Course code: EDUA11148 | Course leader: Clara O’Shea

Designing an online course requires educators and developers to find a pathway through a complex terrain in which media, curriculum, ideology, context and resources must all be balanced and negotiated. This course will give a practical and theoretical grounding in ways of approaching this task. We will begin by exploring a range of approaches to course design, moving on to a small group activity in which each member will have the opportunity to design and run a small-scale learning event. You will also have the option to study approaches to course evaluation, and issues of usability in interface design for learning. For the main course assessment you will have the opportunity to design and part-build your own course.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will be able to:

• understand and apply a range of approaches to the design of online and offline courses;
• critically evaluate these approaches via an understanding of their philosophical and theoretical bases;
• select and design media, learning activities and assessment tasks appropriate to each approach;
• design and build course components appropriate to your own institutional and educational context.