In 2011, a course design pilot project was started for Athabasca University courses in the School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS), building on a development pilot initiated after a program review. The goal was to share an understanding of theory and effective practice for online learning and to develop guidelines to facilitate creative design and solution finding. At that time all SCIS courses were developed using one HTML design template. Initial changes were made to give each course its own visual identity and add course-specific resources. The next level of the design pilot looked for more effective ways to present content in the form of learning activities.
In 2013, a formative evaluation was undertaken of the content and presentation of courses and of the design process, with the goal of informing improvements in both courses and process. Each faculty member who participated in the pilot provided his perspective on design choices made to engage students in an online learning environment. The coordinator and course author, Terry Taylor, who was interviewed for this study, used some particularly innovative ways to convey content, and the evaluation team wished to know more about his approach to motivating learners. He was interviewed about his design strategies for online courses to support learner motivation. The results presented here shed light on his successful design process. The intended audience is learning designers and faculty designing online courses.
Of Interest to: Online and distance education, Post-secondary education, Instructional designers, Researchers
