Create Your Course

For many faculty teaching online, course creation is iterative: write and organize, teach, and re-write and re-organize based on formative and summative assessments. In many ways, this process may not vary from your face-to-face teaching experiences.

Begin with the End in Mind

A good axiom to follow when creating an online course is to begin with the end in mind. Your course goals and learning objectives should guide your decisions as you develop instructional events to help students successfully achieve the desired course outcomes. In general, developing an effective online course requires identifying and creating both activities and core content.

After developing your course with activities and core content, you are ready to deliver or implement it.

Activities

Although you can begin development by creating either the activities or content first, many faculty find developing the activities first helps them to more effectively construct the core content (e.g., the conditions, knowledge, and information that students will need to complete the activity successfully). Best practices in online teaching and learning promote activities which are learner-centered, practical, and relevant.

Webcourses@UCF offers a wide selection of technology tools to develop a variety of activities. Remember to select the most effective tool to meet the learning objectives. Essentials of Webcourses@UCF is a self-paced online course that introduces some of the options available in Webcourses@UCF.

Core Content

If you approached development of your online course by identifying the activities first, then ask yourself, “What knowledge and skills do students need to successfully complete the activity?” The information you identify when addressing this question comprises the core content.

Core content can include written lectures, presentations, printed materials, secondary sources, as well as audio and video resources.