Rosie Young & Gill Fliegner

1. What is it?
The art and science of creating effective
learning environments
(Murphy, 2000)

2. Overview
What is best practice in online course
design?
Planning
Course structure
Course design
Course content
Task types

3. Where do I start?
 Planning is paramount
 Any good online learning programme is preceded by
effective planning of the design and development
process.
 In the Australian VET system this is known as a
Learning and Assessment Strategy.

4. What information does a good learning and
assessment strategy convey?
 Introduction and background
 Staffing
 Learners
 Programme aims
 Content outline
 Learning environment
 Interaction and activities
 Assessment
 Learning materials
 Student requirements (Murphy D, 2000)
 A process of continual improvement – evaluate, test, pilot
and revise (Pickett)

5. The ADDIE MODEL
 Consider using a framework to guide the
planning process
 Watch this brief video which provides a
framework to utilise in the design and
development process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiLLz1SaxGc

6. Planning advice from Curt Bonk
 For more information listen to Curt Bonk’s tips for
planning an online course
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3H7PbkndOk&featur
e=related
 Consider your organisation:
What planning time is made available prior to
implementing any new course?
How will your team manage this time?

7. Course Structure and Design
 Design and adapt course for specific contexts and
ensure material is audience appropriate (Murphy
2000)
 Avoid duplicating the F2F classroom online –
develop replacement concepts to suit the online
environment (Pickett)
 Avoid content heavy slides – readability is
paramount
 Ensure navigability is clear, simple with concise
directions given for each task or assignment (van
Duzar)

8. Course Content
 Design assessments first – then design the content to achieve the
assessment tasks(Bozarth 2011)
 Provide flexibility in assessment tasks
 Use tools that logically support the content
 Be judicious and use readily available content – weblinks, utube etc
 Ensure content is logically staged and the syllabus is easily located
 Consider your audience/context – tailor content to suit and evaluate
regularly

9. Task Types
 Ensure tasks are relevant and meaningful – avoid
‘marginalised’ tasks
 Consider a range of synchronous and asynchronous
communication tools - email, discussion groups, chat
rooms (text and video conferencing), wikis
 Harness the opportunity for students to engage in
collaborative learning through a range of innovative
virtual tutorials (Murphy 2000)

10. Task types - connecting learners
 Richard Culatta talks about the importance of
developing interactive online learning that connects
learners with each other and with experts and not
just with content. The more online leverages social
learning practices the more effective it will be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv-_GCFdLdo

11. An E Learning Design Framework
for choosing technology
 Access the link to learn more about a framework that
helps guide the decision-making around technology
choice/task types for online learning
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLshskPhA2w

12. Useful web links
 For a comprehensive summary please follow the link
to Sophie’s excellent summary
http://popplet.com/app/#/244817
 Joan van Duzar has provided an excellent checklist
for online course design:
http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/

13. References
 Murphy D 2000, Instructional Design for Self
Learning in Distance Education in Chin G (ed) The
Commonwealth of Learning
 Bozarth J, 2011 Nuts and Bolts: The 10 Minute
Instructional Design Degree
 Pickett: http://www.slideshare.net/alexandrapickett/whatworks206
 Van Duzar J, 2002 Instruction Design Tips for Online
Learning
http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/