Course Organization

Structuring courses for an improved learning experience.

The Importance of Course Organization

Organizing courses in a meaningful, clear and consistent way can benefit both the instructor and students. When the structure is pre-determined and systematic, it makes the building process more manageable. Additionally, a well-structured course allows students to intuitively navigate, find course content and submit assignments with ease.

Course organization is particularly important in online classes. However, most in-person classes also have digital components such as a companion course. If no online element is present, there are still organizational considerations that need to be made and should be reflected in the syllabus. When deciding on an organizational structure, it can be helpful to explore how other instructors have configured their courses.

Structured Design to Guide Students

Organization tips

Consider where items will live and how students will access them. This can relate to the type of content (digital or paper-based) as well as where students go to acquire the content.
Review and set due dates. Organize assignment and assessment dates in chronological order. Ensure dates for large assignments do not conflict with each other resulting in an increasingly stressful workload for students. Putting these dates into a calendar can be helpful for both the instructor and students.
Plan for the unpredictable. Unexpected school closures due to weather or pandemic, family emergencies and illnesses can occur at any time. Have a plan in place for when the instructor or student(s) are unable to attend class.
Align the syllabus and course navigation. Language in both the syllabus and assignment directions should match the course organization. Limit confusion by having a similar procedure for each type of task.
Explain the course navigation to students. Students often take multiple classes in a given semester and each course has its own unique organizational structure. Help alleviate potential confusion by modeling how to navigate and interact with the course. If using an online course shell, consider making a short video explaining the course structure, this is an important part of your student course orientation.

Determine your course’s organizational structure before building. Ensure it is consistent, logically organized, easy to navigate and visually appealing.

Streamline the sections of the course students will need to access. Hide or delete any areas that are not being used (particularly when adopting a template).

Identify which sections will be accessed from the course navigation menu and which items will live inside other tabs. For example: syllabus, content, assignments, assessments, discussions and resources.

Limit the number of places students have to navigate during a given unit or lesson. Develop a unit plan to think through these components.

Set due dates on assignments. Assignments and assessments with due dates will populate in a student’s Calendar.

Navigate the course from a student’s perspective. In UB Learns, this can be done using View as Student.

Online Course Navigation

When developing an online course, the overall organization and structure are very important. Strategically utilizing the Table of Contents in UB Learns can help both the instructor and students navigate effectively. The structure should be logical, uncluttered and consistent.

Online courses should follow a simple hierarchy structure with no more than two levels of organization (Powell, 2003). This makes it essential to utilize the course menu in a meaningful way. One important consideration is to determine what will be a tab on the course menu and what will live inside a tab or content folder.

Review the following suggestions for maximizing the effectiveness of the course menu:

Clearly label the tabs
Identify where students go to access content and submit work
Keep the structure consistent throughout
Hide or delete unused sections
Organize similar areas together using dividers
Limit the items on the course menu so that scrolling is not necessary

Consider how this might look for a discussion. Will you have a “Discussion Forum” tab on the course menu? Or will students access the discussion through the weekly content folder or module? This is also a common distinction for assignments. Will students see an “Assignments” tab on the left navigation bar of your course? Or will the assignments be embedded within each week’s content folder or module? Or both? While courses will always use tabs, what they say and where students will go to access material is a choice that needs to be made.

The following are common examples of areas that may appear as tabs on your course menu. As always, these can be customized to best suit your course. Changing module and submodule names is a simple process in UB Learns.

Sections	Functions	Examples
Home	Course entry point Includes important information such as announcements and upcoming assignments	Welcome Home page
Student Orientation	Starting point for students Orient students with the course Provide helpful information	Start Here Getting Started Course Orientation
Course Content	Organized container for course materials Post videos and content related to lessons Students access weekly information	Course Content Learning Modules Units, Lessons
Discussions	Location to answer discussion questions Forum for students to ask questions Share documents with peers	Share, Discuss, Forum Discussion Board
Assignments	Submit active learning tasks Students demonstrate learning Instructor provides feedback	Assignments Submit Submissions
Assessments	Gauge student learning Students receive feedback Often results in grades	Tests Quizzes Assessments
Group Work	Information about groups and expectations Access to communicating with group Location to submit group work	Group Assignments Collaboration Collaborative Learning
Resources	Opportunities for enrichment or remediation Helpful external resources and support Answers to frequently asked questions	Resources Support Services Additional Information

Organize Your Course

All Courses

Step 1: Determine the structure for how students will:
- access course materials
- communicate with the instructor and peers
- turn in activities, assignments and projects
- take and submit assessments
- receive and apply feedback
- attain resources and support
Step 2: Whenever possible, ensure that these procedures are consistent throughout the course. For example, if students are asked to submit one assignment via UB Learns, another assignment in person, and another through email, this can cause confusion. If there are a variety of procedures for a single type of assignment, it should be explicitly stated to students.
Step 3: Update your syllabus to reflect changes, improve consistency or clarify procedures.

Online Courses

Step 1: Review exemplar courses to generate ideas about your course organization.
Step 2: Determine the navigation sections for your course menu.
Step 3: Change your Table of Contents in UB Learns to reflect these sections.
Step 4: Arrange the sections in the ideal order and add dividers if desired.
Step 5: Hide or delete unused sections.
Step 6: Check the course navigation from Student Preview mode.