Get Your Students Hired
In my opinion, the three most important things to consider when authoring an online course are:
1. Understanding your students level of knowledge.
2. Using multiple learning tools to address the different learning styles of students.
3. Continually evaluating your learning outcomes and using results to address deficiencies within course.
Hello Dr. Crews,
This is a little hard for me to answer because I do not design my online courses. They are designed by my university. The designers of our courses are an awesome team and they know what it takes to create an outstanding learning environment. We have awesome technology, a wonderful team of advisers, a rubrics, and great Chairs to back their instructors and everything evolves around the student and their learning process.
I learned in this course that the three important things to know are:
How will content be delivered?
How will students receive the content?
How will students be assessed in their knowledge of content?
Is this what you are looking for Dr. Crews?
Ruby W.
Kathleen,
Right on. We have to know how to help the students succeed in the course. Thanks for your input.
1. What do we want our students to learn
2. What method/s will best teach the subject matter
3. How will we assess the students knowledge
Elena,
The four key areas you list are excellent. They address the students themselves, the program/course and learning outcomes. We have to connect them all. Nice job.
In my opinion, here are the 4 key areas to consider when authoring an online course are:
1. Student population - diversity, educational and cultural background and other demographic characteristics.
2. Type of learners - make the course work for different types of learners by incorporating visuals, step-by-step explanations, additional resources as well as both synchronous and asynchronous components (if system allows).
3. Program structure - where does the course fall within the program curriculum and thus aligning the outcomes and deliverables of the course with the program.
4. Aligning the assignments with the course outcomes and learning objectives and making sure that students have a chance to practice and discuss the required concepts. The courses that I usually teach and author are very "applied" in the area of visual communication, and I always make sure that students have a chance to practice with the required techniques and apply the materials covered to their work.
thank you,
Elena Martignon
Shirley,
An audience analysis is important in any situation, but when the audience is your students - even more important. The information in the syllabus will help students understand the expectations. Thanks!
Shirley,
Thanks for your input. You describe the things that are essential to reaching all students in your courses. Nice job.
The three things about authoring online courses
1) Consider the audience as the student
2) What are the methods of delivery that one will be using
3) What is content and description of the syllabus
Dr. Shirley Chuo
The three most important things to consider:
1) Chunking information into digestible information
2) Making sure that there is a variety of information in text, graphics, videos and pictures etc...
3) Providing a road map that accomplishes what students would like to learn
Dr. Shirley Chuo
Edwin,
Thanks for adding to the first part of your posting the types of students you typically have in your classes. When you have students who have never taken online courses before, clear communication is especially important. The objectives, assignments, and how they will be assessed must all be included and clear to students. They need to know what is expected of them and how they will be assessed to see if they met the expectations. Thanks again.
First the type of students i have in my course have never taken online classes before and will have limited computer skills. The three most important things for me to consider is.
1. Objectives; they must be straightforward and support the course outcome and be specific enough to enable the student to determine from his reading and other assignments the information that applies to each objective. Assignments should be identified with the objective supported.
2. Content; must cover all aspects of the objectives and represent the information that will be assessed.The content must be applied to a real world scenario. The content will be accompanied with a check list so the student will know a sequence of study and a method of communication with the instructor and other students.
3. Assessment; it is important that the assessment be reasonable to the course outcome and be written to avoid misinterpretation. I find that assessments are the hardest part of developing an online course.
Laurie,
Right on! You have the "C" words and they are right on target -- consistency, concise, and we can add clear and communication. Nice job.
The 3 things that I find important are:
1. organization--consistency is important when working to layout a course-the layout and organization should be easy to follow
2. concise instructions--it is important for students to be able to easily follow instructions and if necessary to have materials accessible t supplement
3. appropriate level for the intended audience
Dr. Cecil,
Yes, think about the students, the content and how you will evaluate the students as to whether or not they met the learning outcomes. Thanks for your input.
In my opinion, before authoring an online course (or any course), you need to have some understanding of the intended audience and their likely backgrounds in the prerequisite skill sets for the intended learning objectives of the course. This will determine the place to begin with the course content, and possibly will help with determining the modalities for presenting the course content. This may also help to create more refined terminal course objectives.
Then, you need to determine what course content you want the students to learn during the course based on your perceived knowledge of their backgrounds. Next, you need to determine what students need to be able to do by the end of the course.
When determining both the course content and the expected performance, consideration should be given to how the knowledge and performance will be assessed. If you cannot effectively assess knowledge and performance based on the expected course outcomes, then you cannot demonstrate that learning has taken place.
William,
I agree that the instructor can serve as an excellent role model with communication and on the discussion board but don't let the students think you'll be the leader of all discussions. They needs to learn to effectively discuss among themselves and assigning student leaders can help to do this. Thanks for your input on this forum.
William,
Right on. Connecting what you want the students to learn to the course expectations (learning outcomes) and measuring their success is essential. Good list. Thank you.
Hello
An affective syllabus is critical. The students must know everything that is expected. I like the idea of a syllabus that is interactive as well.
Communication with your students on a timely and frequent basis allows for students who may feel lost or confused to be able to step back into the main stream before they are lost.
An instructor must take the lead also with the Discussion Boards. I have found that making one or two postings a day by the instructor encourages students to do the dame.
Bill Becker
When authoring your own online course, what do you believe are the three most important things to consider?
The first thing to consider is exactly what is it that you want your students to learn? Do you have a clear and obtainable objective? The second consideration is exactly how and what methods are you going to employ in your online classroom to obtain that objective. And finally what how are you going to measure the progress of your students in meeting that educational goal?
Bill Becker