Designing Your Online Course

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This tool was designed to help you develop a deeper understanding of how to design your own online courses and how you can incorporate the techniques in meaningful ways.

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What Is (and isn't) A Course?

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The Learners

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Teaching Adult Learners

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Using the Online Course Design Tool

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Assessment

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Learning Materials

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Building Online

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What Is (and Isn't) An Online Course?

Learn about what online courses should look like—and what they should not look like.

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The Learners

Effective course design always starts with thinking about the learners. In this module, you’ll learn about and practice learner-centered teaching.

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Teaching Adult Learners

Now that you have a good idea about how learners are different, you’ll take a look at what they have in common—and learn how to build upon these characteristics and preferences.

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Using the Online Course Design Tool

The Online Course Design Tool will allow you to work through the process of backward designing your online course. This module will guide you through completing this document, with a focus on writing learning outcomes.

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Assessment

Now that you have written your learning outcomes and done the high-level planning for your course, it’s time to take a closer look at assessments—the next step in backward design. This module will explore recommended practices in assessment design.

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Learning Materials

In this module, you will think about how to select, assemble, and craft the learning materials that constitute the lessons for your online course.

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Building Online

The final module of this course primes you for the building process. Choose the path that matches the type of build you are working on, and you’ll discover a few final pieces of information, including where to find help.

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