Trends in ICT Developing an elearning Course
Outline What is your purpose? Who is your audience? Course materials Roles and Responsibilities Timeline for the course Designing of course structure Communicating your information for elearning What is the review process? Promotion of the course Monitoring and Evaluation Maintenance
Purpose Let s take a few minutes to talk about the purpose of your course. That is, what do you want to accomplish? We ll write the purpose statement a little later.
Who is your audience? Who is your target audience? What are their main job responsibilities? Is your target audience highly educated? Somewhat educated? Low literacy? What language do they prefer? How do they access information? How are they going to access this course? Internet, CDRom, personal/work computer, resource center How comfortable are they working on computers? What is their connectivity?
Course Materials What are going to be the MAIN materials you will base this course on? What are must know vs. nice to have materials? Which additional materials should be included for reference? Do you need permission to repurpose any content?
Roles and Responsibilities Who is your team? Who has what roles? Course author Course manager Graphic Designer IT Support Reviewers Final QAT Final sign off Promoters What are the responsibilities for each of those roles?
What is your timeline? Detailed outline: All content written and in the platform with graphics/animations (ready for review): Technical Reviewers comments back by: Final changes made by: QAT finished by: Final sign off: Course launch:
Designing the course Definitions of structure (course, topics, pages) Purpose statement Objectives Session content Page content Questions Glossary Reference materials and citing sources Graphics, audio, and animation Create follow-up mentored activities
Course Structure
Purpose Statement Examples Gender and reproductive and sexual health are inherently connected and must be examined together to bring about more gender equitable societies and better health outcomes. This course seeks to provide learners with an introduction to gender and reproductive and sexual health and introduce the steps of gender integration in reproductive and sexual health programs. Inadequate maternal and child nutrition is the underlying cause of 3.5 million deaths every year and 35 percent of the disease burden for children under 5 years of age. Universal coverage of proven nutritionrelated interventions could reduce overall mortality of children under 3 by 25 percent. This course discusses the basic concepts of good nutrition and common nutritional deficiencies, the magnitude of malnutrition in different populations, vulnerable groups and the causes of undernutrition, and key indicators and ways of measuring them. It also outlines the major population-based interventions to improve nutritional status.
Purpose Statement Examples Fostering Change in Health Services: This course is designed to build the skills of those who are in a position to support change agents in health service delivery. These change agents may be either local health practitioners and managers or midlevel program managers who champion a change in their programs. Their potential supporters you, the primary audience for this course include USAID mission staff, as well as representatives of cooperating agencies and the organizations those agencies work with. Many elements of the course can be useful for and shared with change agents at all levels. HIV Stigma and Discrimination: Stigma and discrimination related to HIV and AIDS have a profound effect on the course of the epidemic. The fear of stigma and discrimination negatively affects the way in which individuals and families protect themselves and provide care and support to those affected. This course explores HIV-related stigma and discrimination, including their importance and effects on behavior and HIV responses, promising practices for addressing them, and addresses the complex challenges that remain.
Course Objectives Examples At the end of this course, learners will be able to: Define HIV-related stigma and discrimination, and related concepts Understand the negative consequences of stigma and discrimination on people, communities, and program efforts Outline key strategies to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination Understand key tools used to monitor and measure stigma and discrimination reduction efforts Know where to look for further information or technical assistance
Session & Page Content Let s brainstorm some ideas for sessions and pages.
Questions Should be challenging, but not tricky Should be written at the knowledge/ comprehension level (rules, concepts, facts, principles) Link test questions to your learning objectives Example: If the detailed learning objective is: Given explanations of the advantages of the IUD, identify several of its potential advantages. The test item might be: From a list of statements, correctly select the advantages of the IUD. Avoid questions that: use double negatives, require the learner to infer an answer can be answered with all of the above
Glossary Keep track of new or not intuitive words and write short, easy to understand definitions for them. A glossary at the end of your course will list all terms and definitions
References Cite all material that your use for your course. Get permission to use images and other materials as needed We recommend using Chicago Style with in text citations and final reference list at the end of the course.
Graphics, Audio, and Animation Use graphics, audio, and animation to enhance learning. Be mindful of bandwidth limitations of your audience. Consider the need for a graphic designer or flash programmer.
Follow Up Mentoring Invite learners to participate in online forum with experts. Email users and ask for additional feedback and questions.
Writing for elearning Clear and simple language White space is a good thing Give examples and case stories to illustrate your point Use graphics, audio, and video to enhance learning. Link out for more information Effective questions are challenging, but not tricky
Technical Review Who is going to review? Is there one person who has final sign off? Request reviewers early Set up Guidelines Format of comments, technical vs. grammatical comments, timeline, focus on one section? Explain step by step process Who will incorporate comments? How will you decipher conflicting comments?
Quality Assurance Testing After reviewers comments are incorporated, a final check to: Verify citations Verify references Check links Ensure consistent spelling and grammar Ensure consistent formatting Who will be responsible?
Promotion Create marketing and promotion plan Identify promotion channels Create promotional flyers Consider promotional opportunities
Monitoring and Evaluation What do you want to know about your learners? How will you evaluate the course? Reach, use, usefulness Determine baseline Any goals? How will you use the information?
Maintenance Who is responsible if technical problems arise/issues with user logins/etc. Updating the course How often Who is responsible How do you incorporate learner feedback?
Discussion
Resources