Page 2 - Distance Education Best Practices

Creating a distance education course is not merely putting a
narrated PowerPoint and a discussion board forum on your learning
management system. Here are some tips for getting started with

distance education, regardless of your mode of delivery.

• Start with a backward design. Think of the goals you wish for the students
to achieve, then create the student learning outcomes, content,
assignments, and assessments to evaluate student learning.
• Based on the course content, determine the level of interactivity for
students.
• Include colleagues to assist in course planning and development, such as
faculty and instructional designers.
• If possible, have a colleague pilot the course to provide constructive
feedback.
Course • Utilize an institutional or national evaluation rubric, such as Quality Matters
©, to assure quality design.*
Development • Use your institutional template for course design, if applicable. This
assures consistency for students when navigating from course to course.
• Develop or utilize a curriculum map to align course objectives to student
learning and program effectiveness. Where is the content being taught
and where is it being assessed?
• Strong efforts need to be made in designing an online course. It is not
simply moving face-to-face materials into an online environment.

• Make sure the course description is clear to students and available in
a centrally located syllabus.
• Provide explicit directions for navigating the learning management
system platform and course. This should be in a variety of methods,
such as written instructions, a video tour, a scavenger hunt, an audio
file, etc.
Course • Provide clear instructions on the grading policy, i.e., when
Overview assignments will be graded and posted.

and • Include policies and procedures specific to distance education in the
course syllabus, such as directions for discussion board forums,
Introduction faculty responsiveness, netiquette, etc.
• Be sure that course content is organized in a logical sequence.