Construct Course: Step 5

In the Construct Course step of the Doing Stage the focus is on taking the plans of the thinking stage and turning them into reality. For most, this means creating a website. If you have never done this before, it can be a daunting task.

Many instructors want to jump right into designing a site without advance preparation, or thought about its design. It is important, however, do a bit of planning before you begin the actual course website building process.

Most website designers would agree that there are at least 4 interrelated areas of activity and expertise involved in developing a website. These are:

• Project Management (Know your audience)
• Visual (Page Design)
• Content Management
• Server Support

More and more faculty members are building course websites for their face-to-face classes, hybrid courses (part face-to-face and part online), and/or total online courses. Some faculty prefer to develop all of the course web pages themselves while some prefer to be part of a course-building team. Whichever you prefer, here are some important principles for website design and development.

The course website is often misunderstood to be a place exclusively for delivering information. On the contrary, they are a virtual connection with the learning environment. The visual design and layout of the course website should be consistent with the information to be delivered.
The information on a course web page should be organized in a way that facilitates information processing and reading.
The course content should be clearly organized and the course web pages should be logically linked to facilitate information retrieval.
When preparing content for the course web site, bear in mind that the course content delivered on the web must be provided in a format accessible to persons with disabilities if requested.
Navigation devices should be carefully designed on a web page to orient the user and provide a sense of direction.
Graphic elements on the web page should support information processing and retrieval and have clear instructional purposes.
When using multimedia elements for a web site, always consider the instructional needs of the media elements and the accessibility to end-users.
When audio is selected as instructional media, use the audio to reinforce the content, not as a sole carrier of the content.
When animation is selected as instructional media, use it to draw attention, to explain, and reinforce the content, not to distract the user.
Video can be incorporated in a course through the use of televised videos, mailed videotapes, or CD-ROM delivered videos. However, when video is selected as instructional media on a web site, assure that the video is used to assist learning and teaching. Students with lower end computers can access the video.
When desktop videoconferencing is selected as instructional media, assure that the videoconferencing is used to assist learning not to distract. Students must be able to access it from their home computers.

If you're building online activities that take learners outside of your site and/or bring materials from elsewhere into your site, you'll need to know something about Copyright and Fair Use

Copyrightable expression is original authorship, fixed in a tangible medium of expression.