The Look and Feel of an Online Course
The look and feel of an online course is as important as the knowledge and skills it is designed to impart. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.
Yes, absolutely, in my experience, the look and feel of an online classroom is extremely vital to the engagement of the students. I think that the look and feel is part of creating a clear and concise layout in a logical format will certainly promote learning and intellectual excellence among the student body. Who wants to take a class and not be able to quickly and conveniently be able to access the classroom to perform the assignment given? I found out very early on in my teaching career that simplicity in an extremely concise way of classroom instruction and materials can actually be more dynamic and give the students a more satisfactory experience while performing the assignments and researching historical content. I also believe it is important to build upon student’s prior knowledge and acknowledge this throughout the class discussions consequently shaping the relationships into a positive and encouraging interaction between both students and instructor.
This statement is true in a number of ways. First of all, an online course that looks busy or provides too many unused resources will not have navigational simplicity; students may become bogged down by the number of options and lose track of what they should be focusing on. The look and feel of the course should help to show the class's organizational structure.
At the same time, designing an online course so that it is visually appealing can help students remain interested and engage with the material. Older courses on Blackboard, for instance, didn't have much visual appeal, while course sites can now be designed using Ning that feel much more like a space for community. This can also impact the way students interact in the class, since the design will not seem as divorced from other internet social spaces.
BRIGITTE ,
Excactly....we all like instant gratification. Students, new or seasoned, like to be able to jump right in!
Shelly Crider
Michael,
It is good to feel a sense of "community" while taking online courses, in fact, this is a way of networking into a possible new job!
Shelly Crider
I completely agree. If a student becomes more so focused on how to navigate the classroom, this can pose as a distraction. The concept of Navigational Simplicity is crucial. Such distractions can not take presidence in an online classroom or any other classroom. The primary focus should be the student, and the material.
It is very important because a well designed course is going to get the users more engaged.
Also, students want to be able to have ways to communicate with others, so designing it have multiple ways to communicate is also important.
Deb Moerland
Richard,
Student and material....key to success!
Shelly Crider
Deborah,
It is important for students to feel a sense of community in an online class as well as traditional.
Shelly Crider
Yes. First it needs to be easily navigated by the student and instructor, as well as inviting from a multimedia/multisensory standpoint. If each module of the course is set up using the same structure for lesson plans, the repetition of format will work against student motivation and retention of material. The best comparison I can think of to make in this regard is how you as an audience member feel when someone is lecturing from a powerpoint and is monotonously, in a monotone, reading every word on the screen.
David,
Organized structure is a must. This helps with students keep on track as well as teaching the student to be organized as well.
Shelly Crider
Hi
I would say it matters on several levels. For the university or school is helps to maintain student confidence in school and the quality they are offering. A unified feel throughout all of the courses helps the students to know where to go to find information quickly. Also if the course is poorly laid out the students may drop the course merely because they are frustrated.
Jocelyn M. Dervis
I agree Shelly! As humans we like to be comfortable. If the look and feel of an online course makes a student comfortable then they will hop right in and participate and start learning right away. If the student is not comfortable, they will hesitantly participate and learning will be delayed and minimized. Generation Y (why) like things simple and instantanious with the most to gain with the least amount of work.
Hi Shelly:
I agree, in large, part with this but also feel that content is the most critical aspect of any course. It's a little like making a cake look appetizing by decorating it with colorful frosting. Yes - the cake needs to look good but the real question is whether or not it tastes good. The same applies to an online course. Yes, the students need to feel comfortable and it needs to be appealing - but in the end, its value lies in how much the students have learned.
Les
Jocelyn,
Frustration leads to bad retention! A good class with less frustration is always a plus!
Shelly Crider
Philip,
Good point on the Generation Y....each generation has its own unique take on what makes a good class!
Shelly Crider
Les,
Content is indeed very important to a class. This is ultimately what we want the students to take with them.
Shelly Crider
I agree that the look and feel of a course is important. It adds to the credibility of the learning as does the professionalism of an instructor in a f2f course does. If the course is hard to navigate, the learner might lose interest and decide it isn’t worth the effort. Additionally, if the course is not updated and current (e.g., current President) the learner could assume that other information is wrong. Furthermore, broken links or other technical issues could hamper the learning, similar to technical malfunction in the f2f classroom.
Kathryn,
We need credibitlity in the online arena. There are several fair to bad reports about online education, so our classes must be top notch!
Shelly Crider
If the online course is user friendly, I believe the course will be more successful. There is nothing more than difficult than a student accessing their course, and the course is overly complicated. So, I agree that the look and feel of a course is critical to the student's success.
