The proliferation of inexpensive or free “easy-to-use” online tools provide increased access for educators to develop online and blended courses and activities for students or other educators. Yet effective design for the online environment involves more than uploading content in an available online shell and educators have many questions as they get involved with designing online content. What’s different about online design? How do we adapt face-to-face content for effective delivery in an online or blended environment? How do we design online content so that it’s interactive and engaging? How is learning in the online environment assessed? How do we keep the focus on the pedagogy and content and not the technology tools?
This hands-on interactive session will address these questions and more through a discussion of key online course design principles, an exploration of an online course used to prepare educators to design their own online courses, and a review variety of example online courses and activities that illustrate effective online design.
