Hello Shelly,
The "feel and look" of an online course is very important. Thank you for the views of those who have responded before me and I particularly liked the responses exchanged between Satrohan and Richard. For student-centered virtual classroom, it is vital to capitalize on technology to make the appearance and organization of materials in the virtual classroom. I put myself in the shoes of my students when setting up my online classes with the aim of making it as visually attractive as possible. My specialization is marketing; and in marketing the presentation is as important as the message content. As a facilitator of online courses, I put a high premium to setting up a visually appealing and “cheerful” virtual classroom with design principles, font usage, multicolor, highlights, etc. to make the classroom as welcoming, attractive and attention grabbing as possible to students. It is like a good website retains the visitor, I try to give my virtual classroom user-friendly in order to make my students feel good and motivated keep reading, navigating and exploring the content. I think it is very important to invest on the “feel and look” of our virtual classrooms to help and encourage our students to maximize their learning and make their journey more enjoyable. I also agree that “content” is very important and that we can use technology to communicate more effectively; and beyond that to better connect with our students.
Thank you.
And lost does not encourage learning!
I agree, if the online course design and feel does not offer a welcoming environment and easy navigation the knowledge and skills is irrelevant. The student will be lost in a poorly designed online course.
Absolutely!! Each page should be something that a student wants to be engaged in and hold intellectual interaction!!
Love how you stated that! You do have to "play" student role!
... less is more, I like that!:)
We arrived to a similar conclusion, after several attempts in looking for an optimal template, or good design for our online courses; we realized that simplicity is geniality in the e-world .
Absolutely, course developers must play student role.
It is the only way we can see and feel what they will see and feel.
I absolutely agree with you. Teaching, I read once, "means helping students to learn and the teacher is the catalyst in the learning process"; meanwhile "learning is something that students do, not something that is done to them".
Traditional classrooms allow teachers to write down a sketch of the teaching activity, leaving some space to the improvisation and adjustment at the moment of the class.
In online courses each detail has to be planned carefully in advance and the look of the learning activities within the course, guarantee the students’ engagement and intellectual interaction which is one of the keys for the learning success.
Good point....you might look for awhile, but then just move on. So who knows what the student is really learning if the page is too busy.
Multi-sensory can be a learning experience in itself.
Areed! The look and feel of an online course is just as important as the knowledge and skills because all can foster a multi-sensory learning experience
I agree completely. If I am trying to navigate any type of web page, whether an online course or just internet browsing, if the page is too busy or not appropriately laid out I get confused easier, and more likely to give up when it is not easy to navigate.
Love that....it is and should be what the learner gets out of the class!
That is a good point. As students we are here to get the content, not worry about the technology side of things.
I would agree with this statement. Currently taking my masters degree online I think it is very important to have an easy way to navigate the course. This way the students are spending less time on the navigation and more time on the content.
I am not sure that the look (the appearance of the website, homepage, class folders...) is as important as the content/information that is being delivered. Yes, it is important for many reasons (ie.- a professional appearance is more likely to encourage a professional dialogue).
If we mean by "feel of an online course" the ease by which we are able to navigate through the content, then I would probably agree that it is as important. The learner who is unable to navigate through the lesson plans and/or unable to find material on the site will likely get frustrated and stop participating, thus no learning will be achieved.
For me, the bottom line with all learning (online or land based) is that we get out of it what we put into it.
Yes, Modern society is filled with multi media and if educators want to complete they have to be in the game. The presentation of the online course is as important as the contains.
I agree. The look and feel are important as they creates learning environment. If the look is to complexor has too much content it overwhelms the students (or at least has me). If it is not challenging then credibility of the course is questioned.
I agree that the look and feel of an online course is just as important as the knowledge and skills you are trying to impart. If a student opens your course and is confused about where to look for something, they will easily become disinterested in the course and probably not do well.
