think that would be interesting.
I do agree that the look and feel is important as the knowledge and skills with an online course. An online course that is user friendly is important for students to be able to navigate throughout the course. A student will have less anxiety with an organized online classroom.
The knowledge and skills to be taught has to be presented in an interesting manner. A lot of students do not have the patience nor the desire for online courses.Therefore, there has to be a lot of pizzazz to hold people's attention.
I totally agree. Both from my experience learning and teaching online, I have found that a well designed course is easier to get through. What I find most important is simplicity. All expectations must be clear and all the necessary information has to be easy to find.
Taking into account the audience is very important as well. In my field for example I find that visual examples are highly important since we need to teach how to coach movement.
Navigational simplicity is the watch word when it comes to moving around a online course. The look should be well structured and have many multi-sensory dimensions. The ability to access "You tube" and the publishers books for reading on your phone desktop or just a hard copy.
