Course Design

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Why do you need the course in the first place? Does a client require it? Does a hole exist in current training methods that could be patched with Web-based training? What information do you have to back this up? Summarize your data. By verifying the reasons why the instruction is needed, the factors that resulted in the need, we have a purpose. Once we have this, we can evaluate the students.

In Web-based education, and other forms of distance education for that matter, the students are harder to define. For example, when I was contracted to write my first Web-based course, I was asked by a local college to create an introduction to UNIX for one of their clients. The course was to contain instruction covering:

• basic commands
• the use of at least two editors
• basic filesystem structure
• basic environment customization.

The course was to be entirely online - text, assignments, and exams. Lastly, the course was for continuing education credit, self-paced, but had to be completed in fifteen weeks. My purpose was defined for me and with that I started asking the college and their client about the students who would be taking the course:

• Is the course voluntary or are these people required to take it?
• How much experience, as a whole, do these people have with UNIX?
• How much experience do they have with computers at all?
• Experience with applications is fine, but how much experience do they have with the Web?
• Will I have to teach them how to use a browser, e-mail, Telnet, and other tools I may need to use?
• What is the average educational level of the class?
• How would this knowledge applied in their everyday work?

That class turned out to be a wide mix when it came to experience with computers; most with little or none. The average educational level was two years of college. The course was voluntary but everyone was expected to learn how to use UNIX at work. Males and females would be taking the course.

Why did I perform this assessment? Although I realized that I would not have a classroom, the ability to answer questions as soon as they were asked, or the face-to-face contact. I was curious. It wasn't until I had written down the answers that I realized that I could use them to my advantage in designing the course. I learned quickly that asking such questions plays a large part in Web-based training planning and design.

An interesting item of note is that much of what will be wrong with online course material can be blamed on mistakes made before the first draft is even written. Also, the most serious flaws are nearly impossible to correct after the first version is created. The results of a good assessment will aid greatly in avoiding errors in strategy and structure.

With my purpose defined and a good idea of the type of students I would have, I could then start on the goal statement and a map of objectives. Goals are broad statements of instructional intent, while objectives are the specific steps leading to the accomplishment of the goal.

We may get a better picture as to how a goal fits in by seeing course development as a project. A project is a sequence of events directed to achieve a defined goal. The characteristics of a project are:

• it has a defined goal
• it is unique
• it has multiple related tasks
• it has a beginning and end
• it has multiple resources
• it has constraints such as time, quality, and budget

The goal is part of the project and it describes the desired result. In other words, we can literally design whatever outcome we want depending on how we define the goal. Obviously, the goal in Web-based training, as with any other form of training, is student learning. As a goal statement, "student learning" is too vague. We need specifics, so in writing your goal statement, it may help to make a smart goal:

• Specific
  • What exactly do you want to achieve?
  • What is the exact outcome you see?
• Measurable
  • How will you know when you've reached your goal?
  • How will you measure your progress?
• Achievable
  • Are you really able to reach this goal?
  • What must you overcome?
• Realistic
  • Is the goal realistic?
  • Do you have the tools and knowledge required?
• Time
  • When do you want to have this goal met?

Do not confuse the goal with objectives. Again, objectives are the steps taken to accomplish the goal. Objectives provide information to the students as to what they should get out of the course. Objectives assist the instructor ensuring that the correct material is delivered and that assignments and exams are in line with the topics.

Note: I've found, as I get further along in course design, that it's easy for me to lose sight of the instructional intent. Now, I write a one- or two-line goal summary to a post-it note and place it on my monitor. I keep a detailed statement on file.

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Last Modified: February, 2005