Most of the instructions for navigating the course are provided by DLS. This item refers to additional instructions, such as instructing students on how to find a page with extra resources. It also refers to stated protocols, such as instructions on how to properly name files (no spaces, no special characters). Instructions provide a general course overview, guide the new student to explore the course website, and indicate what to do first, rather than list detailed navigational instructions for the whole course. Example: A Scavenger Hunt assignment that leads students through an exploration of the different areas of the course areas.

The instructor′s statement gives the new student an idea of how the learning process is structured including schedule, communications modes, types of activities, and assessments. These features are to be found on the Course Information page.

Clear guidelines should be given as to what constitutes a quality discussion posting, the average number of postings and responses expected per student, etc. A good tool for communicating this is the 'Discussion Rubric.'

The initial introduction creates a sense of connection between the instructor and the students. This item refers to the Welcome Message on the course home page. An “appropriate” welcome message would direct students to specific elements in the course, such as an Ice Breaker activity. Additional information about the instructor will be provided in the “Instructor′s Bio”.

The student introduction helps to create a supportive learning environment and a sense of community. Students are asked to introduce themselves and given guidance on where and how they should do so. A good quality course should include an Ice Breaker or Meet and Greet activity.

A learning objective should describe precisely what students are to gain from the instruction, as well as define how one might determine when that objective has been achieved. Measurable learning objectives help guide the instructor to accurately assess student accomplishment. Objectives should describe student performance in specific, observable terms. If this is not possible, (e.g., internal cognition, affective changes), check for clear indications that the learning objective is meaningfully assessed.

For more on this see Writing Good Learning Objectives.

It is important that all the domains are covered (where possible).

• Affective — learning of beliefs, attitudes and values.
  
• Psychomotor — learning of physical movements, such as how to sharpen a pencil.
• Cognitive — learning information and the process of dealing with that information.

The course goals and topics outlined in PIRS must be covered. A developer may add to the outline, but he or she is not permitted to omit anything. This does not mean, however, that developers are bond to follow the order of the outline. The order in which material is presented in the course is entirely the developer's prerogative.

It is important that the learning objectives be worded so that the student can understand clearly what is expected of him or her. Students without clear direction can be easily confused about their obligations. A good learning environment will have clear and achievable objectives.

Ensure that the content in a given unit/module covers the stated learning objectives. It is important to keep the material in the unit/module focused on the objectives for that unit/module (no extraneous material).

Determine whether the assessment method/tool used is the best one for measuring a student's success. For example, in a course on grammar the best way to assess what a student has learned about sentence structure may be to have him or her write an essay; rather than do a multiple choice quiz.

Ensure that the assignment or questions being asked match the material covered in the content. Students should see a connection between the activities they are completing and the overall objective.

The Course Information page should include a section on the grading scheme, penalty for late assignments, etc.

For example, the developer could include feedback for each question in a quiz. There could even be feedback for each option in a multiple choice question. If there is a participation mark, the developer/instructor could provide feedback using a rubric.

Please note: In most cases, the assessment/evaluation methods outlined in PIRS are recommendations. That is, the instructor is given the option to follow the suggested methods or devise other similar methods or his/her own. In any case, it is essential that all assessment/evaluation complies with the PIRS outline.

Self assessment tools, such as self-quizzes, should be used to encourage students to reflect on the course content and evaluate their progress. Such tools make the course more interactive. Practice exercises should be aligned with the final evaluation tests in terms of both content (i.e., similar questions) and style.

A rubric is an excellent way to communicate to students how well they've achieved a given learning objective.

Whenever possible online notes should be presented in HTML format. PowerPoint slides, MS-Word files, PDF files should be used sparingly.

Students should not have to scroll through more than 3 continuous screens of content. Research suggests that most people can understand and remember no more than seven (plus or minus two) items of information at a time. This phenomenon is called the “chunking limit.” As the complexity of the information increases, the items of information we can recall decreases.

Each unit should attempt to build on knowledge/skills gained from previous unit(s).

Images should be a maximum of 600px wide, but usually much smaller. Images should be clear and easy to read. The file format should be jpg or gif. Images should be reproduced as text whenever possible. For example, a table with text should not be inserted as an image.

Research has shown that learners judge instructors based on how clearly and completely online course materials are presented (Conrad D. “Engagement, Excitement, Anxiety and Fear: Learners’ Experiences Starting an Online Course.” American Journal of Distance Education 16.4 (2002): 205-226.).  Remember, how well (or not so well) the course content is written directly reflects on the instructor and the College.

"It is the developer’s responsibility to obtain permission when using copyrighted materials.

Avoid using the URL as the hypertext for a web page link. It is best to name it something meaningful. For example, use “Desire2Learn Homepage” instead of “https://d2l.cna.nl.ca/index.asp”. Web pages should open in a new window so that the learner does not become confused with the navigation of the course materials.

Instructors are expected to create a friendly social environment and help foster a learning community by encouraging responsible collaboration and cooperation. Online courses should be designed with this goal in mind. For example, self-introduction; discussion postings and responses; feedback on project assignments; evidence of one-to-one e-mail communication, etc. Research has shown that instructor-student interaction was the most significant contributor to perceived learning. (See Fredericksen et al. “Student Satisfaction and Perceived Learning with On-line Courses,” in Online Education Vol. I: Learning Effectiveness and Faculty Satisfaction. Nashville, TN: Center for Asynchronous Learning Networks, 2000.)

Research shows that there is a direct correlation between perceptions of interaction (i.e., the degree to which a person is perceived as a real person) and the quality/quantity of learning in an online course (Gunawardena and Zittle, “Social Presence as a Predictor of Satisfaction within a Computer-Mediated Conferencing Environment.” American Journal of Distance Education 11.3 [1997]:8-26).  Well-written discussion topics can help foster a sense of community among students.

A well designed course will have content that students perceive as “a set of stimulations that support discovery-based learning.” (N. Sonwalkar, “The Sharp Edge of the Cube: Pegagogically Driven Instructional Design for Online Education.” Syllabus Retrieved Nov. 30, 2007 http://campustechnology.com/articles/38922/

One means of achieving this, for example, is to include some interactive ‘Viewlets’ with “clickable” regions that allow students to interact the course material. This promotes active learning.

Instructors are expected to create a friendly social environment and help foster a learning community by encouraging responsible collaboration and cooperation. Research has shown that students who felt they were receiving timely feedback and interaction with instructors were among the strongest predictors of student satisfaction (V. Thurmond et al. “Evaluation of Student Satisfaction: Determining the Impact of a Web-based Environment by Controlling for Student Characteristics,” The American Journal of Distance Education 16.3 [2002]:169-189).

There should be a clear statement on the Course Information page about what students can expect regarding timely feedback, turn-around time for emails, posting grades, etc., as well as a statement about the instructor′s “virtual office hours.”.

For example, students required to participate in discussions are told how many times each week they must post original comments, how many times they must post responses to other’s comments, what the quality of the comments must be, how the comments will be evaluated, what grade credit they can expect for various levels of performance, and whether the interaction is required or optional.

Research has shown that students enrolled in online courses where expectations on how to succeed are clearly communicated have reported high levels of satisfaction and perceived learning (See P. Shea et al. “Measures of Learning Effectiveness in the SUNY Learning Network”. In Borne J. and J. Moore , eds. On-Line Education, Vol. II: Learning Effectiveness, Faculty Satisfaction and Cost Effectiveness. Needham, MA: Solar Center for OnLine Education, 2002. pp. 31-54).

Accordingly, students should be informed about what is expected of them. This can be done, for example, on the Course Information page and/or on the Learning Activities pages for each unit/module. Rubrics can also be used for this purpose.

Ensure that the multimedia (images, audio files, Viewlets, etc.) enrich the learning experiences of the student by helping him or her achieve the learning objectives. That is, such items must have a recognizable purpose/reason for being part of the course content.

Tools and media used in the course help students actively engage in the learning process, rather than passively “absorbing” information.
Examples:
• Automated ′self-check′ exercises requiring student response
• Animations, simulations, and games that require student input

A well designed course will have content that students perceive as “a set of stimulations that support discovery-based learning.” (N. Sonwalkar, “The Sharp Edge of the Cube: Pegagogically Driven Instructional Design for Online Education.” Syllabus Retrieved Nov. 30, 2007 http://campustechnology.com/articles/38922/

One means of achieving this, for example, is to include some interactive ‘Viewlets’ with ”clickable” regions that allow students to interact the course material. This promotes active learning.

All of the standard extra technologies (plug-ins, software, etc.) required for DL courses are available to the student via the Toolbox widget on the course home page. If additional tools are required that are not listed in the DL Toolbox, ensure that they are made available. This could be in the form of a link somewhere in the course content (usually on the Course Information page). In cases where students are required to purchase additional resources, arrangements must be with the DLS Bookstore to have these available before semester startup.

For this standard, the term “technologies” may cover a range of plug-ins such as Acrobat Reader, media players, etc. In addition, courses may require special software packages (spreadsheets, math calculators etc.). Clear instructions tell students how to obtain needed plug-ins and software packages.

All of the standard “technologies” required for DL courses are made available to the student via the Toolbox widget on the course home page. This is communicated to the student in the DL Learner's Guide and the Student Orientation course. The developer may provide further instructions if deemed necessary (e.g., for Olympus, DSS files, Illuminate Live, VMWare, etc.). In cases where students are required to purchase additional resources, these are made available through the DLS Bookstore. Information on obtaining such resources is communicated to the student during registration and purchase of textbooks. All additional required and optional resources should be listed on the Course Information page.

Please keep in mind that some of our students are on dial-up. We recommend that in most cases image files should be no more than 100kb; of course, there will be some exceptions. If video files are used they should be made available through the DLS streaming server, with a link in the course. Using compressed files will reduce file downloading time.

Research shows that learners judge instructors based on how clearly and completely online course materials present the details of the course. A well-organized course with a clear overview and introduction including a clear statement of expectations, explanation of the course outline, clear timelines, and well-written course notes helped learners feel that they were getting off to a good start in their course (D. Conrad, “Engagement, Excitement, Anxiety and Fear: Learners′ Experiences of Starting an Online Course,” American Journal of Distance Education 16.4 [2002]: 205-226).

Research shows that learners judge instructors based on how clearly and completely online course materials present the details of the course. A well-organized course with a clear overview and introduction including a clear statement of expectations, explanation of the course outline, clear timelines, and well-written course notes helped learners feel that they were getting off to a good start in their course (D. Conrad, “Engagement, Excitement, Anxiety and Fear: Learners′ Experiences of Starting an Online Course,rdquo; American Journal of Distance Education 16.4 [2002]: 205-226).

Avoid using spaces or special characters in file names (e.g., !,  #,  $,  %,  &).

Use an underscore instead of a space (e.g., “course file.html” should be named “course_file.html”)

Ensure that the directory structure reflects the design of the course. It is recommended that the course information files be kept in the course information folder, image files be kept in the images folder, etc. The content files for each unit/module should have its own folder.

The recommended file structure is as follows: