how to structure a learning course

by Rhianna Quigley 10 min read

In order to structure your course, you have to keep some important things in mind. The main point of structuring an online course is to break down the subject into manageable portions and organizing the portions intelligently. Apart from providing a great course, you have to make sure that the learners remain interested in the course.

  1. Decide what material to cover. ...
  2. Group subject matter into modules. ...
  3. Break down each module into sections. ...
  4. Links between sections for a self-directed learning approach. ...
  5. Create a roadmap for the course. ...
  6. Develop a theme that reflects course structure.
Sep 11, 2015

Full Answer

How do you explain the structure of a course to students?

Jul 03, 2020 · How to Structure Your Online Course for Success Research Your Competition. As soon as you have your idea for an online course and have a solid understanding of your... Improve as You Go. It makes sense to wait until you have your whole class totally structured and ready-to-go before you... Choose ...

How do I create an online course structure?

Apr 05, 2015 · Most learning management systems enable the course to be structured in units of one week, following the classroom topics. This provides a clear timetable for the students. This applies also to alternative approaches such as problem-based learning, where student activities may be broken down almost on a daily basis.

What is structure in teaching?

3) A Reference Course Include Additional Resources Outlining & Structuring Your Content 1) Brainstorm Your Course Ideas 2) Organise Them Into Groups 3) Finalise Your Course Outline Frequently Asked Questions What makes a good online course? How long should a course outline be? What is the difference between a course outline and a syllabus?

What is course structure and storyboarding?

Nov 09, 2018 · Your course structure should have a proper amount of interactivity. Remember to add an exercise or any source of activities within your course, but be aware that too many activities will diffuse your learners. So make sure to include the proper amount. You can use one major activity per module as a rule. Sources:

How should I structure my course?

Part of a video titled How to outline and structure an online course (Make an AMAZING course)
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Could be easily broken down into sections with their own separate steps. It's a good idea to turnMoreCould be easily broken down into sections with their own separate steps. It's a good idea to turn those sections. Into individual lessons as you choose your lessons. Write them down in the spaces.

What is a structure of a course?

The course structure refers to the choice of topics and the organization and sequencing of course content. Remember that the choice of topics and their organization should always support the learning objectives for the course.

What are the 5 major components of course design?

The main elements of course design include;
  • Need Analysis.
  • Learning or Course Goal.
  • Learning Objectives.
  • Assessments.
  • Delivery Methods and Strategies.
  • Activities.

The Organization Of Online Courses

Nearly every student and parent I speak with has a similar story, at all levels of the educational system. Why has the organization of online courses become such a common complaint, and how can institutions begin to address this when instructors are already scrambling to adjust to this new medium?

Key Takeaways

This summer, our unit initiated an effort to bring its experience with online programs to the greater population. Here are some of our takeaways.

Conclusion

Since the beginning of the pandemic, our faculty have been active in a private Facebook group focused on the transition to online teaching. It has continued this fall and provides a comfortable space to obtain quick answers, thoughtful opinions, and moral support.

What is course outline?

A course outline is one of the most crucial elements you can create for your online class. It’s the blueprint showing the foundational structure and design for ...

Why is it important to divide an online course into parts?

Designing an online course can be an overwhelming process, which is why it’s helpful to divide it up into parts. Your students will also be able to follow your course more easily if it’s broken down into a few digestible components.

Why is it important to have a clear syllabus?

Starting with an outline helps you create the course more efficiently. As for students, having a clear syllabus is a roadmap , helping them understand the end goal and the skills they’ll develop on the journey. It will help them set expectations both for what you’ll be teaching them, but also for themselves.

Why do we need an outline?

An outline helps you keep your ideas organized when you are designing a course. It enables you to group together related topics, not to mention see the order in which topics need to be addressed. Starting with an outline helps you create the course more efficiently.

What is course planning?

Course planning is a continual process, as illustrated by the diagram below. Each of the steps is necessarily undertaken with the others in mind, and each will necessarily undergo revision each time you teach a particular course. As you plan and revise courses, remember the importance of teaching core concepts and critical-thinking skills.

How to define course goals?

When you define the course goals, focus on student learning. One way to formulate these goals is to determine what students should be learning in terms of content, cognitive development, and personal development. Be as specific as you can and make sure that the goals define learning in ways that can be measured.

How to teach chemistry?

Teach students problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Demonstrate how chemistry is used in other fields and in everyday situations. Teach students the beauty of chemistry. Determine course content. Select the major topics and determine the order in which you will teach them. Select the main topics to be covered.

11.9.1 Some general observations about structure in teaching

First a definition, since this is a topic that is rarely directly discussed in either face-to-face or online teaching, despite structure being one of the main factors that influences learner success.

11.9.2 Institutional organizational requirements of face-to-face teaching

Although the institutional structure in face-to-face teaching is so familiar that it is often unnoticed or taken for granted, institutional requirements are in fact a major determinant of the way teaching is structured, as well as influencing both the work of teachers and the life of students.

11.9.3 Institutional organizational requirements of online teaching

One obvious challenge for online learning, at least in its earliest days, was acceptance. There was (and still is) a lot of skepticism about the quality and effectiveness of online learning, especially from those that have never studied or taught online.

11.9.4 How much work is an online course?

Before decisions can be made about the best way to structure a blended or an online course, some assumption needs to be made about how much time students should expect to study on the course. We have seen that this really needs to be equivalent to what a full-time student would study.

11.9.5 Strong or loose structure?

Another critical decision is just how much you should structure the course for the students. This will depend partly on your preferred teaching philosophy and partly on the needs of the students.

11.9.6 Moving a face-to-face course online

This is the easiest way to determine the structure for an online course. The structure of the course will have already been decided to a large extent, in that the content of each week’s work is clearly defined by lecture topics.

11.9.7 Structuring a blended learning course

Many blended learning courses are designed almost by accident, rather than deliberately. Online components, such as a learning management system to contain online learning materials, lecture notes or online readings, are gradually added to regular classroom teaching.

What is course outline?

A course outline is a really important component of any prospective online course and it needs to fulfill a few different and important roles. An outline, as its name suggests, needs to be brief, and give your students all the relevant information about what your course provides without any filler at all.

What makes an online course good?

A good online course requires a few things to make it worth the investment of time, effort, and money people are willing to invest in themselves and improving their skills. Ultimately, an online course needs to provide value to the student and this comes in a variety of forms.

Why do people buy online courses?

1) People buy online courses because: they want to learn from an actual person with experience. the information is put together in an easily digestible step by step system or format. the course can produce a clear outcome that they desire. 2) The key to a great online course is:

How to get to where you are today?

1) start with the main outcome of the course and work your way backwards through the steps needed to get there. or if you prefer: 2) imagine your former self before you gained the knowledge you now have, and then plot out the key steps you have taken to get to where you are today.

1. Audience

Design the course with your audience in your mind. The main key to success is to deliver what needed. And you need to know what the learners want. Before you start to design a course, you must perform an audience analysis.

2. Course Structure

The concept of course structure includes the topics and their sequences through the course. It’s very important to organize the learning material in a good sequence to deliver the course objective. One of the tools that Instructional Designers use is storyboarding.

What is the Course Structure?

What do we mean when we talk about the structure of an online learning course?

Why Does Course Structure Matter?

The structure of your course helps to determine how your learning objectives will be met. If your course is poorly structured, it may be difficult for your learners to achieve these objectives. If a bridge is poorly constructed, travellers may be unable to get from one side to another.

Where to Start?

Now we know why course structure matters, we are in a better position to begin developing course structures of our own. But where’s the best place to start?

Make It Micro

Did you know that the average adult loses focus after just seven minutes? You have limited time with your learners. As such, it’s important that you make good use of it.

Setting The Structure

If you’ve followed the steps above, then your course structure should come together in a natural and organic way. You should ensure that you’ve included a title slide, learning objectives slide, quiz questions and a conclusion.

An Example Course Structure

Title Slide: This is the first slide learners will see when they launch the course. Your title slide should articulate the focus of the content. It should also drive anticipation and excitement about the upcoming learning journey.

The Nine Levels of Learning

Need further support? Then check out Robert Gagne’s Nine Levels of Learning. He broke the learning process down into nine clear steps and laid the groundwork for good instruction. The ‘Nine Levels of Learning’ help trainers and educators to structure their content in the right way and provide a framework for creating instructional activities.

Why is elearning important?

It will also show gaps in current training and how you can close the breach and get results. This also prevents you from throwing eLearning at a problem it can’t solve. Elearning is perfect for addressing gaps in skill or knowledge but is typically not an effective cure for lack of customer satisfaction or a job design problem.

What is a prototype in eLearning?

A prototype defines the representative look-and-feel and functionality of the entire course. It also is used to test out technical functionality. This allows eLearning designers to create and discard multiple versions quickly to get the best fit before wasting too many resources on designing the whole course then finding out something doesn’t work.

What is a storyboard?

A storyboard is a rough, visual outline that helps map out how text, pictures, and other elements will look on a page. This will help you see how your page will look before you waste time putting together the final design only to find out the elements don’t fit together right.

What is need analysis?

A need analysis make sure you aren’t doing training just for training’s sake. Conducting a needs analysis: This analysis can range from a simple interview to broader, more in-depth data collection methods that include looking at past training, desired results and the current state of your workforce.

What is the most important part of creating an online course?

One of the most important components of creating an online course is setting a learning goal for the course . However, there’s more to it. Every online course consists of various sections, and each individual section also needs to have a clear learning goal.

How to make an online course more engaging?

An easy way to make online courses more engaging is to stimulate the student visually. This means pictures and videos. The simplest method of using picture and videos in an online course would be constructing your online class more like a PowerPoint presentation:

What is the target audience of an online course?

The target audience is the group of people to whom you are writing your course.

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