It is vital to develop a plan of instruction when considering putting a course on-line.  The activities below will help develop the design plan.

Online Course Planning

• Is your text dark on a light background so that students can print the text?
• Is your course designed logically so that students don’t become easily lost?
• Does your course include activities to promote interactions?
• Does your course have a page explaining “netiquette”?
• Have you included a link to an example of a quality group presentation project so that students can evaluate their own work?
• Have you published your office phone number and room number in addition to your e-mail address?
• Do your web pages contain enough “white space” so students don’t feel threatened by the amount of material?
• Do you use lists to organize related material?

Interactive Activity

Learning objectives should be stated in terms that require an action on the part of students. Objectives stated in a form that does not allow observative behavior means that we cannot actually assess whether or not a student meets those criteria, and students cannot measure whether or not they have met those criteria.

Participating in the activity below will help you to develop behavioral objectives that students can be expected to follow and comprehend.

1. What is the purpose of your course? (for example, self-enrichment, degree program, core course, etc)
2. What are the likely characteristics of students in the class?
3. What are the general topics students will be expected to learn?
4. List ONE specific Learning Objective for your course. Use the ABCD model.
   • Audience. The learners: Identify who it is that will be doing the performance (not the instructor).
   • Behavior (Performance). What the learner will be able to do?
     Make sure it is something that can be seen or heard.
   • Condition. The conditions under which the learners must demonstrate their mastery of the objective.
     What will the learners be allowed to use? What won’t the learners be allowed to use?
   • Degree (or criterion). HOW WELL the behavior must be done:
     Common degrees include: Speed, Accuracy, Quality
5. Now, list what students would be expected to do to demonstrate they had mastered this Objective. Use the verbs in this list to help you associate the skill with what the student does.
6. What instructional strategies and learning activities do you use in your face-to-face class to help students organize and learn the material for the objective named above?  How do you provide feedback? How do you assess their learning?
7. How can technology assist you to perform the same activities or to introduce different activities to accomplish what you do in the traditional classroom? How would you provide feedback? How would you assess their learning?

Verbs Associated with Skills