{"id":12269,"date":"2018-06-21T10:51:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T15:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=12269"},"modified":"2019-11-07T05:34:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T11:34:43","slug":"icymi-7-deadly-sins-of-online-course-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/icymi-7-deadly-sins-of-online-course-design\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: 7 Deadly Sins of Online Course Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

In an Edvocate<\/a> article, Daniel Stanford listed his seven deadly sins of online course design from a faculty developer\u2019s perspective. These resonated with me; and I thought I would share Daniel's seven deadly online course design sins with you.<\/p>\n

#1. Overwhelming Discussions<\/h4>\n

\u201cPost to the discussion board, and then respond to three classmates\u2019 posts.\u201d Sound familiar? These are often the instructions for online discussions even though it would be impossible to replicate this level of participation in a face-to-face class. The result is a massive number of posts that instructors and students dread sorting through.<\/p>\n

#2. Lack of Scannable Text<\/h4>\n

Staring at a computer screen trying to read the information is tiring enough as it is. Don\u2019t make it worse by writing long paragraphs that lack visual interruptions and organizational cues. \u201cChunk<\/a>\u201d the content to make it easier to scan through. <\/p>\n

#3. No Progress Indicators<\/h4>\n

Within seconds of entering a course or a specific unit of content, students should know what they\u2019ve completed, what is incomplete, and when the incomplete items are due. The worst nightmare of any online student is to think he or she has met all the course requirements for a given day or week, only to stumble upon additional ones after a critical deadline has passed.<\/p>\n

#4. Bad Narration<\/h4>\n

There are two reasons most instructors create narrated PowerPoints.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They believe it will be faster to deliver a lecture verbally than write it out.<\/li>\n
  2. They believe it will be more engaging for students than reading.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Both of these motivations have their pitfalls. First, faculty are often surprised how long it takes to produce an effective narrated presentation. Second, delivering information via audio with no text alternative makes it difficult for students to control the pace of their learning. Also, audio-only approaches to instruction can be challenging for ESL learners (English as a second language) and a deal breaker for students with disabilities.<\/p>\n

    #5. Buried Leads<\/h4>\n

    Don\u2019t make students read through or listen to several minutes of non-essential fluff before you get to the good stuff. Burying the lead<\/a> wastes students\u2019 time and hurts your credibility as a curator. As a result, students will struggle to find the part where you finally say something important. Worse yet, they might begin to ignore your emails, readings, or videos altogether.<\/p>\n

    #6. Digital Hoarding<\/h4>\n

    Face-to-face courses come with limitations that encourage instructors to prioritize what they share with students. Examples include the number of hours in each class meeting and the number of photocopies the instructor has time to print. In online courses, these limitations are removed or relaxed, which makes it tempting to share every interesting reading, video, and website you\u2019ve ever encountered. All too often, the result is a course site that feels like one of the homes on Hoarding: Buried Alive<\/a>, but with more scholarly journals and fewer cats.<\/p>\n

    #7. Faceless Professor Syndrome<\/h4>\n

    Online courses provide limited natural opportunities to reinforce that you\u2019re a real human being and help students put a face with your name. Don\u2019t squander these opportunities by obscuring your identity and increasing your anonymity on the discussion board and in your self-introduction. Humanizing your online courses<\/a> improves the learning experience as well as student success and retention rates. This Humanizing Tool Buffet<\/a> developed by Teaching and Learning Innovations<\/a> at CSU Channel Islands has a collection of emerging tools just right for humanizing your online course.<\/p>\n

    If you are interested in knowing how Daniel Stanford suggests you atone<\/strong><\/em> for these deadly online course design sins, read his Edvocate article \u201cSeven Deadly Sins of Online Course Design<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Image Credit: The 7 Deadly Sins<\/a> by Andrea Manzati | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In an Edvocate article, Daniel Stanford listed his seven deadly sins of online course design from a faculty developer\u2019s perspective. These resonated with me; and I thought I would share Daniel's seven deadly online course design sins with you. #1. Overwhelming Discussions \u201cPost to the discussion board, and then respond to three classmates\u2019 posts.\u201d Sound ...continue reading \"ICYMI: 7 Deadly Sins of Online Course Design\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[89,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-12269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-online","7":"tag-course-design","8":"tag-elearning","9":"h-entry","10":"hentry","11":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82MQk-3bT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8250,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/7-deadly-sins-of-online-course-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":12269,"position":0},"title":"7 Deadly Sins of Online Course Design","author":"Janice Florent","date":"September 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Janice Florent \"Seven Deadly Sins\" by ILOVEDUST is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 In an Edvocate article, Daniel Stanford listed his seven deadly sins of online course design from a faculty developer\u2019s perspective. These resonated with me; and I thought I would share Daniel's seven deadly online course design\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CAT & Mouse: E-Learning"","block_context":{"text":"CAT & Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Seven Deadly Sins","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net\/project_modules\/disp\/c69c0512153991.5625824f1d2e4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10145,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/online-teaching-strategies\/","url_meta":{"origin":12269,"position":1},"title":"Online Teaching Strategies","author":"Janice Florent","date":"September 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Janice Florent Are you thinking about how to deliver your online course for maximum success? In an Inside Higher Ed blog post, Andrea Zellner provided some strategies to make your online teaching better. Andrea's strategies are: Technology should help and not hinder. 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