Recently, an instructor asked me for a brief outline of how to proceed with designing and developing an online course from scratch. Here was my advice:To give a really general outline, here is how I would proceed:
1. Review the course objectives/student outcomes
2. Determine what topics need to be covered and in what order to meet those objectives
3. From there, create an outline covering 16 weeks (or however long your course will be) and then fill the info in week by week. What outcomes are met each week? (Write those down) Then what assessments will you assign to show that the students have met the student outcomes? Finally, what activities will the students need to complete in order to succeed in the assessments?
4. Build the assessments, rubrics and activities
Do not simply go by the book because often times the topics emphasized by the text books are not the ones that best meet the outcomes, and some areas that the text glosses over are actually more important for your students to learn. Therefore, always use your course objectives and the outcomes assigned to each week as your guide.
I hope this helps!
