Lisa,
You are right. A course that is not well organized will become frustrating for student and instructor as well.
Shelly Crider
Tammera,
Love this analogy!! We want our students to be logical, we as instructors should be as well.
Shelly Crider
I agree...without an ease of navigation and access to information, the knowledge and skills will be difficult to learn. If a student spends too much time trying to find the information they need, they can easily become confused and flustered. Additionally, if something is too hard to find, the students may miss information or resources that are crucial to the course. It is important to prioritize the look and feel of an online course.
Yes, I agree with that assertion. The current student population has been socialized to pay attention to flash and three-dimensional stimuli. It is important to gain the student's attention in order for them to then further consider the intellectual objective.
I agree that the look and feed of an online course is very important to the overall course. Knowledge and skills are also important but without a functional look and feel to the course, a student will be unable to locate the resources needed. A difficult to navigate course can make students less likely to interact and may discourage students from continuing their course. From a student perspective, if I were entering a course with a look and feel that did not function well and was difficult to navigate, I would doubt the abilities of the organization to provide a good educational experience. From the first login, a student needs to be able to locate the classroom and other resources, contact the instructor, view course materials, etc. If a system is difficult to follow, it creates a bad experience for a student.
Yes the look and feel of the online course is important. It is important to keep the course inviting and visually pleasing. Students are expected to be online a considerable amount of time so it is important for them to enjoy being in the classroom.
I've taken some classes in the past and there are ones that I've really enjoyed and others that were just plain old boring. I think Instructional designers are an important part of developing a course because they have lots of experience in building courses that are engaging and the instructor provides the content. Working together collaboratively in a team results in a better online course.
Jodi,
It is good for instructors to be in different online classes for personal experience to bring to their own class.
Shelly Crider
Tanya,
A bad experience could alter a whole career for a person!
Shelly Crider
Andrew,
I like how you added prioritize. This is something we want our students to be able to do, so they should be able to see that as well.
Shelly Crider
power point is great stuff, if it is kept quite simple with two colors & one to three bullet points per slide or a simple graph or 1 visual, etc.
gene parker
gene ,
Agreed. We do not want too much information on one slide as students will not read the info.
Shelly Crider
Adding voice has its pros and cons. I find that there are times that voice does not properly upload.
I agree...if the course content is coherent, easy to follow and is aesthetically pleasing, then the learner will experience less difficulty following the lessons. They will typically be more engaged as well.
Dan,
We hope that the student will focus more on content this way.
Shelly Crider
Mike,
Good point. People have different types of computers and different speeds which could be a pro or con for the student.
Shelly Crider
Hello Shelly and all - This is very important and correct statement. The look and feel of an online course is as important as the knowledge and skills it is designed to impart. Course designer needs to give the students the impression that the course was prepared by individuals who are professional and possess experience in the field. It is very important for the course developer to attract students to the content materials within the course.
When designing an online course, the course developer or the instructor should create an "introduce yourself" discussion board, This allows students to introduce themselves to the instructor and to other students, talk about their experience, and whether they have prior knowledge concerning the learning outcome of the class. It is also important for the course developer to creates a starting up points, which facilitated students understanding about what they expect during the following weeks of the class. A visual calendar of course work and assignments is very important to be communicated by the course developer or by the instructor at the beginning of the course
To me, the simpler the better. I have seen very eye-catching online courses, which, unfortunately, were not rich in content. In the end, it was not easy to understand the materials from week to week since they were not aligned with the objectives of the course. I think easy navigability of a course and rich content should be paramount in creating a quality online class.
Lotlamoreng
Raouf ,
Excellent post! I like your detail that you give your students.....and to us!
Shelly Crider
Lotlamoreng,
This is true. I have seen classes that have lots of bells, but little content. It is nice to have a balance.
Shelly Crider
I agree that the look and feel of an online course is very important. Just like a store website has to be appealing to the customer, an online course has to be inviting and attract students’ attention. Students can easily loose interest if faced with a dull site.
I use animated clipart in my announcements and have received great feedback from my students about it. Animated images of a checklist, a tip and a live chat invitation have helped me to get my students more engaged.
