Creating Your Own Online Courses
Web 2.0 Makes Courseware Development Possible for Everyone
Once the domain of well-funded universities and large businesses, open sourceware now makes it possible for almost anyone to collaborate academically. Small businesses, community schools, homeschools, clubs and groups can now create customized classes for free or very little cost to serve their constituents. Online classes enable groups to provide various types tutorials and instructive material; to create certification programs; and simply to inform and educate.
Among the easiest and most effective ways to create such content are free online systems like Moodle, WiziQ and Myicourse.
Democratized Learning
Steve Foreman, a chiropractic doctor who made Myicourse available to the public in the interest of “flattening the world,” sees limitless potential in a democratized learning environment.
“We do not believe all of life’s necessary learning is contained within the walls of universities or between the binders of books,” he says at the Myicourse site. “We believe there is a tremendous need for on-line teaching of all subjects and we have eliminated the barriers to use for everyone."
Growth of Online Learning
Statistics would bear out that observation. According to the Sloan Consortium’s report, Online Nation:
- Almost 3.5 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2006 term -- a nearly 10 percent increase over the number reported the previous year.
- The 9.7 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.5 percent growth of the overall higher education student population.
- Nearly twenty percent of all U.S. higher education students were taking at least one online course in the fall of 2006.
Online Course Development for and by Homeschoolers
Home educators can use online course management content to complement collaborative and co-operative group classes and activities. In our far flung homeschool communities, and an economy that has gas prices soaring towards $4 a gallon, customized, cost effective online content can help homeschool groups network better and serve more members.
Online course development allows anyone teaching a class, delivering a lecture or leading a program to provide companion material, video or audio, and assessments if desired. Having a companion online course also enables several people to lead classes from various locations, making programs more accessible to more people. And of course, learning how to create online content is a lesson in itself, one from which both children and adults can benefit.
Tips for Creating Good Online Course Content
There are a few key components to creating good online learning content.
- Be concise. The nature of online learning and interaction requires that the point be reached quickly.
- Have clear objectives. Learners should know the point of a lesson at the outset.
- Use lots of subheadings. “Chunk” material into specific parts and points to make online reading more efficient.
- Present material in a variety of formats. Provide the option to print out material, as a PDF or Word file; use Power Point Presentations; embed video or audio; use graphic illustrations.
- Repeat points in a variety of ways. Emphasize important points at the start of a lesson or section, and summarize it again at the end.
- But optimize your graphics so they don’t take forever to load or chew up too much bandwidth.
- Provide frequent opportunities for feedback and interaction. This should be, after all, just a supplement to one on one interaction, not just a passive learning experience. Use interactive quizzes, and games; require some off-line activity.
While the ability to create online educational content was previously available mostly to businesses and universities, open sourceware now makes it possible for almost anyone to teach almost anything online. Keeping in mind just a few key concepts of online course development -- being concise, having clear objects and repeating points regularly throughout -- homeschoolers and others can develop online courses that can greatly enhance their community learning programs.
It’s a Web 2.0 world. Make it your own!
