Before you start

Lifecycle of a course

Writing a new course is quite labour-intensive and time consuming. This includes planning, assembling a team, setting parameters for the project, writing the material, and running a pilot project (or Beta-test) with a small number of students. Although it needs to be finanicially viable, the group also needs to be a small enough for you to easily resolve any problems.

The first time it is run with a large group, it is expected to have some faults that need correction. The following reviews are simply continual improvement, so course preparation costs decrease dramatically each time it is run.

A course will eventually become out-dated and staff must decide to re-write it. Even if the content is not out of date, any video and graphic content might need updating.

Tips:
  •   Consider delaying complete re-writes by having a "Current research" box that is easy to update each time the course is run. These boxes could summarize current trends relevant to that subject.
  •   Use quality gates, that is, make sure that you meet quality goals after each stage before you go to the next stage.
  •   Do a Moodle course, and get the book Using Moodle. Either buy a hard copy or a get free electronic copy from moodle.org.

Assembling a team

Course development is a complex process. Consider the different kinds of expertise you will need:

• Project management
• Instructional design
• Content expertise
• Editing and proof reading
• Graphic design
• Programming/web development

Depending on the range of options, it can involve the following roles:

1. Project managers manage the whole course development process. This includes writing the course proposal and getting it approved, overseeing the team, complying with timefame, complying with budget, etc.)
2. Two subject matter experts per study area write materials, answer content queries, and check accuracy.
3. Tutors give feedback on how students have responded to different kinds of approaches.
4. Course researchers find existing web resources, gather, analyze, and present new information. (Finding good materials on the web is a bigger job than it appears.)
5. Instructional designer plans and writes lessons.
6. Text editors proofread and check content, accuracy, presentation, etc. of text materials for publishing.
7. Video production for interactive TV:
• Presenters
• Videographers
• Tech support: sound and lighting
• Video editors.
8. Graphic designers make sure web appearance is attractive and functional.
9. Test supervisors oversee field-testing of new materials with real students. (Often the same person as the instructional designer)
10. Programmers for software development