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Designing for Online

These resources will help as you prepare to offer your classes, or parts of them, online. If you are just getting started, consider taking the first steps toward excellent online teaching by reviewing the materials below. These pages provide you with information about the initial processes for creating online courses.

Instructional Design Basics

This document lists instructional design frameworks and strategies. You can use this document as a source of information and ideas for designing online courses. Approximately 10 minutes to review.


Course Design Process

This page provides recommendations to effectively plan and develop an online course. The resources listed on this page will walk you through the design processes for framing your online courses. Approximately 45 minutes to review.


Course Creation Guide

This document is a guide for the process of creating and teaching online courses. This guide presents you with considerations for teaching online, steps for designing and developing online courses, and examples of good pedagogical approaches for online instruction. Approximately 30 minutes to review.


Expectations of Teaching Online

This page provides general recommendations and best practices for teaching online. The recommendations listed on this page highlight some of the fundamental elements for you to consider when structuring the learning experiences and interactions for your online courses. Approximately 20 minutes to review.


Elements of Good Online Learning

This page outlines a framework and instructional strategies for online course design. You can use the information presented on this page to help determine which instructional strategies will be most conducive for your online courses in terms of content, delivery, and assessment. Approximately 10 minutes to review.


Universal Design for Learning

This page provides an overview of Universal Design for Learning. Universal Design ensures you construct online courses that are inclusive, compliant, and accessible. Approximately 5 minutes to review.


Quality Standards

This page provides an overview of quality metrics useful for analyzing and assessing online courses. You can use the information presented on this page to gauge whether or not your online courses adhere to standards and regulations so that students enrolled in the course receive quality instruction. Approximately 10 minutes (including the links to rubrics) to review.