The Design Process

The Problem

Universities are rapidly expanding their online course offerings, but many faculty members are unfamiliar with best practices for online learning design. While they may be experts in their disciplines, they often lack training in instructional design principles, leading to courses that are text-heavy, misaligned, or fail to engage students.

The institution needed a practical, engaging, and accessible training program that would guide faculty through the essentials of designing effective online courses. The goal was to build faculty capacity in four main stages of course planning:

• Aligning learning objectives, activities, and assessments

• Creating engaging and accessible content

• Designing assessments that provide meaningful feedback.

• Implementing and continuously evaluating courses after being launched. 

The Solution

I designed a self-paced, interactive online training titled:

“Designing Engaging and Effective Online Courses: Best Practices for University Faculty.”

The training was structured around four modules:

1. Planning & Design: Defining objectives, aligning outcomes, and structuring content.

2. Content Development: Creating multimedia-rich, accessible, and inclusive materials.

3. Assessment & Feedback: Designing both formative and summative assessments aligned with learning goals.

4. Implementation & Evaluation: Delivering courses effectively and using feedback to improve.

Each module included:

• Concise narrated content to respect faculty’s time.

• Clear and brief explanation of the content to reinforce concepts.

• External links to provide extra resources and more detailed information.

• End-of-module quizzes with challenging scenario-based multiple-choice questions.

The Process

My approach followed (ADDIE) as an instructional design framework:

1. Analysis

   • • Identified pain points through discussions with faculty and my own personal experience.

2. Design

   • • Outlined four core modules aligned with instructional design best practices.

     • Built in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to ensure accessibility and inclusivity.

     • Designed formative assessments (scenario-based quizzes, reflection activities).

3. Development

   • • Created content and narration scripts for each module.

     • Developed interactive elements and quizzes in Adobe Captivate for deployment on the LMS.

     • Integrated real-world scenarios to make content more authentic and engaging.

4. Implementation

   • • Packaged the training to be deployed through the university LMS as a self-paced course.

     • Enabled reporting so that useful data can be  collected on usage and progress.

     • Designed navigation to be user-friendly and modular.

5. Evaluation

   • • Once deployed, the course will be evaluated through post-training surveys and feedback loops to measure faculty confidence and identify areas for refinement. 

     • Improvements will follow based on learner feedback and course analytics.