Learning designer assisting faculty member with course design.

Design Your Course

The first step in creating an online course is designing its basic architecture.

Online Course Design

There are several steps to preparing a course for online teaching. We recommend following the order outlined below. As you go through the process of designing or redesigning your course, you can use the Course Design Worksheet that we will provide to ensure that the lessons, assessments, assignments and activities all contribute to achieving the course’s learning objectives.

  • Concerns and Factors
    6/1/20
    Before beginning your course design, you’ll need to consider the factors that present opportunities and constraints for your course and its design.
  • Course Design Process
    6/1/20
    Once you’ve considered the various contexts of your course, you’ll need to consider the major course parts, a process for creating them and how they will align.
  • Online Learning Outcomes
    6/1/20
    The first major course elements to define are learning outcomes. These are the changes you hope to see in your students as a result of taking the course, and they establish student expectations about what they will learn.
  • Exemplar Course
    6/1/20
    After considering possible course design options, take a tour of an exemplary course for more ideas.
  • Macro-Level Organization
    6/1/20
    Make choices about the way your course will be structured in UB Learns and how students will navigate the pathways to learning within it.
  • Micro-Level Organization
    6/1/20
    Establish how students will experience your course on a weekly basis.

Next Steps

When you have finished designing your course, the next step is to begin building your course.

Build Your Course