Structure is everything when writing for learning online, but it shouldn’t dominate the student’s learning experience. You need to provide a sound architecture that will scaffold the student’s learning, but will also provide enough flexibility to allow students to explore things at their own pace and in their own style. Online learning modules allow students to make discoveries and connections in their own ways — if you set things up right from the very get-go.
Module structure
Within any course or topic that you’re teaching, be sure to get up a standard structure for your modules. That way, students get used to how to find their way around the online learning environment you’ve built for them. Whether it’s in MyClasses, BlackBoard, WebCT or in a wiki or blog, you can use the following model to structure your material.
- Module objectives. Think carefully about what you want the students to do and know and make it explicit to them. Objectives need to be relevant and meaningful.
- Student objectives. Ask the students what they’re hoping and expecting to learn. You might get some useful data out of this question.
- Introduction. Make it fairly brief and basic. Don’t go crazy on it.
- Focus questions. Ask the students to specify what they already now about the topic, or to share related experiences. Write lots of questions and direct them clearly to the module topic. This can give you a good sense of where they’re ‘at’ before you even start.
- Information/content. This is the core of what you want students to engage with. The content you provide can be quite detailed in nature, but try to mix it up a bit: insert videos, images, hyperlinks, as well as basic, textual ‘info dumps’.
- Exercises. You can get imaginative here. Again, be specific about what you want the students to do and communicate that clearly. If you’re writing questions to stimulate critique, make sure you put in lots of questions. Really interrogate the topic yourself.
- Reflection. At the end of the module, ask the students to reflect on what they’ve learnt. You can relate your reflection questions closely to the module content, or you can use a generic set of questions, such as these: What have I learnt? What is still unclear? What do I need to follow up on? Where to from here?
- Links and resources. Consolidate any links or resources you’ve referred to in the earlier ‘content’ parts of the module here, and add any extra resources. Don’t go overboard, but make sure there’s enough stimulating material to encourage further exploration.
Examples
You can check out how I’ve structured some of my free online courses on wikis and blogs in a similar way.
Blogagogy
Tags: Learning online, Lifeline, Tips
