TA learning about online course creation on his laptop Overview

Careful preparation is essential to the successful creation of an online/hybrid course. The content created for a course should provide a positive experience for your students and should maximize your time with students so that you’re not spending time reworking things that weren’t clear up front.

Strategies

Course Content

Your course content should be laid out and organized before class begins. The content should have a logical flow. Have a colleague check the course for ease of navigation, clear instructions, and accurate placement of content. The amount of content should manageable.

Provide Resources

Don’t assume your students will have all of the knowledge and expertise to succeed in an online course format. Be sure to provide them with links to resources that can help.

Test the Course

Before the course starts, test the course in different browsers and on different computers. Sometimes what works on one computer doesn’t work on another. Fixing any problems before the course goes live will help avoid student frustrations and the need for you to scramble to help them access the course/course content.

Netiquette

Provide your students with an outline of your expectations regarding online behavior. Use this Netiquette Guide for Online Courses as a starting point to clarify your own course policies.

Quality Assurance Committee (University of Florida): Netiquette Guide for Online Courses (.docx)

References

Related Resource Library Topics