online course development methodology

Updated on: 22 Nov 2021 , 8 mins to read

A step-by-step guide to online course development

The job of an online course developer is not easy. It involves combining learning methodologies backed by decades of research with the latest technology. You also have to stick to a fixed process of instructional design for the best possible results in terms of learner engagement and course intuitiveness . Yet, there are still ways to optimize your online course development process—and make your life a tad easier.

If you’re new to online course development or looking for tips to standardize your current process, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, you’ll find step-by-step instructions to build an online course . You’ll also discover tips for every step of the process, so you can move from one phase to another smoothly, like a seasoned pro.

The online course development process

There are so many boxes to tick off when developing online courses. And the thing is, they must be ticked off in the right order. Following the 8-step process below will help you work more focused, taking care of every detail on time.

So let’s dive in!

Step 1: Build learner profiles

Assuming you have decided on the subject matter of your course, the first step in course development involves identifying your audience. To do so, you need to build learner profiles by answering questions like the following:

• What are the demographics of your intended audience? Age, gender, occupation?
• How much time can they spend on the course per week?
• Are they joining the course to enhance job skills or to foster their personal development?

Knowing your learners and what their learning needs are is essential to move to the next step.

Step 2: Create your learning objectives

A learning objective describes what learners will be able to do after completing the course. Understanding the needs of your learners and setting clear learning objectives that address these needs is the key to building an online course that attracts the right audience, holds their attention, and is ultimately beneficial for anyone.

Think of learning objectives as the selling points of your course. They’re not just for your “convenience.” Υou’re actually going to include these in your course description to incentivize learners.

Usually, learning objectives are phrased like this:

After the course, participants will be able to:

• “Identify phishing and social engineering scams. Use public wi-fi safely. Protect their devices from malware.”
• “Speak with confidence. Clearly articulate information. Close sales deals 50% faster.”
• “Identify different art movements. Know the difference between Manet and Monet.”

You get the idea—you need to be realistic, precise, and direct. Having clear learning objectives will also help when building the content of your course, so we’ll come back to them later.

Step 3: Evaluate your current content

Developing online courses involves reviewing and repurposing current content. Doing this will not only save you time and money but will also keep your libraries updated.

See if there is content that you can use as-is. Let’s say that you are building a course about negotiation skills. If you previously offered a course on advanced sales skills , chances are there is some worth keeping learning material around.

Is there content you can repurpose? We’re all about some recycling. It’s good for the Earth and, in this case, good for your budget too. Repurposing content is easy. For example, you can use the key takeaways from a webinar to create infographics. Or, turn a (may we say boring and best to avoid?) PowerPoint Presentation into a fun podcast.

Step 4: Plan your resources

To put all your ideas together and build an online course, you will need the right people and the right tools.

• Human resources: An eLearning team needs an instructional designer, a Subject Matter Expert, content writers, and graphic designers. Possibly an instructor too, for the actual teaching part, or a narrator if you want to create eLearning videos or podcasts.
• Tools: If this is not your first course, you probably already have some tools in place. Professional webcam and microphones, a video editing and recording tool, video conferencing software, and an image editor are essential for creating new content and repurposing old. Or, you can skip most and invest in a Learning Management System.

Step 5: Choose your delivery platform

The platform through which you’ll deliver your course is the most important investment you’ll make. The right Learning Management System will also significantly simplify the online course development process. Opt for a full-featured and user-friendly LMS that enables you to build courses from scratch, or upload and manage existing content with no hassle.

The benefits of investing in an LMS don’t end with course delivery. Some training platforms give you access to extensive reporting. With in-depth reports, you can monitor not only completion rates but also learner engagement with every aspect of the course.

Keep an eye out for features your learners will enjoy too, such as easy enrollment and an intuitive user interface to navigate the course with ease. Plus, a rewards system via certificates and gamification elements will help fight online learning fatigue and keep your learners engaged.

Step 6: Create a storyboard

Your team has all these great content ideas in mind—video, images, quizzes… But you need to check whether these elements are all coherent and should actually be used in the course.

A storyboard, even a simple, text-based outline, will help you organize online course development. As you create your storyboard, you’ll get a better sense of what needs to stay and what needs to go. You will also create a first “preview” of the course that will serve as a roadmap for the entire eLearning team.

To ensure you’re on the right path, revisit your learning objectives. The training material should first and foremost achieve the learning objectives of the course. At the same time, you need to respect the different learning preferences of your audience.

For example, if you’re building a course on public speaking skills, you should choose video over text. This way, learners will see in action and best internalize the body language, tone of voice, and other factors that contribute to the delivery of effective public speaking. For your visual learners, squeeze in a few infographics with the main points.

Step 7: Start creating the content

Time to materialize your ideas. This step is at the core of eLearning course development and brings you one breath away from the realization of this ambitious project.

Your eLearning team works closely now to create from scratch and reuse or repurpose already available learning content. The storyboard will help you prioritize and delegate tasks more efficiently.

And if you have chosen your LMS wisely, putting your course together should be the most rewarding and satisfying part of the process.

Step 8: Test, review, and revise

Better to trial and error with a selected few than with your final audience. Time for course review and quality assurance to fix bugs, glitches, and mistakes before final deployment. This testing phase is usually done by the course designers, facilitators, and a few learners.

• Start with an alpha testing with your team: Well, now, how embarrassing would it be if you encountered a “their/they’re” situation on the premiere of your course? Or, if a bug didn’t allow learners to submit their answers at the final quiz? This is where the importance of a pilot run comes in. It saves you from tech mishaps, embarrassing glitches, and distracting mistakes in spelling and grammar before the actual launch.
• Do a beta testing with a few learners: Part of the online course development process involves asking for feedback from the learners. Form a group of brave volunteers (definitely people who haven’t worked on the course) and get their input regarding the look, feel, and content of the course. This is also a good way to confirm your learning platform is easy to navigate.

Creating an efficient online course development process is a tough undertaking. While it may seem that most of the steps are carved in stone, the truth is that it all comes down to the dynamics of your team.

If you’re just getting started, be patient. It might take some time before your team finds its footing and figures out the most efficient way to work. Until then, this guide is a great start to keep you on the right track and lead you throughout the process.

Save time, frustration and money with TalentLMS, the most-affordable and user-friendly learning management system on the market. Try it for free for as long as you want and discover why our customers consistently give us 4.5 stars (out of 5!)

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Originally published on: 08 Nov 2017

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Online Course Design Guide

The Online Course Design Guide was produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (MIT-OEIT), in collaboration with the New Media Consortium (NMC), to support instructional designers, educators, and facilitators in the development and implementation of online courses. Each section of the guide contains critical information, recommendations, examples, checklists, and resources for further exploration to create and deliver effective online learning experiences.

MIT has long been committed to developing and delivering high quality online learning experiences. In 2002, MIT launched MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content — accessible to the world. Through OCW, educators improve courses and curricula and students find additional resources to help them succeed. A decade later in 2012, MIT partnered with Harvard University to launch edX — an offering of free, open source, online courses that can be taken by anyone from anywhere. This guide leverages the online learning expertise of MIT-OEIT.

To provide support through this guide for educators building online courses, a panel of online learning experts was convened to share research and insight. A result of their discussions was a list of assumptions about online learning vs. face-to-face learning which offers a foundation for thinking about and interpreting this guide.

Solid instructional design and facilitation is the basis of an effective course, whether online or face-to-face. As online learning is receiving an increasing amount of interest from learners, education institutions are developing more and more online courses to both replace and supplement existing courses. As such, the design of these online experiences has become paramount; in order to provide effective and high quality learning experiences, they must encompass rich media, interactive features, clearly defined objectives and outcomes, and polished content, along with fostering a robust community of engaged learners.

This guide expands upon best practices that could be used in both digital and face-to-face environments to highlight considerations specific to online learning, bearing in mind the following assumptions established by the panel:

• Content development for online courses is more time-consuming because in the absence of face-to-face interaction, there is a greater need for creating rich media that stimulates virtual interaction.
• Designing online learning activities involves a diverse set of technology and tools; instructors must learn how to use the technologies and integrate them in the online environment.
• Topic- and question-driven discussion is more natural in a face-to-face environment, so instructors must intentionally plan for and build in similar engagement opportunities within online curriculum.
• Because many online courses draw in learners from all over the world, careful consideration must be given to diverse demographics and backgrounds when developing material.
• Learners do not have the benefit of sitting side-by-side with their classmates in an online course; thus, it is easier for learners to feel isolated, and a significant effort must be exerted to make them feel part of a community.

Part of the appeal of online courses is the flexibility; learners are able to engage in the material from wherever they are, generally during the times that are most convenient for them. Online courses have also become an attractive option for students who hold full-time jobs or have families, as well as for professionals who want to acquire new skills for the workplace.

The purpose of the Online Course Design Guide is to provide education professionals with the support needed to develop and deliver an effective online course using forward-thinking practices. This guide takes a process approach to online course development, from the pre-design cycle all the way through the evaluation phase of the course, regardless of size, and is organized in concrete sections so that educators can pick and choose the areas they wish to investigate further.

Online Course Development: A Roadmap

Designing and developing an effective online course involves careful planning and intentional decision-making. People who are new to online learning are often surprised that, as opposed to a straightforward process of “putting a course online,” the new modality challenges educators to transform content, activities, and their approach to interacting with students.

Many factors influence the time that is required to develop an online course, including: the maturity of the course materials and assignments, the type of instructional activities, and the faculty member’s knowledge of online environments and tools.

Following is a suggested process for planning and developing of an online course.

Phase 1: Preparing for Course Design

Activities:.

• Review course objectives to ensure they articulate the desired priorities and levels of student learning.
• Review alignment of course objectives with instructional activities and assessments to identify gaps.

Deliverables :

• First draft course map, including weekly topics, objectives and schedule for major course assignments

Phase 2: “Big Picture” Course Design

Activities :.

• “Chunk” course into weekly modules (or other desired unit)
• Articulate objectives for each module/unit
• Determine how major assignments and assessment fit into course schedule
• Consider how to translate typical course activities to maximize affordances of online environment and maximize student interaction
• Determine overall strategies for content delivery, instructional activities, and assessment
• Identify appropriate technologies and pursue required technical training
• Develop a schedule for course development

Phase 3: Module Prototype

• Determine structure of main menu and individual modules
• Design & develop one full module, including examples of all content types to be developed, assignment instructions and module text
• Evaluate prototype module and make any adjustments to course/module structure and project schedule.

Phase 4: Detailed Design and Development

• Complete detailed course map that identifies all components to each module: existing content, content to be produced, assignments, assessment activities
• Canvas components
• Media Components
• Assignment instructions
• Assessments
• Rubrics and/or performance criteria
• Set up Grade Center
• Set up timed release of materials, if desired
• Develop student introduction activity

Phase 5:  Preparing to Launch – Testing and Facilitation Planning

• Test course components
• Develop explanation of how the course “works,” communication expectations & guidelines, and ways to get help
• Consider creating a welcome video and/or screencast course tour

Phase 6:  Early Course Feedback

• Gather early term student feedback and make adjustments as possible

Phase 7: Develop Plan for Course Revision

(end of first term)

• Review student evaluations & feedback
• Review student performance results
• Identify revisions for second iteration

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Blog Marketing How to Create an Engaging Online Course in 10 Steps [+ Customizable Course Templates]

How to Create an Engaging Online Course in 10 Steps [+ Customizable Course Templates]

Written by: iSprings Solutions May 27, 2021

Online learning, or eLearning, offers several advantages to today’s learners, whether they are in the workplace, an academic setting or anywhere else.

The benefits of setting up online courses include the ability to scale instruction to reach a wider audience than traditional live, classroom-based training, and at a lower cost too.

By making use of interactive elements such as interactive quizzes, dialogue simulations, scenarios, and multimedia, eLearning is a highly engaging medium that can drive customer engagement and conversion.

With these many advantages, it’s no surprise that the eLearning industry is booming. If you’re ready to start creating online courses , follow our 10-step strategy to set yourself out on the path for success.

You can then start creating online courses’ materials for your business with  Venngage for Marketers . We offer templates in presentation format that can easily be exported as PowerPoint files to be used for any online courses.

START CREATING FOR FREE

Click to jump ahead:

• Decide on the course topic
• Define learning goals and objectives
• Organize the work with SMEs and stakeholders
• Create an online training course storyboard
• Write the script
• Make an online course in an authoring tool (+ customizable course templates)
• Add assessments
• Publish the course
• Share the course
• Collect feedback about the course

Step 1: Decide on the course topic

The first thing you need to do is define the topic of the course.

There may be different approaches to this issue, depending on what you’re developing it for. For example, if you’re going to create your own online course to sell it online and make money, the smartest thing is to choose a niche in your expertise and a topic that you know inside out.

Venngage, for example, offers courses and webinars for visual communication, infographic design and marketing best practices:

CHECK OUT VENNGAGE COURSES

To start design your course, think of the audience you’re targeting and what problems they may be facing that you can solve.

For example, you might find that your customers want to use visuals in their communications but they’re lacking design skills. You can solve this problem by offering an easy design solution and a comprehensive course on how to use the platform for non-designers.

Conduct an in-depth analysis of what you can provide to your customers and what differentiates your course from others. This will serve as the base for your next steps, which involve defining course objectives, writing course script, and more.

CREATE THIS DIAGRAM TEMPLATE

Note : Based on the content, you might be better off creating a webinar instead of a course. Check out our comprehensive guide on webinars and how to best create one.

Of course, there’s another approach to choosing a topic if you’re going to create online classes for employee training. Here, you need to strengthen your employees’ weak points and foster their growth zones.

Consider using an employee skills training matrix to help you easily identify existing skills, find potential skill gaps, and decide on what course an employee needs to take to improve their skills.

CREATE THIS ROADMAP TEMPLATE

Return to Table of Contents

Step 2: Define learning goals and objectives

A learning objective is a concise way of stating what the expected outcome is for the learner upon completion of the course; in short, it’s what they’ll be able to do after gaining skills or knowledge during the instruction.

In the workplace, this often corresponds to behavior when on the job. For example, learning objectives could include:

• Describe the features of a new product
• Change a tire on a car correctly
• Select the most appropriate item to recommend to your customer based on their unique needs

You may notice that each objective begins with a verb, or an “action word.”

Additionally, each objective is something that can be observed and measured. It’s clear when someone performs these tasks correctly, and you could provide feedback or guidance if they are unable to perform the task (hint: connect your learning objectives to your assessment, which we’ll discuss later in the article).

For the best results, when writing learning goals and objectives, think SMART . SMART goals, with their detailed structure, give a clear idea of what your learners need to achieve.

CREATE THIS INFOGRAPHIC TEMPLATE

Learning objectives provide a roadmap for both you and the learner alike.

As the designer, learning objectives are your north star that determines which content you should and shouldn’t include in your course.

Objectives also provide similar guidance to your learners by answering the question, “What’s in it for me?” and telling them what they should expect to gain from the course.

Step 3: Organize the work with SMEs and stakeholders

Throughout the course development process, you’ll work with both subject matter experts (SMEs) and stakeholders. We define each role as:

For example, if you’re creating a sales training course, your SMEs may include the VP of Sales, sales managers, and even the salespeople themselves. Your additional stakeholders might be the executives who commissioned the course and/or the project manager who is tasked with overseeing the rollout of the new training initiative.

It’s important to define roles and responsibilities for both your SMEs and stakeholders early in the design process, to help ensure smooth course development.

By determining who should be involved at what point in the process and what their responsibilities are regarding providing and reviewing the course’s content, you’ll run less risk of revisions and reworks once you start building the course.

Customize this communication plan and share it with your SMEs and stakeholders to help them get involved in the process:

CREATE THIS PLAN TEMPLATE

Step 4: Create an online training course storyboard

After compiling all the information that will go into your course, the next step is to map it out in what is known as a “storyboard.” This could be in the form of a document or presentation deck, or even a rough prototype or mock-up of what the final product could look like.

The purpose of the storyboard is for your SMEs and stakeholders to review the course content and sequence of activities before building anything in the authoring tool.

In addition to the written content, also include any images, multimedia (such as videos or podcasts), and navigational directions for how the learners will progress through the course. You will want to give your reviewers a complete understanding of what the course and each microlearning module that it will include will look and feel like.

Here’s an example of the eLearning storyboard for an intro slide in the course:

You can also use this template to create your storyboard, add images, icons or illustrations to it and export it as a PNG or PDF that you can share with your stakeholders:

It is much simpler and faster to make changes in a document at this early stage than it is later in the process. The investment of time spent creating a storyboard is time well spent, as you will be rewarded with a faster course building and review experience later in the development process.

Related: 25+ Free Online Teaching Resources For University Professors

Step 5: Write the script

Similar to a play or a movie, your course script includes all audio narration as well as all on-screen text. The instructional designer must write this course copy based on the information provided by the SME(s), which could come from any number or type of source files.

During this step, it’s important to consider not only how the words sound, but how they look on screen. Here are some tips on how to write a good script for your online course:

Read the script out loud to yourself as you write it

If you get tongue-tied or confused while reading it, then it won’t sound good to your learners either.

Aim for short, concise sentences

If your learners are likely to complete your course on mobile devices, you may also want to make use of short passages of text that learners can read with a minimum of scrolling.

Write like how you (and your audiences) speak

Ultimately, your course’s content will be more engaging and effective if it reads like it was written (and narrated!) by a human being, and not a robot.

Think of your audiences while you’re writing the script as well, and make sure you cover the “What’s In It For Me” aspect well in your copy.

Related :  How to Design an Outstanding Webinar [Free Ebook + Templates]

Once you’ve done writing your script, you can use this template to help you write a course outline that can be shared with your stakeholders or use in the official course:

Step 6: Create your online course in an authoring tool

Once your storyboard and script have been approved by your stakeholders, you’re ready to begin building the online course.

The authoring tool is the software in which the course comes to life. If you have some experience in instructional design, you’ve probably come across with tools like Articulate 360 or Adobe Captivate. They are quite popular but definitely require training for a novice course developer.

If you’re not ready to invest time in training and want to start building courses with no prior knowledge in instructional design, you might want to try a tool with a familiar interface and no learning curve.

For example, iSpring Suite uses PowerPoint as a basis. So, you can build a course the same way that you create a presentation and then publish it to an online format in a couple of clicks.

A slide from a course created with iSpring Suite

To make content development even faster, you can use ready-made course templates. For instance, iSpring has its Content Library with templates that include basic course elements: a title slide, a table of contents, chapters, a timeline, and more.

You can also customize Venngage’s easy-to-edit  webinar templates , export your design as PowerPoint slides and use them for your courses. Here are some great ones you might want to use:

Product onboarding webinar presentation template

This template was created for Venngage’s  Infographic Masterclass , but you can easily edit it to use for any product onboarding courses:

CREATE THIS PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

Phishing threats employee training template

You can use this template as is or add any additional slides easily. With a Business account, you can apply your branding elements to your design and export it as a .pptx file to present with PowerPoint or Google Slides in just several clicks.

Anxiety presentation online course template

This can easily be customized for any courses that tackle a new or complicated concept/process that needs explaining for your employees, especially new hires:

Here, you’ll also find some chart and other infographic templates that you can leverage for your courses to make them even more effective and professional looking.

For example, you can use this simple flowchart as a slide or a separate PDF for your course on workplace violence policy and program.

CREATE THIS CHART TEMPLATE

You can easily customize this template for your course overview or for a course that spreads over multiple sessions (click to see the full infographic).

Step 7: Add assessments to your online course

Think back to your learning objectives. What measurable, observable actions are your learners expected to perform upon completion of the course?

It’s now time to create assessments to determine if your learners have mastered the content or not. Many authoring tools typically include a quiz maker that allows you to build online tests.

For example, iSpring Suite provides a variety of assessment options, ranging from traditional multiple-choice and true/false style tests, to fill-in-the-blank and moving objects on the screen (known as “drag-and-drop”).

A slide from a quiz created with iSpring Suite

Assessments can happen during the presentation of the course as well, especially if you’re presenting live and trying to engage your learners. Before introducing this slide, for example, you can add another slide that asks your learners different ways they’ve used to spot a phishing email:

Assessment can be as active and impactful as the instruction itself, and the creation of the assessment can be as easy as the course creation, thanks to the inclusion of pre-built common assessment methods in the authoring tool.

The use of feedback based on learners’ answers or overall performance can also add an interactive, educational component to the overall experience, serving to reinforce any important concepts.

Step 8: Publish the course

Once your course meets the approval of your stakeholders, it’s time to publish!

This is the exciting moment where your course goes live for your learners or for a pilot group. Based on how simple course creation and the creation of assessments are, it may come as no surprise that publishing is just as easy.

Simply click “Publish,” and your authoring tool will output a file that is ready to be uploaded to your hosting service, such as a learning management system (LMS) , website, or even YouTube.

Step 9: Share the course

As mentioned, there are different platforms for online course sharing . We’ll consider the most convenient and effective ones, depending on various cases:

Academic LMSs

These platforms are designed specifically for teaching students. Some popular academic LMSs include Moodle, Blackboard, and Schoology.

Acamedic LMSs allow tracking students’ progress through their grading system and provide gradebooks for monitoring attendance and assignment results.

They also have the time frames that are specific for educational institutions like semesters, trimesters, and quarters, as well as capabilities for creating student groups for class projects.

Corporate LMSs

Some popular corporate LMSs include iSpring Learn, Docebo, TalentLMS, and Adobe Captivate Prime. These platforms provide access to learning materials online and automate various aspects of training processes, but they’re typically more flexible from the point of view of course timeline and reporting to fit all business needs.

Course selling platforms

These are online course hosting platforms specifically designed for managing and selling training content. They have everything a user might need to build, host, and sell courses . Here are just a few big players: iSpring Market, Udemy, Thinkific, Teachable, and Kajabi.

Step 10: Collect feedback about the course

After your learners take a course, ask them to give feedback on how they liked it. This experience will help you understand what is good about your course and if it needs to be improved.

To collect feedback, you might create a survey with an authoring tool of your choice or Google Forms and share it online with your learners. Or you can use the Venngage template feedback form and tailor it to your needs:

CREATE THIS FEEDBACK FORM TEMPLATE

Final thoughts: Create an effective online course full of visuals to best engage learners

eLearning is a powerful solution businesses to engage, increase and convert their audiences.

Whether you’d like to create online courses, online quizzes or both, following a strategy for the design and development of your content helps to ensure high-quality results.

Empower your learners to achieve both their goals and the goals of your organization by presenting them with content that is engaging, interactive, and relevant to their needs. With most people learning better with visuals , it’s best to incorpo27rate images, icons and illustrations in your course materials.

You can start designing your own online course for free with Venngage. There are lots of fully customizable templates that you can easily edit with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor, no design experience required.

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Create Your Course

How to design your online course (visually and structurally), share this article.

Good online course design includes both visual & structural design. These two elements work hand-in-hand. Here's how to approach designing your course.

What makes people eager to learn?

Is it accessible, engaging content that makes the learning experience effortless? Or beautiful design and visuals that move you seamlessly through each module?

Successful course creators know it’s a combination of both.

Good online course design includes both visual and structural design. These two elements work hand-in-hand to make your course both usable and enjoyable for students.

To find out how to design an online course that’ll wow your students and make them excited to start every lesson, we hear from Dr. Kelly Edmonds , an E-Learning Strategist and course design expert. 

We also get top tips from Think In Color speaker Puno, the founder of ilovecreatives, an online course academy for digital creatives and the executive creative director of the ilovecreatives Studio , a design and marketing agency.

Read on for 10 tips for online course design to make your course stand out from the rest.

Related: 10 Steps To Creating A Wildly Successful Online Course

Skip ahead here

The difference between course design vs course development

Basics of online course design, 5 tips for expert learning experience design, 5 instructional design tips to help your students learn better.

When we’re talking about online course design, there are two terms that crop up a lot – course design and course development.

These terms are distinct and both are crucial steps to building a course that students will love. 

Here’s the basic difference between course design and development :

Designing a course mostly takes place offline – you spend a lot of time imagining your course and figuring out how it will serve your students. 

You start to decide if you want to facilitate the learning experience or take a hands-off approach, and if you want to make it evergreen or launch a few times a year. Then you need to price it .

Mostly, you start to think about the experience of your students and how you can take them on a learning journey.

To get started, Kelly suggests these ideas to help you think creatively about your course:

• Lay paper on the floor and use colorful markers to scribble ideas, connect them and give parts of your course titles and names
• Use fun software, like Inspiration to compose and connect your course ideas and all its parts (i.e. lessons, activities, resources, engagement, assessments)
• Share your course ideas with a friend to get clear on what you want to offer
• Draw illustrations on the mood, look and feel of your course

Next up, Kelly recommends some research online:

• Google courses with your main topic and find out what and how they deliver
• Ask people in your online groups or your followers, if it would be of interest (also ask why or why not)
• Head over to Amazon and see if there are books on your topic and read the comments left by people (what they liked and what more they want to learn)
• Run it by your mastermind group, mentors or coach and get honest feedback

This checklist is a really helpful springboard for online course design and development, even if you have no idea how to start.

Once you’ve outlined the overall concept of your online course, it’s time to dig a bit deeper and think about your online course design in more detail. 

How will you convey information to students? What will each lesson look and feel like? How will you keep your customers engaged and convince them to keep learning with you?

Course design involves thinking about the user experience – including the visual design and interface – and the structure of the course – including how the content is delivered and reinforced. 

Both these things are crucial to creating a course that your customers will benefit from and actually want to complete.

Let’s dive into the details of visual and structural design to help you design an online course that’s intuitive, straightforward and easy to navigate.

Learning experience design

If you’ve ever had to struggle through a badly designed tutorial or given up on an online video, you’ll know firsthand the impact that learning experience design can have. 

The way a course flows and the impressions it gives you as you learn are fundamental to your ability to progress through the content and achieve the course objectives . 

Everything about the graphics, font, layout and color scheme of a course can impact the learning experience. Get it wrong and your students will log off and never return.

Your aim is to create a course that makes your content as easy to absorb as possible. 

Learning experience design is also an opportunity to get creative with your course content and give it a personal twist that shows off the best of your brand.

Here are 5 tips to help you do just that.

1.  Get a distinctive logo

Having a great logo is the first step to nailing online course design.

Your logo is a key method to create consistency for your brand and make a good first impression on your customers. 

Puno suggests using a wordmark – a text-based logo featuring your company name – as one of the quickest ways to get your brand’s identity across to students. 

“Wordmark logos are a really simple, easy way to get a polished logo,” says Puno. “You can just use a free font, but you could also pay a couple hundred bucks and then turn that into a wordmark.” She recommends Typewolf as a great resource for creating a wordmark. 

If you create a unique logo, you can also trademark this as your intellectual property to add extra value to your digital brand.

Whether you choose an image or just a wordmark, it’s important to ensure that it looks both eye-catching and professional. After all, it’s going to be everywhere! 

2. Choose a stunning color palette

Color schemes are the next make or break aspect of online course design – extra emphasis on the break! 

When it comes to online course design, color schemes can go really, really wrong. Puna’s golden rule is to make sure your text color contrasts with the background color so that your text is easy to read. 

White text on a black background is one combination to avoid as this pairing tires out the eyes and can make the text look blurry – an effect known as ‘halation’. 

On the other hand, if you get your color choice right, a unique color palette can help to boost brand recognition and build up brand loyalty among your students.

Here’s Puno’s breakdown of the basics of color choice:

• Your color palette should be made up of primary and secondary colors
• Primary colors include the background color, your font color, and anything that you want to catch the eye like icons or buttons
• Your secondary colors are splashes of color that complement your primary colors
• You can have up to 3 primary colors and 3 secondary colors in your palette

But how do you go about choosing your palette? 

Puno finds inspiration by researching online:

• Look on the internet for colors you like
• Go to stock photo sites, Pinterest, Instagram and other visual-heavy sites
• When you see a photo with colors that appeal to you, grab that color as a swatch
• Over time, you’ll build up a collection of colors that you like

After your research, go back to Puno’s recommendations and choose your primary and secondary colors for your course.

If in doubt, get outside opinions on your color palette – make sure your text is readable, your colors compliment one another, and that your friends don’t get a headache from looking at the page!

Related: The Impact Of Colors On Learning

3.  Find a readable typeface

Another essential design element for online course design is your typeface.

Fonts make up the majority of your page. That means choosing a typeface for your course that clearly reflects the content and style will really help create a sense of cohesion through your content. It can also build up a strong brand identity…

Again, your main priority here is to ensure that your words are easy to read. 

Get researching and find a typeface that you feel resonates with the course content and objectives. Sometimes it’s even worth purchasing a font if you find the perfect match.

“If you do find a font that you love, I promise it is worth the investment,” explains Puno. “To add that extra visual component, that emotional component that comes with the typography is just another way to bring out your personality.”

Which typeface best represents your brand?

4. Design a seamless User Interface (UI)

Just like any other website, an online course needs to be well designed and organized. 

If you’re moving between slides, do you use video overlays to mark the transitions? When a user hovers their mouse over a button, does the button light up or change color? How do you use blank space on the page?

These are all elements of UI design. Your aim in UI design should be to make your pages feel responsive, enjoyable to use and uncluttered.

This is the part where you can really add personality in addition to your color palette and typeface. All UI elements on your page should reflect the overall style of your brand. 

Many creators hire a designer to develop these elements but you can also think about what you can do yourself before commissioning anyone else.

If you do hire a UI designer, make sure you give them as much information as possible as to get the look and feel you’re hoping for.

Puno recommends this step-by-step process to brief your designer:

• Give them three inspiration images or websites where you really like the style
• Pick out very specific things that you like about those designs
• Then pick out what you don’t like and what you definitely don’t want to replicate

This process makes sure that you and your designer are on the same page – saving you both time and energy.

As Puno explains: “Every client that I’ve ever talked to says that they get better results when they have done their own research and are very familiar with what they like and what they want.”

Don’t rely on someone else to create the course of your dreams for you!

5. Create a simple User Experience (UX)

Prioritizing simple navigation through your site is another essential element of online course design.

Your students should feel in control and free to explore the course at their own pace. This is where UX design comes in.

Thinkific gives you a huge range of features to help you tailor the user experience of your course to your precise requirements.

For example: is there a key slide that learners will need to refer back to multiple times? Make sure the button to navigate to that slide is easy to find. How will they get back to their previous slide? You need another button there too.

These might seem like minor features but added up they make a huge difference to your user experience. Just one simple button could determine if your course is fun and straightforward or clunky and frustrating. 

UX design is the thing that will keep your customers coming back to you or running for the hills – and enrolling with your competitors instead. 

Straightforward and intuitive UX design is also key to ensuring your course’s accessibility for all types of learners.

The best way to make sure your course is running smoothly is to test it out yourself and ask friends, relatives and existing customers to try it too. There’s no better way to figure out what your learners will see than trying the interface yourself!

Instructional design

Now you’ve got the course interface looking and moving great, you might be tempted to just bang out your course contents and set the ball rolling right? 

Not so fast! 

Now it’s time to consider how you’ll deliver your course content so your students get the most knowledge, skills and benefits out of it. 

You’re an expert in your field but to create a course that works for your students, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a complete beginner. That means thinking about your course structure, pacing and content as part of your online course design.

Enter instructional design.

Instructional design was first developed in the 1950s as a scientific approach to designing good learning experiences for learners. Over time a wide range of instructional design models have emerged that are really helpful for course creators. 

Here we’ll take a look at the highlights from a variety of different models to give you ideas for your own online course design. 

1.  Outline your course goals step-by-step

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy – a hugely popular instructional design model created by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom – there are 6 essential stages of learning. These steps are common to all learners and they can help you understand how to design your online course for the best possible learning experience.

Here are the basic steps in Bloom’s Taxonomy:

• Remembering – committing the information to memory
• Understanding – demonstrating comprehension of the information
• Applying – using the information in actual situations to solve problems or achieve goals
• Analyzing – breaking down ideas into simpler parts and combining them into new forms
• Evaluating – using the knowledge gained to find new solutions and experiment
• Creating – designing and producing new products with the knowledge

The main takeaway from this model is that one step can’t happen without the previous one being completed. After all, how can you understand or apply knowledge if you don’t remember it? And how can you apply the knowledge if you don’t understand it? 

To help your learners understand and retain the information you tell them, you need to make sure that your course takes the user through these stages step-by-step. That means you can’t skip between the steps or leave any of them out. 

By following a logical instructional design, you’re ensuring that your course gives your customers exactly what they paid for – a clear journey towards learning a new skill. 

Signposting these steps will also help keep your students motivated and aware of what they’ve already achieved and what they still have to look forward to!

2. Break down your content

Have you ever been in a class where you’ve been given so much information you don’t know what to do with it all? 

A panicky feeling kicks in and you think: “there’s no way I’m going to be able to remember this!” 

It goes without saying that you want to avoid this outcome when you’re designing your own course. You want happy learners not panicked ones!

Cognitive load theory says we can only hold 5 – 7 new bits of information in our working memory at one time. That means your course design needs to reflect the limits of what an average student can take in.

Remember – you’re an expert on this subject. You might be blissfully unaware of seemingly small elements that are causing a tonne of confusion for your students.

According to the 70-20-10 rule developed by McCall, Lombardo and Morrison, 70% of the knowledge a person gains is from experience, experiment and reflection. Meanwhile, 20% comes from mentorship, discussions and interactions with peers. Formal, planned learning makes up just 10% of a person’s knowledge intake. 

This model emphasizes the importance of breaking down the information you’re teaching into smaller, bitesize chunks. Anything you do teach needs to be backed up with hands-on activities, discussions and more. 

Keeping this model in mind will help you make your online course design easy to follow and engaging for your students .

Leading on to tip number 3…

3. Give users a chance to test their knowledge

All instructional design models have one thing in common – encouraging learners to test and apply their knowledge as much as possible. 

This process ensures that your students track their progress, while also consolidating their understanding of a topic. 

Most importantly, it means that if they struggle with something, your students can identify that they need to go back a few steps and learn the content better, rather than plowing on regardless – at least in theory!

When it comes to online course design and development, activities, challenges and tasks are essential elements to add to a course to create a resource that works for your students and doesn’t leave them confused and bored.

Top tip: Make sure that any practice activities and real world applications of the information you’re teaching are closely linked to the step of the course your users are on. This will make sure it’s a smooth journey towards increasing their knowledge – don’t assign activities that they haven’t acquired the skills to complete yet!

4. Choose your course format

A big part of online course design and development rests on the format you choose for delivering your lessons. 

Kelly recommends building your course one module at a time for a more focused approach that lets you see exactly how the elements fit together.

Try something like this:

• Course intro
• Course summary
• Email messages/autoresponders

Each module should include the following:

• Topic intro and what to expect to achieve by the end of module (to get their minds ready to learn)
• Lesson 1 (teaching using text, illustrations, audio, video, downloadable docs, etc.)
• Lesson 1 activity (to have them practice or taste the info a bit)
• Lesson 2-4 created the same as lesson 1
• Review all material so that it’s connected, flows, and is not overwhelming (adjust if needed)
• Summary for the module, what they’ve learned and next steps

Try to make sure each lesson is no longer than 20 minutes so it’s snackable and keeps the attention of adult learners.

At the same time, make your learning activities bite-sized with some form of feedback to let your students check if they understand the material correctly. Maximum 30-45 minutes for each activity is ideal.

• How To Use Learning Sequencing To Plan Your Lessons
• How To Design An Effective Learning Path

Although text will be a big part of your course design, mixing multimedia elements into your course, like videos, images, audio and interactive exercises can really help bring the content to life.

The Kemp Design Model emphasizes the importance of researching your learners and identifying the content style that’s relevant to them. This theory is all about determining the ways that your specific customers learn and retain information, then using those methods in your online course design to tailor your course to your community.

For example, you might consider including short videos tutorials to summarize key learning points or analyze solutions. If you’re translating a lot of numerical or statistical information, try using infographics instead of long words.

Giant blocks of text is never fun. Use a variety of multimedia tools to break up your course content and keep your learners engaged.

When in doubt, ask your students what they want to see more of and listen to their feedback!

• How To Build A Lesson Plan
• How to Use Backwards Design To Create Your Lesson Plan (Template + Steps)

5. Keep an open mind and be responsive to feedback

No instructional design model is a substitute for inviting feedback from your students . 

If learners are finding themselves overloaded with information or confused about how to apply it, you need to know that and respond to it.

It’s important to be open minded and consider what adjustments you need to make to your online course design so it’s easier to follow.

Once your course is public, get as much feedback as you can from your customers and analyze the data and insights from your course platform to see what can be improved. Where are students dropping off? What modules are they failing to complete? Which videos do they click off of instead of watching all the way through?

You can collect direct feedback from your students in a variety of ways, including:

• Adding customer surveys to the end of every module
• Asking for feedback in your community space
• Hosting one-on-one calls with learners

When in doubt, ask your students how your learning design could be improved and what they need from you to make their learning experience better.

If you can stay hungry and open to new ideas, you can make your course the best possible experience for your students.

3 things to remember for your online course design

Here are 3 more essentials for Kelly and Puno that you need to remember for your online course design.

First impressions matter

When a customer purchases an online course, every small detail will influence their overall impression of your product. From your color scheme to the way you outline the objectives, your customer’s experience will be shaped by both the visual and structural design of your course. 

When it comes to your online course design and development, aim to make your customer feel confident in their purchase and pleased with their decision. Help them trust you and your brand by making every element enjoyable to experience. 

Accessibility and inclusivity is important

Wherever possible, make sure your course is accessible to everyone . That means making your course easy to navigate and understand for any learner, no matter what their learning abilities are. 

Creating a dynamic and varied course that has a welcoming tone and zero jargon will help make your online space feel safe and approachable. Try using multiple types of media and activities too.

Related: The Most Common Barriers to Learning – And How to Overcome Them

Research, research, research!

One of the best things you can do to ace your online course design is to take inspiration from others and keep learning. Exploring everything from UI aesthetics to instructional design models will help you create a well-rounded, engaging experience. Your work as a course creator is never finished – to stay on top of your game you need to stay curious!

Tools to help with online course design and development

When it comes to online course design, Kelly and Puno are huge fans of Thinkific . The platform offers spaces for designing your course, delivering it, marketing it and even creating a professional learning community .

The layout is easy-to-use and there are loads of course functions like quizzes, forums, and more that are easy to set up and add. Thinkific makes course creation simple and stress-free.

For video production and editing lectures or capturing voiceover slides , Kelly recommends Camtasia . For audio production, she likes Audacity (free). When creating graphics, Kelly uses 123RF which has a good collection of affordable and royalty-free images.

With the right tech, you can make online course design and development quick and easy.

Design your online course today with Thinkific!

Online course design is not just about the look and feel of your course, it’s also about the content and how you teach the material. If you can master both these elements, you can create a course that hooks your students and keeps them coming back to learn more.

Ready to try out your new design skills (practice makes perfect right)? Create an account with us, it’s free!

Maddie is a content marketer at Thinkific. When she isn't zealously writing about all things online learning, you can find her glued to a good book or exploring the great outdoors.

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How to Master the eLearning Development Process: Guide & Tools

Online Training & eLearning Experts

The ProProfs Training Maker Editorial Team is a diverse group of professionals passionate about online training and e-learning. We update you on the latest trends, dive into technical topics, and offer insights to elevate your business.

As an eLearning expert with over a decade of experience, I know the benefits and challenges of eLearning development.

Choosing the right tools and platforms, designing engaging and effective learning experiences, and overcoming various obstacles can be daunting and frustrating.

That’s why I created this blog post. I want to share my insights to help you navigate the eLearning development process confidently. You’ll find the best tools and discover how to develop your eLearning programs.

So, let’s start.

What Is eLearning Development ?

According to the Association for Talent Development , eLearning development is “a structured course or learning experience delivered electronically; it can also include performance support content. There are also many different elements that can make up an eLearning program, such as live or pre-recorded lecture content, video, quizzes, simulations, games, activities, and other interactive elements.”

eLearning development follows a structured process, often guided by models like ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate). It is developed using course authoring tools , graphic design tools, screen recording tools, etc.

Key Components of eLearning Design and Development

My organization focuses on a few essential components to deliver high-quality learning experiences that meet our learners’ needs.

Let me outline these for you:

1. Instructional Design

It is the foundation of any eLearning development process, as it determines the content, structure, and delivery of the course. This component involves analyzing the learning needs and objectives of the target audience, designing the instructional strategies and methods that suit the content and the learners, and developing the learning outcomes and assessments that measure the achievement of the objectives.

Instructional design also requires choosing an appropriate eLearning development model, such as ADDIE , SAM, or Agile, which guides the project’s process and timeline.

2. Scripting

This component involves writing the text and narration for the course, which conveys the content and the instructions to the learners.

In our organization, we create storyboards to show how the text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and interactivity will be integrated and sequenced in the course.

3. Development

It is the production of the course, as it transforms the script and the storyboard into a functional and engaging course.

This is all about creating the course using various tools and technologies, such as authoring tools, graphics, audio, video, animation, and interactivity.

4. Review and Feedback

The next component is getting feedback from the stakeholders, such as the client, subject matter experts, learners, and reviewers, and making revisions and improvements based on the feedback.

We conduct surveys and review sessions with stakeholders and use their insights to make adjustments and improvements to our eLearning courses.

5. Delivery and Maintenance

This component involves deploying the course to the target platform, such as a learning management system (LMS), a website, or a mobile app, and ensuring that the course is accessible and updated for the learners.

Each of these components requires careful consideration and execution to develop an effective eLearning course.

eLearning Design and Development Process: 5 Phases to Consider

Our L&D teams develop learning programs in 5 phases to ensure a comprehensive and effective approach to eLearning development.

Here’s what each phase is all about:

Phase 1: Analysis (Understand Learner Needs)

1.1: Needs Assessment: Conduct meetings with stakeholders (subject-matter experts, learners, managers) to identify knowledge gaps , desired learning outcomes, and learner expectations. Here’s a guide on: How to Conduct a Training Needs Assessment in Your Organization

1.2: Learner Analysis: Research the target audience’s demographics, learning styles, technical skills, and access to technology.

1.3: Content Audit (Optional): Analyze existing training materials for potential reuse or gaps to be filled.

Phase 2: Design (Create a Blueprint)

2.2: Develop Instructional Design Document (IDD): Outline the learning approach, content structure, activities, assessments, and timeline.

2.3: Storyboarding: Create a visual representation of the course flow, including screen layouts, text, narration, and visuals.

Phase 3: Development (Develop the Course)

Pro tip: Before moving to phase 3, select the right tools for eLearning development to meet your learning objectives and technology needs. 

3.1: Content Creation: Develop engaging content using text, multimedia elements (images, audio, video), and interactive elements. We use ProProfs Training Maker for this purpose.

This tool has everything you need to create engaging courses. It comes with prebuilt courses and templates to kickstart your content creation process.

You can also use your existing documents, PDFs, podcasts, images, and videos to create your training programs. Recently, it acquired WebinarNinja to deliver online courses!

Other features of the tool include:

• White labeling for branding
• Learning paths  to enable guided learning
• Virtual classroom to centralize all the learning activities
• Online collaboration for better engagement
• 100+ course settings to choose from
• Training calendar to schedule training sessions

3.2: Graphic Design: Design visually appealing layouts, user interface elements, and animations that align with the course branding.

3.3: Technical Development: Integrate content and functionalities into the chosen authoring tool or Learning Management System (LMS).

3.4: Accessibility Review: Ensure the course is accessible to learners with disabilities following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Phase 4: Implementation (Launch and Delivery)

4.1: Pilot Testing: Conduct a pilot test with a small group of learners to gather feedback on usability and effectiveness and identify any bugs.

4.2: Revisions: Address feedback from the pilot test and make necessary adjustments to the course.

4.3: Course Deployment: Upload the final course to the LMS and configure learner access, enrollment, and reporting.

ProProfs Training Maker had simplified course deployment. After building your course, simply upload it to the LMS platform. We were able to manage learner access through user groups and enrollment options (self-enrollment, admin enrollment, and email invites).

The platform also provides detailed reports to track learner progress and measure training effectiveness. All this is done with mobile-friendly access and compliance management features.

Check out this page to learn more about classroom settings.

Phase 5: Evaluation (Measure Success)

5.1: Knowledge Assessments: Embed quizzes or assessments into your programs to know how well your learners have grasped the materials.

Wondering how to assess learner satisfaction? Here’s a course for you:

5.3: Performance Improvement Tracking: Track how the eLearning course impacts job performance or desired outcomes.

5.4: Data Analysis: Analyze the collected data to identify areas for improvement and inform future course updates.

Additional Tips:

• Iterative Development: Incorporate feedback throughout the process, not just at the end.
• Project Management: Use project management tools and methodologies to stay organized and on track.
• Stakeholder Communication: Maintain clear communication with all stakeholders throughout the development process.

By following these steps and adapting them to your organization’s specific needs, you can develop high-quality eLearning courses that effectively engage and educate your learners.

5 Best eLearning Development Software and Tools

We have been using ProProfs Training Maker for eLearning development.

Before choosing this eLearning development software, we experimented with various other solutions, which were also helpful.

So, here is a list of the tools that we have tried.

1. ProProfs Training Maker

By now, you know why this tool stands the chance of being in the first place. Because it’s our go-to solution for employee training needs.

ProProfs Training Maker is a cloud-based software designed to simplify the creation, delivery, and management of online training courses. My organization values this tool for its user-friendly interface and versatility. It allows us to design courses that meet our specific training needs.

With this tool, we can easily incorporate quizzes, videos, and interactive elements to enhance learning. The tool also supports real-time tracking of learner progress, which helps us identify areas for improvement. Its cloud-based nature ensures accessibility from anywhere, making it ideal for remote training.

Case Study:

American Integrity Courses (AIC) , a provider of court-ordered and corporate educational courses, faced challenges in scaling their course creation process. They required a solution that could offer quality, ready-to-use templates for efficient course development. ProProfs Training Maker emerged as the ideal platform, allowing them to easily create and sell a wide variety of courses online, from anger management to DUI classes. The platform’s professionally designed templates and exceptional customer support significantly lightened their workload. As a result, AIC successfully expanded its course offerings, ensuring a 99.9% nationwide acceptance rate, and solidified its commitment to promoting health and well-being through education.

What You’ll Like:

• Building courses is intuitive, even for non-technical users.
• Variety of content formats to keep learners engaged.
• Customization options to tailor the learning experience.
• Monitor learner progress and identify areas for improvement.

What You May Not Like:

• The free version is limited to 10 learners only.
• A dark viewing mode would be a welcome addition.

Forever free (for up to 10 learners). Paid plan starts at $1.97/learner/month for large teams. No hidden charges. 15-day money-back guarantee.

2. Elucidat  

I found Elucidat to be one of the best elearning development tools as it caters to experienced and novice users. Plus, it offers pre-built templates, an intuitive interface, and advanced features like branching scenarios and social polls.

Its powerful features allow users to easily design responsive projects that adapt to any device, ensuring a seamless learning experience.

Elucidat supports collaboration and allows teams to work together efficiently, regardless of location. It also provides analytics to track learner engagement and effectiveness. This tool is ideal for companies looking to scale their training programs.

• Help organizations create eLearning content efficiently and at scale
• Facilitates collaboration between subject matter experts and trainers
• Customization allows tailoring content and branding.
• The focus on pre-built elements and templates might limit extensive design customization.
• While user-friendly, some advanced features might require additional learning.

Custom pricing

3. iSpring Learn  

iSpring Learn offers a comprehensive suite of features to facilitate eLearning success. It enables users to upload and create various types of content quickly, including presentations, courses, and videos.

The platform supports SCORM content and offers unlimited storage. iSpring Learn excels in user and training management, providing tools for organizing learners, assigning materials, and monitoring progress. Its reporting capabilities offer detailed insights into learner engagement, which aids in the effective evaluation of training programs.

The platform also boasts extensive customization options, from LMS customization to creating personalized learning experiences through the learner portal.

• A user-friendly tool, especially for those familiar with PowerPoint.
• Learners can access courses and materials through the iSpring Learn app for iOS and Android
• The platform offers tutorials and support to help users get started.
• Slight learning curve for users unfamiliar with LMS platforms.
• Compared to some competitors, iSpring Learn might offer fewer features for gamification.

Starts at $770/author/year. Screencasts. Role-plays

4. Camtasia  

Camtasia enables users to create professional-quality videos with ease. It allows for screen recording or uploading existing videos, enhancing them with effects, music, and more.

The tool caters to various video creation needs, including marketing, sales, internal training, customer success, and educational content. Its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop functionality make video editing accessible to creators of all skill levels.

Camtasia streamlines the video editing process with features like high-resolution screen capture, separate tracks for microphone, system audio, and cursor data. It offers templates, assets, and text effects to spark creativity. Trusted by over 39 million users worldwide it offers a comprehensive solution for anyone looking to produce engaging video content.

• Offers a robust screen recording feature.
• Provides a good range of editing tools.
• An excellent option for those new to video editing and screen recording.
• The built-in audio editing capabilities are considered basic and insufficient for complex audio editing tasks.
• Some users report experiencing occasional slowdowns, especially when working with large video files.

Pricing: 

Starts at $211 ( billed yearly). 30‑day money-back guarantee.

Another eLearning development software we explored is Gomo. This tool simplifies the creation of beautiful courses. It transforms the challenge of producing great-looking eLearning into a straightforward task.

As a cloud-based solution, Gomo allows easy access from any web browser. Users can develop interactive and media-rich courses using a drag-and-drop interface without the need for programming skills. Features include pre-built quizzes, easy-to-use image editors, and pre-built screen templates for interactive pages.

Gomo’s cloud-based nature promotes collaborative work, allowing learning designers and subject matter experts to collaborate from anywhere in the world. This flexibility enhances the content creation, review, and delivery process, making it more efficient.

• Responsive eLearning design ensures that courses look and function perfectly on any device.
• Interactive features within Gomo engage learners effectively
• Excels in multi-language support,
• Lacks built-in features for webcam or screen recording.
• Clunky and unnecessarily lengthy course creation architecture.

Remember that every elearning design and development tool has its trade-offs, and it’s essential to consider your specific requirements when choosing an eLearning development solution.

Importance of Effective eLearning Development

eLearning development will be successful only if created in the most effective manner. Here’s why:

• Enhances Accessibility : It lets employees access training anytime, anywhere. This removes barriers related to location and time.
• Supports Personalized Learning : Employees can learn at their own pace and focus on areas they need to improve, which boosts their performance.
• Reduces Costs : It cuts travel, accommodation, and material expenses, saving the organization money. Corporates have saved, on average, 200-300 dollars per employee when replacing instructor-led courses with online training courses ( source ). 
• Offers Scalability : The organization can train many employees at once, ensuring consistent training quality.
• Improves Retention : Interactive content engages employees better, which leads to improved knowledge retention. eLearning increases retention rates by 25% and 60% ( source ). 
• Provides Real-time Feedback : Employees get immediate feedback, which helps them improve and learn quickly. On the other hand, organizations get feedback on the course quality, helping them adjust the eLearning program.

Choose the Right eLearning Development Tools!

Just like following a structured approach is crucial for successful eLearning development, selecting the right tools is equally important.

The software you choose can empower your team to create engaging, effective learning experiences, while the wrong choice can hinder creativity and slow progress.

So, before diving headfirst, consider your specific needs and carefully evaluate available tools. Do your research, explore free trials, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Remember, the perfect eLearning development tool is out there waiting to unlock your team’s full potential.

Ready to start your journey?

Here are some key questions to consider as you choose your tools:

• What type of content will you create (e.g., videos, quizzes, simulations)?
• What technical expertise does your team have?
• What budget constraints do you face?
• What features are essential for your workflow and learning objectives?

By answering these questions and exploring your options, you’ll be well on your way to selecting the perfect tools to empower your eLearning development process.

About the author

Proprofs editorial team.

The ProProfs Training Maker Editorial Team is a passionate group of eLearning experts dedicated to empowering your learning experiences with top-notch training content. We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you're getting the most reliable resources to enhance your training initiatives.

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A guide to effective digital course design and delivery from four online teaching experts

Chrysi Rapanta consolidates the knowledge of four online teaching experts to produce guidance on what pedagogical content knowledge faculty need in order to develop effective digital courses. Here, we have condensed her research to present the collective key findings

Chrysi Rapanta

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The sudden shift from face-to-face to online classes has forced many in higher education to rethink and redesign their teaching practices to deliver classes from home, often without proper technical support.  

A significant challenge for university teachers has been their lack of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) needed for teaching online. Such knowledge includes technical and administrative aspects of teaching online such as using digital platforms and tools and organising workflows. It also includes the pedagogical principles needed to design for, and facilitate, meaningful online learning experiences. 

The Covid-19 crisis has brought forth a plethora of advice, much of it focused on tools and materials teachers can use to replace their face-to-face classes, but often without the context needed to judge what will work where.  

To address this, Chrysi Rapanta presented four online teaching experts with many years collective experience with five questions in order to shed light on effective approaches to digital course design and implementation - we have condensed the answers below:

1. In what aspects do you think online learning design and delivery is different from face-to-face teaching and learning?   

Good online teaching requires careful student-centred design ahead of any classes taking place. It shifts the focus of classes from teacher and subject matter to student and activity-based learning. 

Online learning is more reliant on materials (text, video, exercises) than direct personal interaction (discussion, presentation).  

To be effective, it requires clear communication and instruction from teachers as there is less opportunity for refinement through interaction.  

Extra communication channels are needed so instructors can get key messages to all students, be aware of their needs and make it easy for students to talk to one another, sharing experiences and tips. At least one channel or chatroom should be private to the students with no teacher access. 

Remote students are more autonomous, so online courses should offer flexibility, making students the owners of their learning process. 

Evaluation and assessment require a total overhaul of traditional exams with continuous evaluation or a separation of formative and summative evaluations. 

Greater empathy is needed for students struggling to adapt to new modes of learning, the stress of pandemic and associate upheaval of "normal" life. Loss of face-to-face behavioural cues means that teachers must be more proactive in touching base with students. 

2. What do you think makes online teaching and learning successful? 

Student-centred design :  thinking about what students will have to do to learn. Focusing on content can result in poor-quality video, which will not achieve its goal, while focusing on what learners will do puts them in motion and creates opportunities to help them learn.  

Proper task analysis :  thinking about the practicalities of students’ situations and how they will interact with, say, a text, video or podcast. If students cannot easily print, avoid sending a 30-page text, for example. It is advisable to acquire some knowledge of learners’ needs, aptitudes and abilities. Hosting a welcome forum or activity can help instructors get to know the learners and establish class rapport.  

Flexibility : enable students to find a balance with their own "new normal" by, for instance, allowing flexi-time, asynchronous classes and avoiding several hours in a row of videoconferencing. Also, allow for customisation of the curriculum so that you can offer personalised learning pathways and individualised support. 

Active involvement of learners :  encourage student co-design of learning activities. Enabling students to modify tasks teachers set for them and reconfigure learning environments, recommended tools and resources and working relationships will boost their engagement and foster self-regulation. Instructors can construct guiding questions and discussion prompts to encourage probing, interrogating, critiquing and relating to content and other learners. 

Effective planning : chunking and pacing content, designing a schedule of assignment due dates and setting a regular schedule for activities makes progress easier for students and teachers.  

Learning is social : we learn from and with others, even if at a distance. Teachers should be present online by providing timely and accurate feedback, both on questions and evaluations, alongside video lectures and seminars. Individualised feedback is a powerful learning engine.  

Excellent communications skills :  set well-explained tasks with clear rationales and listen carefully to what students are saying about their experiences, what is working well for them and what is not. Working online, a challenge is the loss of normal face-to-face cues, so learners and instructors must work harder to pick up on and correctly interpret the cues available.  

Promote peer contact and collaboration : this should be formal and informal, through group assignments or by introducing peer-teaching or peer-assessment. 

Wise use of technology :  use learning analytics to shape course design decisions and monitor student progress. Always think about the pedagogical purpose first, then select the technology that will support this. 

Learner prep : help students prepare themselves to engage in online learning with a welcome message setting out the structure, types of assignments and tips for success prior to the course start date. 

3: What would you say to non-expert colleagues who follow a materials-based approach to online teaching? 

Good teachers are mediators between the content and the learners. They create pathways so that everyone can learn, whatever their cognition, motivation and self-esteem. When we are online, materials alone cannot provide the mediation, a teacher is needed to provide guidance, feedback, answer questions, monitor student progress and much more. 

If a course offered only pre-prepared materials, with no dialogue, feedback or opportunity for teachers to adapt, then the risks of failure would be high and struggling students will go unnoticed. 

Nonetheless, good materials are a key ingredient in online teaching and should be accurate and accessible to students and support the appropriate level of autonomy. 

4: What would you say to colleagues who follow a tools-based approach to online teaching?    

Very often, institutions and educators start thinking about the tool first rather than the pedagogical issues. The pedagogical purpose must come first, then the tool chosen to support it.  

Tools such as videoconferencing can offer useful ways to engage in live interaction (Q&A, feedback, project reviews) but should not be used as a vehicle to move face-to-face teaching content online, such as hour-long lectures, without redesigning the style of teaching and content to suit the tool being used. 

5. What are some effective ways of monitoring students’ engagement and learning during online courses? How can they inform assessment? 

Continuous assessment is key in online education, so collecting information in the form of work, artefacts and reflections that can be measured against competence performance criteria throughout the course is crucial. 

Teachers can monitor students’ activities and ongoing progress via the Learning Management System (LMS) – so-called learning analytics. This means identifying key indicators and setting up a way to measure and control them. Key indicators could be downloading a text, posting to a forum, logging in and accessing the course at least once a week. If these indicators are properly defined and communicated to students, they can form part of an ongoing evaluation. 

The use of ePortfolios, for example, is a strategy that is highly recommended for online education. It allows the students to collect evidence of their learning and reflect about it and the teacher to facilitate the monitoring of the process. 

In spring 2020, the coronavirus pandemic caused a lot of higher education institutions to pass to the online learning mode. 

So a personal and research worry that immediately occupied my mind was: how can we help face-to-face university teachers adapt to the online teaching and learning environment? 

In order words – what is the pedagogical content knowledge that university teachers must know in order to become, from one day to another, online teachers? 

This research question led me to identify four people with an extended experience in online teaching and the design of online learning environments. 

Each expert has significant experience in projects all around the world, including the Global South. 

Three of them are currently teaching in face-to-face universities and one of them at a distance university. 

Using the expert interview method, each identified expert replied to five questions, the same ones, which then allowed for a comparative analysis of the answers.  

In this presentation, I will only focus on the experts’ answers to the second question:  

What makes online teaching and learning successful? 

Successful online learning means learning socially. Learning is a social phenomenon, and online learning provides several opportunities for learners to interact and collaborate with each other. This can be done in several forms, either asynchronously, for example, for group assignments.  

But, also, synchronously, meaning that the teacher does not talk alone during a videoconference session but tries to engage students, allow space and place for the voices to be heard, for example through peer assessment exercises or through peer teaching. 

Successful online learning also entails a careful planning of the activities and tasks learners will engage with, as well as continuous communication between the teacher and the learners regarding what works well and what needs to be reconfigured.  

Allowing learners to be co-designers of the learning experience is an essential aspect also, because it contributes in their self-regulation. 

Focusing more on the self-regulation aspect of online learning, online pedagogy should be agile, promoting flexibility and customisation of the curriculum of its course, as well as engaging, focusing on the active participation of learners in the learning process.  

For example, through the creation of portfolios or through the creation of content for their peers and the wider public. 

In between careful preparation of the course and its activities, and learners’ enhanced interaction and participation, there lies learners’ preparation. Teachers must make sure that from the beginning, learners are well aware of the course contents, structure and assignments as well as the course expectations. 

Also, teachers must make sure that accessibility to the course’s materials and resources is guaranteed for all learners. 

For example, we cannot expect that learners will read online a 30-page document, while most probably won’t have access to printing facilities. 

Overall, the article published in Elsevier’s Postdigital Science and Education journal contributes in our better understanding of teaching presence in online learning environments, designed in emergency situations or not. 

This presence has at least three main dimensions: 

A cognitive presence, focusing on how teachers take into consideration learners’ preparedness to participate in the online learning experiences. Are the activities designed in ways that they take into account learners’ level of ability and self-regulation? 

A social presence, referring to the social communication channels that teachers must open to maintain, and possibly enhance, the lost face-to-face contact of students-to-students and student-to-teacher interaction.  

And a facilitative presence, with synchronous instruction allowing place and space for dialogical teaching, listening to students’ voices and embodying materials and resources.  

At the same time, the selection of tools for synchronous interaction, as well as the creation of opportunities for learners to interact with rich media, must take available bandwidth into consideration.  

Moreover, this triple teaching presence expands over all aspects of the learning activity, including tools, activities and learning context. 

For more information, you can access the full text of the article on this link. 

Read the full research paper:  Online university teaching during and after the Covid-19 crisis: Refocusing teacher presence and learning activity  

Published in  Postdigital Science and Education   

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How to create an online course: a step by step guide

Online course creation is an inalienable part of online learning implementation and development. It takes a lot of time and effort, so mistakes are costly. However, novices and seasoned online course developers still make a lot of mistakes during the process. In this post, we will explore online course creation step-by-step guide to help you craft the course that is relevant, engaging, and as a result - successful.

Sergiy has 18 years of experience in eLearning and management. Creating educational programs, career paths, online and offline courses he is making the educational world better as a co-founder of RG.

This guide presents specific course-building activities to assist instructors with course development, organization, and evaluation by emphasizing foundational theory and best practices.

There are many instructional system design models, most of which are based on popular ones, such as the  ADDIE model . Using the RACI Matrix, we will describe each step from the needed roles and responsibilities perspective and give you the estimated time frames for each stage based on our  online course development costs estimator .

Addie Explained

The ADDIE Model is a framework used to design and develop effective learning experiences. It is an acronym for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The ADDIE Model has been used in educational settings since the 1970s and is today’s most widely accepted instructional design process.

• ADDIE Model: The process

The ADDIE Model consists of five distinct stages:

• Development
• Implementation
• Evaluation.

Each stage involves activities aimed at understanding the needs of learners and designing instruction that meets those needs.

At each stage of the process, feedback from stakeholders (e.g., learners and instructors) is gathered to ensure that the final product meets their needs.

• ADDIE Model: Roles

There are various roles within the ADDIE Model that are responsible for different aspects of the instructional design process. These include:

•  Instructional Designers who analyze learner needs and design instruction;
• Developers who create instructional materials; Implementers who deliver instruction;
• Evaluators who assess outcomes of instruction both during and after implementation.
• ADDIE Model: Responsibilities

The Instructional Designer is primarily responsible for analyzing learner needs and designing appropriate instruction based on those needs. Developers create instructional materials such as course content, assessments, job aids or other learning tools based on the Instructional Designer’s specifications. Implementers ensure that instruction is delivered effectively by guiding instructors or facilitators as needed during delivery sessions or workshops. Finally, Evaluators measure outcomes to determine whether objectives have been met following implementation.

• ADDIE Model: The process, Roles and Responsibilities

The ADDIE model includes five steps:

• 1. ANALYZE:

Needs – analyze the essentials for your eLearning course.

Target audience – analyze your learners and gather as much information as possible on them.

Goals – analyze your broad goals for the course.

Learning objectives – identify what specific skills and knowledge you wish students to obtain.

Sequence – design the course sequence of the course content.

Instructional strategy – combine the content and the various resources, tools, and evaluation methods into one system.

• 3. DEVELOP:

Content – what media and resources will be used to support the eLearning efforts.

• 4. IMPLEMENT:

LMS – How will you organize your course delivery?

Course content delivery tools – What communication tools will you use to support your eLearning activities?

5. EVALUATE – Measure and evaluate your success

To perform the ADDIE model activities, you should coordinate your course development team and set the leading roles and responsibilities. We highly recommend using a RACI matrix to simplify this process and indicate prominent team roles and workforces.

• RACI matrix for roles of ADDIE model

R – Responsible – is the person who performs the task. There should be at least one responsible per task.

A – Accountable is the person who is ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task and the one who delegates the work to those responsible.

C – Consulters are those whose opinions are sought, typically the subject matter experts (SME)

I – Informed persons are kept up-to-date on progress; generally, they only complete the task or deliverables.

Let’s explore the peculiarities of these roles in more detail.

The instructional designer (ID) is responsible for the overall instructional strategy. During the analysis and course design, the ID works with the Subject Matter Experts (SME) to define which skills and knowledge need to be covered in the course, choose the appropriate instructional strategy and support the team in defining the delivery and evaluation strategies.

The Instructional designer  also plays a significant role in the media production as the ID manages and validates the assets and deliverables for the design and development stages.

Subject Matter Expert (SME) contributes to the knowledge and information required for each course. SME collaborates with the ID to design the course and define evaluation strategies. The SME may supply the texts for the eLearning lessons depending on the course developed.

Media Creator is responsible for creating media content for the eLearning course.

Technical Developer (TD)  is responsible for the technical implementation of the online course content (or online course media) delivery. Therefore, TD is expected to work in close liaison with media creators.

Translator (optional) . The translation is a part of the localization of the online course. The TD does the localization with the contribution of the translator. Translators may also be used to produce translated text for narration or scripts for video clips.

The technical Support Specialist (TSS)  is responsible for ensuring that the necessary software tools are working correctly and assist producers and users of the online course at every stage of the process.

Course Administrator  is the Product Owner and individual that manages an online course and its users. The course administrator either enrolls trainees in the course or validates requests to enroll in the course.

LMS Site Administrator  is a staff member responsible for managing the eLearning platform, providing daily support, and keeping the ongoing operations of the eLearning platform LMS stable. The LMS Site Administrator creates the area on the platform for the eLearning course and may assist with publishing your courses to the platform.

The instructor  is a trainer for the course.  In the case of blended learning , they play an essential role in the course support. Whereas in self-paced learning, the position is more oriented towards providing answers to the learners through the communication channels (email exchange, discussion forum, etc.).

The ADDIE Model Navigation Board displayed below will help you to better orient in the online course creation process.

• ADDIE Model Navigation Board

ADDIE Step 1: Analyze.

• Estimated timeframe (30-40 hours)

Needed roles for the Analyze stage

• Analyze Needs

In our case, the need analysis represents the gap between the current level of skill and knowledge and the desired level of performance the organization wants to achieve. After the needs analysis, you will have an excellent foundation for your learner persona.

• Analyze Target audience

Every student is different, so it’s a good idea to make your course suitable for your target audience from a behavioral perspective. Shift LMS creators propose a classification of learners from a behavioral perspective.

Classification of learners from a behavioral perspective

Formulate goals.

Goals are general statements about what you hope students will gain from your course and which “gaps” will be filled. Generally, a course goal is stated as “Students will gain an understanding of” or “Students will develop an appreciation of”. The nature, definition, and assessment of goals will vary depending on defined Gaps. As a result, there are several different ways goals can be articulated:

• Focusing on benefits: You should define course goals broadly, focusing on the anticipated benefits to students from participation in a course program. For example, after finishing this course, students will get Critical thinking, Creative writing, Research skills, Communication skills, etc., depending on the learning discipline.
• Focusing on the action: If you want to understand How to implement eLearning in an effective manner , you should keep in mind the subject of your courses and define a course goal. You should complete this phase by describing what students should and/or will be able to do by the end of the program. When your audience’s needs, personas, and course goal(s) are defined, you are ready to start the Design step.

ADDIE Step 2: Design.

• Estimated timeframe (134-184 hours).

Needed roles for the Design stage

After the course analysis and design, you should start the content creation process.

But beforehand, you need to define  How to structure your online course and what types of content you want to see in your online course. Clearly, stated Learning Objectives come in handy at this stage.

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How to formulate the Learning Objectives?

• 1. Setting Learning Objectives

Learning goals and learning objectives are directly connected. To understand the connection between them, consider the learning plan as a strategic category and the learning objective as a tactic category: What objectives should you set to reach the goal?

Learning Objectives are specific statements that include both an action verb and a content reference. Objectives are not broad, long-term goals such as “improving students’ ability to communicate.” According to the Carnegie Mellon University, practical learning objectives should be compliant with the following statements:

Learning Objectives must be student-centered

Learning Objectives must be both observable and measurable

Learning objectives should be formulated in a way that helps the learner understand how it will help them reach their Learning Goal. Such learning objectives will motivate learners to move towards this goal.

Articulating your learning objectives can be challenging at first. Here are some resources to help:

Writing Measurable Learning Objectives  – Arizona State University

Samples of learning objectives  – Carnegie Mellon University

When the online course goals are determined, you can move to the next step: create a course outline. This can be as simple as a topical outline or as detailed as a storyboard (or both).

• 2. Determine Sequence

Defined learning objectives are the basis for course structure and sequence. Different methods can be applied to design the best structure for your course. Course structuring methods depend on the learning goal(s).

In a job-oriented course, the content can be organized to follow the order of the actions in a natural job environment; this is the job-context principle.

In a non-job-oriented course, concepts can be organized according to their structural connections, such as by:

describing the characteristics of a class before describing its members;

providing examples first, then definitions;

starting with concrete information and then proceeding to abstract or complex concepts.

The outcome of the sequencing is an accurate course structure where each element corresponds to a specific learning objective and contributes to the achievement of the overall course goal(s).

Once the course structure has been defined, the instructional designer must propose the best mix of methods and techniques in each online course structure segment.

3. Define Instructional strategy

An instructional strategy is a long-term, high-level plan of accomplishing course goal(s) through available learning resources (the methods, techniques, and devices used to instruct learners).

The Instructional designer should bind learning and design theory knowledge with accumulated information from learning goals, objectives, and target audience analysis to create the instructional strategy.

The instructional strategy states what instructional methods should be used in some particular online course.

There are three types of instructional methods:

Expositive methods emphasize the “absorption” of new information. Expositive methods include presentations, case studies, worked examples, demonstrations.

Application methods emphasize the active processes learners use to perform principle-based tasks and build new knowledge. Application methods include demonstration-practice method, job aids, case-based or scenario-based exercises, role-play, simulations and serious games, guided research, project work.

Collaborative methods emphasize the social dimension of learning and engage learners in sharing knowledge and performing tasks in a coordinated way. They include online guided discussions, collaborative work, and peer tutoring.

Let’s recap what we need to have at the end of the Design stage:

Gaps in knowledge/skills are defined

Types of learners are defined, and a general approach to them is chosen

Online course goals are set according to Gaps and types of learners

Learning Objectives and online course structure are stated

An instructional strategy is chosen

Having all the above on your plate, you can move to actual content development.

ADDIE Step 3: Content Development.

• Estimated timeframe (125-235 hours)

Needed roles for the Content development stage

Using Learner’s needs analysis, you can identify how your target audience will study better. ID guides you with an eLearning strategy, and you are almost ready to create excellent learning content. To succeed, you should use the best practices of the 70:20:10 model and develop course content and activities according to Bloom’s taxonomy.

• Bloom’s Taxonomy

If you’re new to  online course creation , consider Bloom’s Taxonomy to balance your course activities while engaging a diverse group of learning styles with one all-inclusive course curriculum . Traditional educators have been using  Bloom’s Taxonomy  since the late 1940s.

In the taxonomy, learners start at the base layer, or the “Remember” step, and work their way up as they master the content in the increasingly complex layers. The infographic includes a few suggested activities that apply to the experience of learning online.

But how can Bloom’s taxonomy be used in content creation practice? It is directly connected with Course Outline and Learning Objectives:

Your course outline is a sequence of content materials to reach your learning objectives.

Action Keywords represent your learners’ checkpoints that help them achieve Learning Objectives.

Use the action keywords described above to create the most effective content to reach some checkpoints on the way to the Learning Objective.

Below are some examples of how to choose applicable pieces of content for some real-world cases of online course creation:

While creating your course content, leverage modern techniques of engaging students, such as  Gamification ,   VR ,   Immersive Learning , and others.

• 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development

Effective learning comes down to getting the mix between  formal and informal learning  just right with the  70:20:10 model . 70:20:10 is a ratio of McCall’s research which revealed that informal learning.

70% experiential learning and 20% social learning are responsible for 90% of what learners know. Informal learning is usually less structured and more spontaneous than formal training.

The last 10% comes from learning where the content is based on theory and facts. Formal learning gives the facts, figures, and solid foundations to build the remaining 90% of students’ development.

The exact figures of the 70:20:10 model are not the “golden ratio” but are handy landmarks.

Experiential learning – 70%

A massive 70% of what students know is learned through hands-on experience, daily tasks, and challenges. You should think about how to create the best learning practices to improve your students’ skills in the real world.  Virtual Reality and work simulation  are great tools for modern learning and  custom eLearning development . Using such tools, you can bring a fantastic learning experience in a safe virtual learning environment.

Social learning – 20%

Learning doesn’t happen in isolation. McCall’s research discovered that students learn through their relationships by sharing knowledge and observing others. Social learning is another type of informal learning because it is usually self-directed, spontaneous, and less structured than formal learning. You can use social features to encourage your students and share the course content. For example, you could create chat rooms where organization staff can share their specialist knowledge and know-how with others and answer questions. All this collaboration and communication feeds into 20% of learning that comes from social interactions.

Formal learning – 10%

Formal learning is an essential part of any learning strategy. It forms the basis of successful learning.

Formal learning is a support frame and amplifier for learning. Whatever you create, you should make sure that this essential part of learning is engaging. This helps make the benefits and purpose of the training clear and shows learners why their development matters.  Mobile learning technologies  can deliver essential formal training wherever and whenever learners need it – straight to their smartphones. So, whenever students need help, they will have the proper training to hand.

Let’s recap what should be ready at the end of the  Development stage :

Needs and audience are defined

The Learning Goal and the general approach to learners are defined

Learning Objectives and Online Course Outlines are ready

Instructional Strategy for each Learning Objective is chosen

Action Keyword for each Comprehension Level of each Learning Objective is chosen

Applicable pieces of content for each Action Keyword are planned

Course content is created using the 70:20:10 approach

The next step is to create an environment or online course infrastructure to deliver your content to learners – the “Implement” stage.

ADDIE Step 4: Implement.

• Estimated Timeframe 62-83 hrs

Needed roles for the Implementation Stage

The implementation phase is delivering the online course content to students. To do this, you need to create an infrastructure that includes the following elements:

Learning Management System (LMS)

Course Content Delivery Tools

A learning management system, or LMS, facilitates delivery and management of all learning offerings, including online,  virtual classroom , and instructor-led courses. It automates the learning course and efficiently delivers training, manages learners, and keeps track of their progress and performance across training activities, which reduces administrative overhead.

There are two types of LMS:

Proprietary LMS is licensed under the exclusive legal right, restricted from modification, further distribution, reverse engineering, and other uses. They are closed-source with license costs per user. Some popular Proprietary LMS: TalentLMS, Litmos, iSpring, NEO LMS

Open-source LMS works under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The license is intended to guarantee the freedom to share and change the program and ensure its freedom. Good examples of open-source LMS are eFront, Moodle, and the LMS we focus on—Open edX.

Want to know more about Open edX and why we believe it’s a great LMS technology? Check out our blog posts on the topic:

• Open edX: What Is It And Why 19 Million People Use It?

Why You Should Choose the Open edX® Platform

There are a lot of resources that can help you choose the LMS that would suit you best . Please  Contact Us  so we can help you understand whether Open edX is a way to go.

Some LMSs have the necessary content delivery tools for content digitization, organizing online webinars, arranging files and video hosting, etc.

However, many organizations use additional content delivery tools like chats, animations, eLearning authoring tools, etc.

• ADDIE Step 5: Evaluate

What is the purpose of the evaluation? Evaluating your online course outcomes can give you a powerful impulse for further development. You can improve your content to increase engagement.

The best practice of learning course evaluation is described in the  Kirkpatrick model , which encompasses four levels:

learners’ reactions

Evaluating learners’ reactions means understanding how those who participate in the program react to the course. In facilitated online training, learners’ participation is monitored by the facilitator throughout the course period. It can be measured through questionnaires and surveys, usually submitted to learners at the end of the online course.

Evaluation (or assessment) of learning measures the achievement of intended learning objectives. Depending on the type, this can imply that participants have increased knowledge, developed skills, and changed attitudes due to attending the course. Talking about corporate training is more effective to use  ROI measurement techniques  to estimate the expected outcomes of the training.

Evaluation can be done to accomplish specific evaluation purposes. First, you should decide if you want to evaluate the course during the development stage to improve it before it is finalized.  Otherwise, you can measure the effectiveness by the end of the course.

In other words, you may want to evaluate a course:

During the development stage, to improve instructional courses or products (formative evaluation);

During or immediately after the implementation stage, measure the effectiveness of education training and learning (summative evaluation).

Actual course creation can be tricky, but if you know your audience and core message, you will just need the right people for the corresponding roles – eLearning specialists will do the rest when you’re good with the basics. Explore different instructional design models to enhance the structure and delivery of your content. After your first run through the five steps outlined in this post for online course creation, it will become increasingly easier to build future courses.

Raccoon Gang has in-depth expertise in creating custom eLearning solutions for eLearning businesses in different domains. Our experts can consult you on an online courses creation. All you need to do is drop us a line , and our representative will contact you within 24-hours.

What are the five steps in the ADDIE training process model?

What is the first step in the addie training process, how do you formulate a course.

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• 5. EVALUATE - Measure and evaluate your success
• Formulate Goals
• 3. Define Instructional strategy
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Basic Steps of Course Development

The following information provides you with an overview of the major steps that are a part of the Course Development Process and a guide to some of the resources on this site:

This step helps set the parameters for the development of the course because it specifies what students should specifically be able to do as the result of their taking this course. It is often best to use “action verbs” to state what you want students to learn because they are based on observable actions or products. See the material on Writing Measurable Coures Objectives in the Course Design section of our Teaching Guides for more information.

This step involves a survey of alternative teaching strategies for helping students meet the goals of the course through the activities that you provide. A starting point for getting some ideas for teaching approaches can be found here in our Teaching Guides.

The section of this site on Assessment and Feedback includes information on different types of assignments you might assign students and strategies for providing good feedback.

Teaching and especially learning can take place in many different places and at different times of the day/week, and it is useful to try to vary where and when students experience learning and to build that idea into course development. Learning can occur within the classroom, in the community, in a science lab or clinical setting, in the library, in front of a computer at home or on campus, alone or in an actual or virtual group.

There are many tools available out there to assist in the enhancement of teaching and learning and the list grows longer each year. A challenge is in finding ways to refine the use of the ones available so they work for your class and your students, as well as to take advantage of newer ones as they come available. Fairly standard technologies include chalkboards/whiteboards, projectors, bulletin boards, slides, films and video. Add to these the thousands of resources and tools available through the internet. CTL offers frequent training and workshops on the technology available for teaching here at UNC Charlotte. Check out the Calendar of Events for more details.

Students often need to know a set of content before they can learn other types of content, or they have to master certain tasks or skills before they can move onto more complicated learning experiences. This developmental approach to teaching and learning suggests that a key task is to make certain that students encounter learning activities in a logical progression from simple to more complex. The material on writing learning objectives, particularly module/unit level objectives, included in the course design section of tthis site is one way to examine developmental processes.

A course is a continuous process (rather than a product) that leads to an enhancement of teaching and learning experiences, if time and effort is given to reflecting on and assessing the results of that process. The goal is to examine information that indicates the extent to which the teaching and learning practices led to the learning outcomes desired by the teacher (and perhaps the student) and why they “worked” or “did not work”. This last step involves consideration of a whole range of issues, including assumptions about teaching and learning, as well as issues related to the results of the decisions made at each of the previous steps. See the section on assessment and feedback for more information.

Additional Resources

Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (Northern Illinois University) This instructional design framework shows nine steps to systematically prepare and deliver lessons and activities.

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Effective Training Methods for Your Online Learning Programs

4 min reading time

Olivia McGarry , Content Marketer at LearnUpon

Have you recently switched from in-person to online training? Most learning leaders and trainers  have had to quickly embrace this major shift over the last year. And with many being thrown in at the deep end of remote learning, we wanted to help. This post explores the different types of training methods you can use to create effective online learning programs.

Clear objectives are key

Before you can choose a training method, or even create a course, you’ll need to know the objective of your training. Keep in mind what you want to achieve through this training. Setting this will give clarity to your learners and create a clear path to reaching your business’s learning goals.

Training objectives are the intended measurable outcome that your learners will achieve once they’ve finished a course. When creating them, it’s crucial to detail the knowledge that will be acquired and what learners will be able to achieve through learning this information.

Keep them concise, and use focused statements that break down what each course will accomplish. And, importantly, how they will help reach the business’s goals.

With your objectives set, it’s time to find the best online training methods for your learners.

Types of online training methods

There are many different ways of engaging your learners. It’s likely that over the course of a training programme, you’ll need to combine different types of training methods to get the best results. Here, we explore some of the most successful types of training for online learners.

Webinars/Live learning sessions

Easy to use and with no shortage of software options, webinars or live learning sessions are a key method to utilize within online learning programs. You have the ability to carry out virtual instructor -led classrooms, which have similar aspects to in-person ones. For example, in many webinar tools, learners have the option to raise their hand to ask a question or share feedback, making the experience as close to in-person as you can get.

Many learning management systems (LMS) give you the ability to integrate with a webinar tool . If you have access to an LMS, we recommend that you switch webinar integrations on. The advantages are huge – your scheduling, registration and attendance records are centralized within your LMS, reducing time-consuming admin tasks associated with manually managing this training method.

Webinars are the perfect training type to repurpose for future course content. Done in a couple of clicks, you can record your sessions and save them for later. If you’re using an LMS, it’s a simple case of uploading the recordings and adding them as a module or course in your online training programs.

Our favorite webinar tools are MS Teams, GoToWebinar, Zoom and Webex, but you can use the webinar tool you’re most comfortable and familiar with.

Another learning method we love – video. Whether it’s an employee onboarding video or a product demo for customers, a training video’s sole purpose is educating or instructing your learners on a specific topic, to teach a skill or share information.

You can use a variety of methods to create a video for online training, and there’s an abundance of software to help you. Our favourite video editing software has to be Camtasia by TechSmith. For example, when you have a process or product functionality to explain to your learners, sometimes the spoken word isn’t the best way to communicate this information. Instead, try using screen capture . This allows you to quickly record a process so you can show your learners how to do it instead of telling them.

Another great way to make video a training method, is through PowerPoint. This is handy because it means any presentation you have on file can be repurposed for training. Remember that course content doesn’t always have to be built from scratch! It’s as simple as converting your existing PowerPoint presentations to video. You can even add a voiceover to talk through the presentation and capture your learners’ attention.

Social learning

Social learning plays a significant role in knowledge retention, making it a key online training method. Think about it – when people get involved in an important or lively discussion, they tend to recall the information better. Why? Because they contributed to the topic and, as a result, relate to it on a personal level.

If you have a learning management system, make it a priority to encourage discussions within your LMS forum.

This provides an environment where learners can:

• Contribute and interact
• Observe the contributions and conversations of others

Learners can observe the discussions of others, enabling them to learn from the experiences of others and gain new perspectives.

If you don’t have access to a learning management system, we recommend creating a ‘Learning’ channel within your internal messaging system. That way, your learners can still ask questions and easily discuss each course with their fellow learners.

Is there an easier way?

While each of these online training methods can be used on a standalone basis, they are often much more effective when used in combination. But, these siloed methods can become synchronized through centralized storage. If you don’t have access to an LMS, our best advice would be to keep all your training materials and courses stored in one place, and to keep an inventory of each course, the training methods used and all associated content.

To learn more about how an LMS can help you centralize your training, check out how CENTURY 21 Affiliated adapted and embraced remote learning at lightning speed , or how Premium Retail Services implemented forward-thinking online training strategies .

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Training methods, methodologies, and tools

There are plenty of training methods to consider—here’s how to pick the right one for your team.

When it comes to choosing the right training methods for your organization or team, there’s absolutely no shortage of options to choose from. But how do you choose the training method that’s right for your employees? We’ll break down the various training methods that are available to you and share some questions to consider to select the best training method for your team’s wants and needs.

It takes serious effort to create a training program that actually sticks after your employees have gone through it and started their jobs. The thing is, if you’re using boring old lectures to convey important information, you may be putting your organization at risk. Whether your company operates heavy machinery, works with others’ money, sells products for babies or children, or otherwise has an easily identifiable risk associated with the work – which most companies do – you want to make sure your rules and procedures stay with your workers over the long term.

How, you’re wondering? Use the right training methods. Stuffy training methodologies that rely on rote learning often won’t do the trick. Many workers aren’t scholars, and traditional classroom learning needs a serious tune-up in order to reach them. That’s why you need to adopt training methodologies and tools that reach your learners where they’re at, taking into account their specific needs, their learning styles, and the goals of the training. This often involves software coupled with a more hands-on, on-the-job approach. Read on to learn more about how you can train your employees, deliver material, use classroom-style training effectively, and more.

Employee training methods

There are several employee training methods in the workplace today. Which employee training methods end up working for you will depend on your own personal style, the structure of your workplace, how many employees you need to onboard, what you’re teaching, what your employees need to learn, their individual learning styles, whether you’re teaching brand-new employees or helping older ones brush up on material or add to their preexisting knowledge base, and more. Although it can sound confusing to take all these factors into account, all you really need to do is consider the current types of training methods in human resource management available to you and choose the one that seems to fit your needs the best. Although there are many types of training available, let’s go over a few of the most common.

Classroom-style training is still one of the most effective training methods for new employees. However, you have to be careful to approach it correctly, as many employees won’t respond well to being handed a book and expected to learn. You have to interact and engage learners and make the knowledge stick by using real-world examples and drawing clear applications to your organization. If you can do all this, your training program will likely be very successful. Often it helps to use software, which responds readily to the needs of various learners, can go at different paces, and adapts to a variety of training situations.

Other effective business training methods include 1:1 training, which matches one learner with one instructor to show them the ropes. If you can spare the resources, this can be an excellent way to quickly familiarize a new employee with their job-to-be. Methods for employee training in the workplace also include job shadowing, which is similar to 1:1 training in that the trainee will follow an experienced worker around to learn their job. However, they are supposed to play the role of a “shadow,” meaning that there is less interaction between the experienced worker and the new employee, as the latter just watches and learns and sometimes asks questions. This is a better way to get a feel for what an actual day, or week, or more, will look like for that new employee.

Self-training, which relies on the new employee conducting research to learn what they need to know for the job, is also an employee training method learning style. Other types of training methods in training and development include bulk training, where you train large numbers of employees at once, and automated training, such as we offer here at Lessonly.

Automated training can help you reach large numbers of employees all at once, or it can allow you to train individual employees as they come on board quickly and easily, so that you don’t have to waste time waiting for a large enough batch of employees to justify a classroom series or other group training approach. By using tailored software, you reach employees immediately, giving them the skills they need to become valuable employees right away.

The Value of Enablement Report

Training delivery methods

Once you know what you want to teach the employees you’re onboarding and have decided on a training method, you’ve still got to figure out how to get it to them. This can be a tough prospect, especially since many companies aren’t even working with a solid training delivery methods definition. In essence, a training delivery method is the way you get information to your employees. There are lots of ways to do this.

Oftentimes, organizations decide to mesh a little job shadowing with a little 1:1 training with a bit of book learning and maybe a training program on the side, but this might not be the best approach. Especially not if you’re looking to streamline your training delivery methods in order to routinize your onboarding process and keep costs down in the long run.

Instead, choose one or a few complementary types of training and stick to those, using them each time. For everything your trainees must learn outside the classroom (such as on the floor or in the field), build a routine training program around that. For everything inside the classroom, choose a training delivery method that keeps all the information together where it is easily accessible to learners day after day. At Lessonly, we believe firmly in the power of software to build solid training programs that meet learners where they’re at, stay organized, remain customizable and flexible, and work for you year after year.

Lots of companies are still stuck in the past, handing out disorganized Word documents to their employees and hoping the learning sticks. Often, however, it won’t, especially when that employee has a hard time finding the loose sheet of paper or sorting through the messy binder to locate it. Such mysteries don’t encourage learning, so avoid them with a highly streamlined, effective software training program dedicated to encouraging employee growth and building the work environment you dream of.

Traditional training methods

Traditional training methods for employees are still wildly popular for many organizations. While this is a great way to bring new hires up to speed, this method, and many other traditional training methods, are rapidly changing. Here’s a look at just a few traditional training methods:

Instructor-led classroom training

Classroom-style training is still the most traditional training method and most used. In fact, nearly half of a company’s training hours are used for classroom training. This method features a subject matter expert or training manager and a lecture-style presentation. It allows for a lot of personal interaction and ensures that everyone attends the training session. However, it’s also easy for this type of training to take a long time and become less engaging for learners.

Interactive training methods

Interactive training puts a spin on classroom-style training. This training method combines instructor-led training and lectures with group activities, workshops, and role play scenarios. While interactive training is great for outgoing teammates, it can intimidate some of your quieter employees.

Hands-on training

This type of training method usually jumps right into practical training. Sometimes, this means that new hires are paired with a trainer or buddy to learn and complete tasks. This approach is preferred by adult learners and gives new hires the chance to dive in and help their team from day one.

When considering the traditional training methods advantages and disadvantages, you must also take into account the fact that newer employees may prefer digital training methods. Let’s learn more.

Online training and development methods

Online training software, also known as computer-based training software , delivers training through computers or mobile devices. This type of digital training can mimic classroom-style training, support different training formats like video and quizzes, and empower learners to complete training at their own pace.

Here are just a few of our other favorite advantage over traditional classroom-style training:

• It is more efficient, requiring fewer resources in the form of training personnel.
• It is more effective, teaching in a way that allows learners to retain information for longer.
• It is often easier to use, because employees can use the software in the way that suits them best, rather than making do with the trainer’s teaching style.
• It has increased tracking capabilities, allowing managers or trainers to see where each student is at and provide additional help where needed.
• It is more cost-effective because training programs can be reused for years on many different employees.

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Effective training methods.

When you’re in charge of training employees, whether one at a time or dozens or even hundreds, you want to make sure you use the right methods. Training is a tried-and-true process that dates back to the invention of apprenticeship, but these days it’s become much more high-tech. Although many training methods work, when you are training employees for a team environment, software is often one of the most effective training methods. There are many reasons for this, including:

• Software keeps all employees on the same page at all times, on all sorts of topics.
• You can train a full team of employees while still respecting their different learning styles and allowing them to go at their own paces, within reason.
• Management has unprecedented tracking abilities, allowing them to stay up-to-date on their employee’s progress, offer help when necessary, make plans for improvement or enrichment, and more.
• Real-time tracking of a student’s learning is easier and more cost-effective than ever before.
• You can combine software training with other types of training, such as 1:1 training, job shadowing or more traditional classroom methods.
• Software is highly customizable, both for management before they distribute materials, and for learners as they use it.

Other effective training methods work well when they’re paired with software training, to ensure that learners receive the full breadth of necessary knowledge. You may even be wondering what training methods are effective in training executives, but good news: even with top-level employees, software training is highly effective.

Selecting the right training methods

When selecting training methods, there are lots of factors to consider. If you’re in between a few different choices, we suggest using a training delivery methods comparison or training delivery methods matrix to compare the different types of training and see which will best meet your needs.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much time, effort, or money you spend on training if it’s the wrong training delivery method. That’s why we suggest considering the answers to a few important questions to find the best training methods for your employees. Here a few questions we suggest walking through:

What’s the purpose of the training program : The first step is always to identify the objectives of your training program. Depending on your training goals, certain training methods will deliver better results.. For example, more traditional training methods, like classroom-based training, may be more effective for hands-on learning or training that involves team-building or open discussion. But, online training methods are better if you’re looking to regularly train employees over time.

Who’s the audience : Training is most effective when your learners understand the purpose of training and see how it can help them in their roles. So, it’s important to not only consider how many people you’ll be training but also where they’re located. If you have a large team that’s located across multiple locations or working remotely, you’ll need to find a training method that supports a dispersed team.

What are their learning needs and backgrounds : One-size training doesn’t work in today’s modern workplace. For example, you need to train and onboard new hires differently than you continuously develop and enable seasoned teammates.

What do they need to learn: It’s also important to consider the topic or information that will be covered during training. Not everyone learns at the same pace, so if you’re looking to train on something complex or in-depth, it may be better to provide training through online software as it gives employees the chance to revisit and review training as often as they need it.

What are your options for training: Of course, it’s also important to take inventory of your available training resources. If you’re looking to deliver in-person training, do you have a conference room or space that’s big enough for everyone? Additionally, do your subject-matter experts or trainers have the availability to train multiple sessions?

Do you have time restrictions : For some companies, training may need to be rolled out sooner rather than later. This means your training method needs to support fast and effective training delivery.

Of course, it’s good to use different cost-effective training methods to fulfill different training needs. For example, if you need your training to be basic, repeatable, and testable, software is probably a good way to go. If you are training on complex topics that require strategic planning and lots of discussions, an in-person environment is probably better. These training methodologies examples are just a few of the many out there, but use these models as ways to think about how to choose your ideal training methods, and you will do fine.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

This article is part of the research topic.

Education for the Future: Learning and Teaching for Sustainable Development in Education

Blending Pedagogy: Equipping Student Teachers to Foster Transversal Competencies in Future-oriented Education Provisionally Accepted

• 1 Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Blended teaching and learning, combining online and face-to-face instruction, and shared reflection are gaining in popularity worldwide and present evolving challenges in the field of teacher training and education. There is also a growing need to focus on transversal competencies such as critical thinking and collaboration. This study is positioned at the intersection of blended education and transversal competencies in the context of a blended ECEC teacher-training program (1000+) at the University of Helsinki. Blended education is a novel approach to training teachers, and there is a desire to explore how such an approach supports the acquisition of transversal competencies and whether the associated methods offer something essential for the development of teacher training. The aim is to explore what transversal competencies this teacher-training program supports for future teachers, and how students reflect on their learning experiences. The data consist of documents from teacher-education curricula and essays from the students on the 1000+ program. They were content-analyzed from a scoping perspective. Students' experiences of studying enhanced the achievement of generic goals in teacher education, such as to develop critical and reflective thinking, interaction competence, collaboration skills, and independent and collective expertise. We highlight the importance of teacher development in preparing for education in the future during the teacher training. Emphasizing professional development, we challenge the conventional teaching paradigm by introducing a holistic approach.

Keywords: blended teacher training, Transversal competencies, future of education, Teacher Education, early childhood education

Received: 19 Jan 2024; Accepted: 15 May 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Niemi, Kangas and Köngäs. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. Laura H. Niemi, Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Uusimaa, Finland

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Learn some of the key epidemiological considerations that need to be taken into account when designing and conducting a clinical trial

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Clinical drug development has evolved dramatically over time and the field continues to advance today. The methodology of clinical trials has evolved with new techniques being introduced. The design and statistical aspects have become more sophisticated in parallel with the increased use of technology and the introduction of new drug modalities. The rigor and discipline of this process means that people can trust that the medicines they take are likely to be safe and effective and that beneficial treatments can make their way through the process in a safe and timely manner.

Learning about the process of clinical drug development has important implications for anyone working in health care and related sectors. This advanced course offers a unique way for professionals to learn from leading Harvard Medical School faculty about how drugs are developed clinically and about the advances happening in this field that are ultimately helping to improve the treatment and prevention of disease.

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Introduction: Explore Universal Design for Learning

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Dates Tuesday, September 10 – Friday, November 1, 2024

Times 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET Find out when this starts in your time zone.

Location Online only!

Description

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn can make the postsecondary teaching and learning experience better for everyone. At the core of the UDL framework is the belief that learners are variable – what works for one learner will not work for the entire class. CAST’s Postsecondary and Workforce Development division offers a hybrid course to prepare higher education faculty, instructional designers, and administrators to apply the Universal Design for Learning framework in their courses and programs. The course content includes strategies to revamp learning goals, materials, technologies, methods, and assessments to remove barriers to learning for students. Creating and procuring accessible educational materials and technologies is emphasized as a critical aspect of UDL implementation. Upon course completion participants are eligible to submit a portfolio to receive the Postsecondary UDL credential.

Using the UDL framework and its practical guidelines, participants will gain:

• A broad overview of the UDL framework and its applications to postsecondary learning environments
• Skills required to create and vet accessible educational materials
• An understanding of how to support self-regulation and executive function for learners
• Strategies for assessing student learning that incorporate flexibility in how students respond

Who should enroll?

This course is designed primarily for instructors (faculty, adjuncts, lecturers), instructional designers, and administrators at postsecondary institutions.

To learn more about this online course, contact Sarah Hocking, Postsecondary & Workforce Operations Manager at [email protected].

Course Structure

This 8-week course consists of 4 modules, each lasting two-weeks in length. Each module will have one large-group, 90-minute, live Zoom session, one 60-minute facilitated small group meeting and self-paced learning.

Live sessions will be recorded and posted on the website for those who may need to miss a session, though we encourage you to be present, if possible, to get the most of your learning experience.

Sample Module Schedule:

• Week 1: 90-minute live zoom session; remainder of the week self-paced learning
• Week 2: 60-minute small group facilitated meeting; remainder of the week self-paced learning

Self-paced learning includes a website with online content from our trainers and a virtual workbook with writing prompts and to use for notetaking as you work through each module.

Live Zoom Presentations

All presentations will be held from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET

• Module 1: Getting Started with UDL, September 10, 2024
• Module 2: Accessibility in the Context of UDL, September 24, 2024
• Module 3: Addressing self-regulation through UDL, October 8, 2024
• Module 4: Re-envisioning assessment with a UDL lens, October 22, 2024
• Module 4: Culmination, November 1, 2024

Registration

Fee: $850 per person

Register here!

Refund Policy: 

Full refunds will be given to participants who email their withdrawal up to 7 days after the start of the course. Due to course demand, grading, and other work done on the part of course instructors and administrators, no refunds can be provided for withdrawals or no-shows once the above-listed deadlines have passed.

Online Course Withdrawal Policy: 

Withdrawals must be submitted via email to Sarah Hocking, Postsecondary & Workforce Operations Manager at [email protected].