As I begin another online course...

As I begin to design and teach another online course this spring, I am reminded again of how important it is to make each course interactive. By interactive, I mean that each part of the course must involve the participant/student and encourage them to continue and explore. If the course site is dull and uninteresting, the student must force themselves to return to the site. This negative experience not only affects their school work, but undermines your effectiveness as the instructor. At the end of the course, it may also affect student evaluations of you and your course. Here are some of my online teaching tips, which I am re-reading before I begin creating the structure of my new course:

• Design a welcome page with a photo of the instructor and a voice-over (audio file). This gives your course a personality and makes it more inviting.
  
• Make sure EACH part of your course site has clear, precise directions (duplicate them in several areas).
• Create different options for students with differing abilities (See the information on Universal Design principals).
• First determine the content you wish students to learn; then create assessments which will show those learning outcomes.
• Ask questions and get comments from other instructors! Peer Review!
• Add a weekly student survey to your course site....this will help you see what your students may be missing each week and then you can change your course to meet their needs!

If you add these notes to your course design practice, you may notice a difference in student learning.
mej:)