Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash

Designing a course is like designing a house.  What does the structure look like?  Does it have a firm foundation?  What kinds of features would make it more appealing for viewers?  How do we assess its effectiveness?

In this section, we will look at key components of learning design, starting with the big picture questions and getting into the details of planning the course.

Key Questions

At the beginning of the planning process, the curriculum team should ask some of the following questions:

• Who are the students?  What is the typical age, gender, work experience, program, etc.
• How does this course fit in with the program?
• If a previous course exists, has there been any feedback from students and Open Learning Faculty Members?
• When do students need to take this new course?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you’re ready for the four key parts of the development process:

Course Design

See the following pages that take you through our design process:

• Blueprint Planning: How to create a course blueprint to map your course.
• Activity Design: How to choose engaging activities for online and web courses. This page lists a number of ideas for activities and assessments
• Media: This page contains more activity ideas for engaging multimedia pieces. .
• Assessment: Learn about the various types of formative and summative assessments, as well as rubrics to grade them.