With all of the advances made in e-learning, virtually anyone can create online classes, whether you have an educational design background or not. Understandably, if you do not have much experience with instructional design the task can seem overwhelming. Thankfully, you can create a quality course, even if you aren’t an expert in the design field.

The main component to online course design is to remember who your students are. Your students’ needs and wants must remain priority throughout the entire course creation process.

• What is the student’s end goal for taking taking this course?
• Will your class help them to achieve these goals?
• What do you need to do to help them achieve these goals?

Structure is also crucial to the design of your course. For example, creating an introduction helps the student know what is expected of them throughout the course, rather than just jumping straight into the content. Also, depending on who your students are will determine how you need to structure your course. Some students will need more structure, these may be students that are new to taking online classes; some may need less structure if they are more experienced at online learning.

An important factor to be incorporated into the course structure is self-motivation. Reward students when they do well on parts of the course. Allow the student to evaluate themselves – this will help develop a sense of independence, ultimately leading to satisfaction. Students need to apply what they have learned outside of the classroom and gauge their progress throughout the entire course.

End the course with a summary of the content and reiterate the most important points. This will help the student know what key points to take away from the course.