Online Course Design Fundamentals

Decorative banner for the Online Course Design Fundimentals page.

The below resources are available to assist faculty with course design and course launch.

Backward Design Model

Backward design is a systematic approach to quality online course planning where the instructor is planning with the end in mind. There are three steps to the backward design model:

Identify Desired Results/Outcomes
What should students know and be able to do at the end of your course? These are your course learning outcomes.
Determine Acceptable Evidence
How do students demonstrate they have met the desired learning objectives? These are your course assessments.
Plan Learning Experiences, Instruction, and Resources
What instructional materials will help students provide evidence that they have met their learning outcomes? These are your course materials and activities.

What instructional materials will help students provide evidence that they have met their learning outcomes? These are your course materials and activities.

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are defined statements that detail what you would like your learner to achieve through a course. An appropriate learning outcome SLAMS:

Specific: Outcomes should focus on one specific task/action required of students.

Level-Oriented: Outcomes match the course level; a 100 or 200-level course will assess a different level of skill than a 500 or 600-level course.

Aligned: Outcomes should align and fit within the goals and outcomes of the larger program.

Measurable & Observable: Outcomes can be assessed in some way to show student attainment.

Student-Centered: Outcomes focus on student action rather than what the instructor will do or provide.

Course Outcomes vs. Module Outcomes

Many Program-level and Course-level Outcomes may already be established through the Senate approval process, while others may need to be developed for the first time. Module-level outcomes—referred to here as Module-level Objectives—may also be newly created or revised to better align with Course-level Outcomes. The terms outcomes and objectives are often used interchangeably, so this document will treat them as synonymous.

Program-level and Course-level Outcomes tend to be broad, overarching, and may sometimes appear vague. While they can be written to be measurable and observable, they often encompass multiple related high-level topics or concepts.

Module-level Objectives, on the other hand, break down these high-level outcomes into more focused, actionable standards. These objectives align with specific chunks of content, learning activities, and assessments, making them essential for instructional design.

The first step in the backward design model is to identify the desired results: what students should achieve by the end of the course. These desired results are your learning outcomes, which include both Course-level Outcomes and Module-level Objectives.

Think of learning outcomes as destinations on a course map: Course-level Outcomes are like latitude lines, providing broad direction, while Module-level Objectives are like longitude lines, offering precise guidance. Once you know your destination, answering the questions “How will I know when students have arrived?” and “What can I do to help them get there?” becomes much easier.

Assessment

The purpose of an assessment is to provide evidence of students’ mastery of your learning outcome(s); in other words, their mastery of what you intended for them to learn. Assessments that are aligned with your learning outcomes provide dependable evidence as to how well students are reaching those desired outcomes. Here’s a few examples of online assessments. Contact our UK Instructional Design Team to discuss additional assessment types.

Types of Online Assessments

Papers and Essays
Writing-based assessments are a great way to assess students’ understanding of core concepts and provide an opportunity for critical thinking and analysis. A writing assessment can take many forms, from a research paper or an article critique to a letter to the editor or press release. While a more time-consuming assessment to grade, crafting a rubric with detailed grading criteria can help save you time.

Quizzes and Exams
Quizzes and exams with objective and subjective question types can be useful for assessing the ability to recognize and recall content as well as describe and explain concepts. This is an easy assessment type to set up online, with objective question types being automatically graded by the learning management system

Discussions
Discussions are often used for generating student-to-student interaction based on an instructor-given prompt; this can be an effective way to gauge how well students are able to apply course concepts. Discussions could be course-wide or in small groups depending on the size of your course and the intended goal of the discussion. Think about how your discussion can go beyond “I agree” or “I disagree”. Could students be arguing for or against something? Could it be a space to share examples? Could students be given a fictional scenario to work through?

Media Creation
The creation of a tangible product can be a great way to assess student learning. Some examples of media products you may consider asking students to craft include infographics, advertisements, memes, websites, explainer videos, public service announcements, portfolios, and much more. As with writing assignments, crafting a rubric with detailed grading criteria can help set expectations.

Group Work
Group work allows students to collaborate with their peers, promoting teamwork. Any of the presented assessment examples can be configured into a group assessment. For example, you might ask students to create an infographic over a course concept as a group assessment rather than an individual assessment. While group work in the online space can be challenging, providing clear expectations and instructions will help facilitate this process.

Module Organization

Modules are an ideal design strategy that facilities successful course navigation and readability, especially in online learning environments. Modules allow course content to be categorized into manageable chunks of information, maximizing learners' capacity to engage with the course content and ultimately master the learning outcomes.

Modules should be organized in a way that guides learners through what they will learn (e.g., module level outcomes), how they will learn it (e.g., course materials and learning activities), and how their learning will be assessed (e.g., assignments and assessments).

A well-organized module will have a consistent layout and order, although the content included in the module could vary. A typically module will include, but is not limited to, the following:

Module Overview