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​rc16 1/24/2010 0:55:48

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (no formal paper)

//Olufemi Olubodun, University of Cape Town, South Africa,// //olbolu002@uct.ac.za////, ojolubodun@yahoo.com//
 * Online Course Design Principles -- A Cook-Book Approach**

Online course development should not be a direct transfer of learning materials from the traditional classroom to a technology environment. Nor is it a mere transfer of knowledge or exchanges of information between a tutor and students. Online course development should be an activity-oriented construction that aggregates relevant materials and knowledge in a subject area(s) for the students to engage with. This means that student involvement is critical and that participation in the course activities should involve group and individual commitment. Engagement with tasks and activities ideally results in knowledge creation and sharing, and an eventual production of student materials at different stages of learning that can be assessed should form an integral part of the process of course design. Such tasks and activities should be a product of the delineation of subject content into learnable objects.

The design product should be comprised of documents out the details for course implementation, the processes involved in its creation, the constraints that could be encountered, and the evaluation possibilities.

There are different elements involved in course development and these include in order of priority: • The learner • Content • The theory underpinning the design • The pedagogy • The assessment strategy • The technology

All Audiences online course development, design principles, material development

To enhance online forum discussion the following questions are spelled out to provide the lead during the interaction section;

Relevant questions • Who is an online course developer? How else is he described? • What relationship does he have with subject experts, IT professional, computer programmers, etc. • What are his roles? • What kind of technology is necessary for online course design and implementation, and how can these technologies be applied and sequenced? Describe factors that determine the uses of these technologies and explain why • Who are the learners in course development? How are they defined? • How are the technology and subject matter related? How does the learner come into the picture? • List the necessarypedagogic considerations and discuss their importance • List the necessary theories • How can instruction be facilitated and evaluated in an online environment? • Name the key players and their roles 1. Learner and their characteristics 2. Technology 3. Learning theory and instructional theory 4. Instructional strategy • How do all the above converge into an actual product-developed course ready for delivery?