Course Design

Creating a Course

Step-by-Step Online Course Creation Guide  – Use this guide to help you start creating your online course.

DELTA Course Design – A resource page for online course creation, including details about consultations, the Course Quality Program, and DELTA Grants.

Course Design Planning and Improvement

Best Practices for Designing Your Moodle Course – DELTA workshop resources for designing online courses in Moodle.

Commonly Used Instructional Design Models – Overview of the most common instructional design models based on various learning theories in the realms of behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism.

Course Mapping Tutorial – A course map can help you plan and organize your course. This video series explains how a course map works and walks through the process of creating one.

Course Maps Support Student Success– How do you create a well-organized course for a successful learning experience?  The course map walks you through each step and evaluates the components of your course and aligns your course objectives to achieve students’ learning outcomes. (This link will take you to a DELTA News article.)

Course Quality Program at NC State – Learn more about our professional development opportunities designed to help faculty who currently teach online improve their online or blended course based on research-backed best practices.

Customize Learning Experiences for Students: Adaptive and Personalized Pathways – Custom learning experiences for students include personalized and adaptive course activities in which students have different learning experiences based on their choices or completion of activities at a certain level of proficiency.

Designing Online Training — Are you considering designing an online training workshop or course? Check out these tips and considerations to help you figure out the best approach for your needs.

Example Courses – Have you ever wondered what a really well-designed course looks like?

Make Your Course More Mobile-Friendly — By optimizing your course for mobile devices, you’ll provide a better user experience, increase engagement, and help your learners succeed.

Best Practices

Best Practices for Creating Learning Objectives – Description of what makes good learning objectives and examples of them.

Boost Motivation with Universal Design for Learning – An overview of the barriers that might exist to motivation and engagement, and how applying UDL principles can help identify and remove those barriers and smooth the pathway to interest and persistence in our students.

Connecting Instructional Materials and Learning Activities — When students can clearly see the link between the resources you give them and the tasks they need to complete, they feel more confident, engaged, and ready to succeed. In this article, we’ll explore a few practical strategies to help you create those connections in a way that makes sense to your students.

Elevate your Content with Universal Design for Learning – Barriers can exist to how students perceive, understand, and comprehend content. Applying UDL principles can help ensure that content does not rely on just one sense to perceive it and can support students as they interpret and internalize new information.

Engagement in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments – This article will discuss three dimensions of engagement (emotional, behavioral and cognitive) and teaching practices that encourage engagement.

Guiding Students to Success with a Course Map — This asynchronous workshop helps you ensure that the components of your course work together to enable students to achieve learning objectives with step-by-step instructions and a template for course alignment.

Helping Students Get Started in an Online Class – How can you ensure that your online learners feel welcome in the class and that they have all the information they need to get started successfully? In this article, we will discuss strategies for introducing students to the components of your online course and creating a welcoming online environment.

Hybrid Teaching: Best Practices — Strategies for teaching a course with both online and face-to-face components

Hyflex Teaching: Best Practices — HyFlex courses are those that provide a multimodal approach to learning, combining online and in-person students within the same course

Reaching All Students with Universal Design for Learning – When we recognize that variability exists in student populations along many spectra, we strive to design learning experiences that present as few barriers to success as possible for anyone and everyone.

Online Course Best Practices – There are numerous ways to teach an engaging, effective online course. By following basic best practices, instructors can optimize the online learning experience.

Optimize Student Performance with Universal Design for Learning – An overview of the barriers that might exist to student performance, including those related to physical abilities, brain function, knowledge and skill, and executive function, and how applying UDL principles can help identify and remove those barriers to emphasize learning outcomes and optimize student performance.

Supporting Neurodiverse Students Through Course Design – Chances are very high that your classes will include neurodivergent students whose unique perspective, creative thinking, and innovative ideas can benefit you and all the class members. In this article, we will discuss neurodiversity in our students, and how we can support neurodivergent students through course design.

Tips for Organizing Your Moodle Course — How can you organize the layout of your Moodle course so that students can focus their energy on learning?

Tips and Strategies for Successful Group Work — Planning an assignment or project to be completed by a group of students can raise lots of questions and concerns for an instructor. This article provides tips, strategies, and some tools that can make group work go smoothly.

Writing Effective Learning Objectives — This asynchronous workshop helps you create clear learning objectives so your students know what they should be getting out of your course.

Tools and Templates

Use a Course Map Template – Plan out your course and ensure alignment of course components with this course map template.

Use a Course Overview Template – Explain the purpose and structure of the course in a Course Overview document.

Use an Online Learning Expectations Template – Clearly communicate your expectations for behavior and participation in your online course.

Use a Syllabus Template – Provide clarity to students with a syllabus template that includes example language and required university policies.

Use a Welcome Letter Template – Let students know how to get started in your course by sending a welcome letter before the start of class.

Use Moodle Checklists to Help Students Get Organized and Track Progress — The Checklist activity is a tool in Moodle that can be used to help students keep track of the things they need to complete in a course, module, project, or assignment.

Why Gamify Your Moodle Course? — Gamification provides a fun way to help students know how to progress through a course and ensure they are viewing and completing all activities on time. Along with enhancing engagement, gamification can increase students’ self-regulation skills, which are vital when learning online