I published a course back in 2013 {yikes, a while ago} which desperately needed updating. I accomplished a mini-goal of publishing a second course to this platform today. So I took that oldy, but goody, out of mothballs for an overhaul today and started updating my online courses. I am pleased to say I appear to have learned a good deal since I wrote that last one.
When I went back through the course the first thing I noted was the staggering amount of text. Yeah, if that is what you wanted information. Boo, if you were a human trying to take this all in.
I broke up the text into smaller chunks on the page and into more pages so that I could interspersed text features, call out boxes, headers, etc. And then I visited Pexels and Pixabay for topical images I could use in the course. For the image upgrades I selected a three color palette and all the images I had pulled from my image resource pages. Within Canva I created a title image, using topical images and the colors I had pulled. And then I used the same color palette and fonts in smaller opening/closing images for the course. I then scaled down the design and simplified the colors to unify my remaining images for disbursement throughout the course – breaking up that text further.
I also noted that I had many more synchronous events in a self-paced course than I should have. I eliminated many places where I ask requested students participation which was dependent on my participation. I have no wish to slow down the participants, but I did take advantage of the features Atly made available to participants for access to teachers for an elevated fee. I think participants will be happier over all, controlling that element and not potentially waiting on me to provide feedback.
My newest course on starting a blog is now available for anyone who wants to enroll. I can pretty much guarantee I will not want nearly five years to update it!
April 8, 2018 at 11:53 am
I give you so much credit for publishing an online course in the first place and then having the great idea to update it. It is great that you use instructional design principles that have worked for you before. I will have to review all your work it sounds great.
April 8, 2018 at 2:59 pm
I try to make it a habit to go through older course material at least once every 6 months. I usually find content to update or different ways to word the material. I also find grammatical mistakes (oops!). I find refreshing the courses to be very helpful, particularly if I create new images to give it a fresh look and regain some traction.
April 8, 2018 at 7:11 pm
I will certainly take your advice on accelerating my revision cycle! 🙂
April 9, 2018 at 9:23 am
What an awesome idea to build an online course and it is more awesome idea that you update it. I have to look into your online course 🙂
April 10, 2018 at 2:56 am
Wow this is so cool! I have been meaning to put up an online course as well but never had the time to do so — so kudos for you in making that possible! All the best in what you do 🙂
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