How The Course Content Has to Be Organized

You need to determine how much information should be available through the class Web site and peripherals such as textbooks, CDs, videotapes, or other materials students have to purchase or borrow for home or office use. You may want a primary textbook (or more than one) that can be kept long after the online class ends and the course site is no longer available. On the other hand, you may want to cut back on the cost of additional materials learners need to complete the course and therefore provide all or a majority of materials through the course site only. Based on your analysis of learners’ needs and preferences, you choose appropriate temporary or permanent educational tools.

Wherever you offer course content, the material must be clearly organized so that learners can easily navigate the information and make appropriate connections between sources of information. Research has indicated that the way information is organized is the key to learning, not simply the use of multimedia, which in itself does not improve learners’ retention of information.

Learners often have problems when they are unfamiliar with the way to use the system and with the subject matter. When students have to concentrate on how to find information and move around the course site, they cannot focus on learning the subject information at the same time. Simply plopping information onto a CD or linking Web sites to course readings will not help learners make sense of the information. Learners may have trouble using tools to find information or understand in which order topics should be covered. Clear organization of topics and prior instruction in using course tools and navigating information are as much a requirement of good content as having innovative, educational sources.

Your choice of well-organized topics may involve different media through which the information is presented. Subject matter materials to be accessed through the course site can be presented in different formats: print readings, graphics, and streaming audio or video. Most courses still rely primarily on texts that can be downloaded to disk, printed easily and quickly, or read on screen, although multimedia formats are gaining popularity. Information on the Internet can be created just for your course site, by you or someone else, or it can be found on Web sites beyond the institution. Linking the URLs/URIs of external sites may require you to get permission before you direct students away from the course site and to the Internet at large

Readings

Readings are the most common information on course sites, and they most resemble the traditional texts that learners also may be required to study. The information should be short enough to be downloaded quickly and easily; a no-frames, text-only, or printer-friendly version should be available for learners to print or save to disk. Because some readers have unlimited computer time or may want to read online while they are on a break in the office, for example, texts linked to the course site should be scrollable and easily readable in a short time period. Long, dense texts should be avoided, but scrollable texts that have been “chunked” appropriately so they can be easily read online are good to use. Keep in mind that not all learners may have unlimited online access. Students connecting to your course from another country may have to pay by the hour for online access or may have to share technology with many other users. You have to consider all learners and the amount of time they can spend on the Internet as you design readings. Because learners should be able to access subject matter materials from the Web site, the readings should be available throughout the duration of the course. The links must be active and accurate at least for that time period, and the course Web site must be accessible from at least a week before the class begins to at least a few days after the course ends. Also, because you probably will want to use at least some readings more than one term, the links to course readings should be stable so that they will be available for months at a time.

As with other easily readable, downloadable texts, online course readings should have few pictures, or at least graphics that load quickly and take up little space. Multicolumn formats should be reproduced easily in downloadable form without causing readers to lose the organization of the original article. As you choose links to texts stored outside the course site, you should make sure that the information can be loaded easily by learners with different levels of technology and can be downloaded in print or to disk in a format that easily duplicates the original.

Good readings allow learners to understand information from different perspectives. As you choose online readings, you should select a variety representing people from different countries or locations, cultural or experiential backgrounds, and views or beliefs. If learners are going to review information critically, you need to provide a number of accurate voices that speak on behalf of different groups or provide different arguments. Helping learners develop a balanced view of a subject is an important consideration when you select content material.

You also need to represent information within an accurate time frame. If you want learners to study an event over time, the readings should reflect information about the event as it happened, as well as later, more interpretive information. If you want readers to study history, for example, you might include readings from the event’s or person’s own time period, but then allow learners to read what recent historians have written about the event in retrospect. Creating a balanced perspective involves not only a variety of voices, but also of times.

You hope that all learners in your class will have the same reading competency and level of literacy. However, you need to ensure that the majority of learners can understand the readings you select. You may want to run a readability test scale on the readings you want to link to your course site.

You may need some variation in the reading grade levels in the information, just to make sure that all readers can understand the subject matter. If the required reading levels are too high, learners become frustrated and abandon the readings. If the levels are too low, learners feel that the information has been watered down, or that the tone is condescending. You want to entice learners to complete all online readings. Making sure readers can understand all, or at least the majority of information, is an important part of making the information accessible and encouraging learners to take time with each required reading.

You also need to indicate in which order the readings should take place, if there is a precise order, to make sense of the topic. Learners should be able to keep track of the readings that they have accessed. If the links do not remain marked so that readers know which links have been previously used, some other system should be devised to let learners know at a glance how much reading remains to be done or in which order they have covered the material.

Because readings are a key part of the information learners take away from the course, you need to make sure the amount of reading material is appropriate for the subject matter and the type of course. You also must ensure that the readings will be valuable in helping learners read about new subject areas and apply their knowledge in appropriate ways to their lives or careers.

Multimedia Files

Linked audio and video files can be important supplements to textbooks, discussions, and the print documents stored at the class Web site. The more interactive the site, the more it will meet the needs of learners with different abilities and learning preferences. Of course, you do not want the class site to require so many special media players or such a fast modem that learners with low-tech hardware or software cannot access valuable information. You should establish a balance between larger audio and video files that may require plug-ins and the plain text documents and .GIF or .JPEG/.JPG files that take up less space.

A good file is one that is usable for several classes. It is not outdated quickly, the quality of the file is high, and the information provides insights or experiences that text cannot offer. Interviews, lectures, speeches, newscasts, tours, jobs in progress, concert performances, and demonstrations are some good examples of audio or video files that may be useful to your students.

If a file requires a plug-in or player, you should make sure learners know how to download the required software and use the file. Free plug-ins or those supported and subsidized by the institution are the best way of encouraging learners to take the time to download what they need to be able to access audio/video files.

Files that can be downloaded usually are a higher quality and can be reused by several classes. They lack the immediacy of streaming audio or video, but they may be more practical for use in your classes.

Graphics Files

Some graphics may be incorporated into the readings you develop or use from another source. To make sure that everyone can access information, you probably do not want to rely too heavily on graphics, even if you are teaching a class that is heavy on visuals, such as an art appreciation or a Web design course.

All graphics should have captions and textual descriptions so that learners whose computers cannot handle the graphics can still make sense of the material. Keep in mind, too, that some learners turn off the graphics capability of their systems so they can load information more quickly. Others use text or line readers to translate the information into a format they can read, such as Braille; yet other learners use old systems that may not be able to load and display graphics quickly or at all.

Although graphics can be an important part of course content, you should also provide text alternatives to graphics. Learners who cannot view graphics in a text or as separate files will need a prose description of what they are missing, as well as the significance and background of the graphic. In addition to using graphics that automatically come with readings or texts linked to your course site, you may want to add graphics by themselves for viewing or as additional components to text you create.

The most common types of graphic files are .GIF and .JPG (sometimes noted as .JPEG). Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) files are best for line art and designs like logos. GIF files may not have the same quality as the higher resolution JPEGs, but they take up less space. Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) files are best for photographs and other artwork that requires a higher number of colors and a finer resolution. JPEGs take up more space, but they may look better on screen, depending upon the type of image you want to show.

A third graphics file type is PNG—Portable Network Graphics. This file can be used as an alternative to GIF files, but it supports true color, which also makes it easier to use in greyscale.

Streaming Audio or Video

Streaming content is either broadcast or on demand. Broadcast audio or video is viewed as an event happens; often this type of streaming allows learners to watch or hear the event only one time. The immediacy of the event requires learners to schedule this synchronous activity into their course time, or to allow a certain amount of viewing/ listening time to an ongoing stream.

On-demand audio or video, such as previously recorded lectures, animation, and guided tours, can be accessed as learners have time to play a file. They can replay all or part of the file, pause it, and fast-forward it whenever they want. Of course, the immediacy of the event is lost in a previously taped file, but the reusability of the information is highly desirable.

Broadcast audio or video may be useful in classes where breaking news, current events, and one-time-only showings provide information for a specific group. For example, learners in a news production class may need to view a news event online; learners in a radio broadcast class may listen to streaming audio from stations around the country or world. Although streaming audio or video of live events is more difficult to capture, its immediacy may make up for the learners’ inability to view the file again and again. The quality of streaming media may be lower than some learners would like, especially if they have low-tech equipment. Nevertheless, you may want to link learners with sites that regularly offer streaming audio or video, like news and broadcast outlets, or you may provide special events online.

Your lectures during on-site classes, speeches, special presentations, and virtual tours, for example, can be videotaped first and then streamed so that learners can view them after the fact. Unlike streaming audio and video of events as they happen, on-demand information added to a course site can allow learners the benefits of watching streaming media without having to view the event as it happens. Streaming media of previously videotaped events can provide the best of asynchronous learning and multimedia technology.

If you are going to provide streaming audio or video, you need to make learners aware of the technical requirements for accessing this information. Without the minimal technology, learners can miss a great deal of course content stored in video files or available through “as it happens” streaming audio or video.

The quality of streaming media must be high enough that students avoid frustration in trying to see or hear a low-quality presentation and a lag time between frames. Strom (2001) reminded teachers that video must be viewed as a continuous feed of information. The images have to appear in the proper order, and the viewed series of images must be smooth and uninterrupted. When a file is accessed, a certain amount of information is sent to a buffer. When the file begins to play, more information is sent into the buffer. If the bandwidth for playing the media is not enough to sustain the stream of information, students see a jerky video with a staggered audio. Only a part of the clip plays, then the player pauses while more information is downloaded, and finally the next segment is played. This piecemeal presentation is difficult for learners to follow, and it takes a long time to download. Long presentations therefore become unusable, as learners become frustrated long before they play an entire file. The technical realities of using streaming media may make video or audio files less realistic in your course design. As learners have more access to higher levels of computer technology, and as the institution supports multimedia applications, you probably will want to integrate more streaming content into your courses. However, just because you and your students can use multimedia more easily does not mean that you use it exclusively. As with other types of online information, you need to make sure the medium suits the type of information being presented and is useful to learners with different abilities and learning preferences.

Offline Peripherals

Online learners should be comfortable locating and using a variety of forms of electronically generated and stored information, and they may prefer to download information to their computer or printer if they want to read offline. Online learners also prefer to do as much of the grunt work of education online. They do not like to drive to a physical campus to register for classes or buy books, for example. If they are going to take classes online, they want the rest of the academic process to be electronic, too.

If you require learners to use textbooks, CDs, or other materials they must purchase, you should at least make it easy for them to find and buy the materials. Peripherals might play a critical role in the course; they are added to what learners use online. These materials become the extras that learners must buy or receive before they can start the course.

An online bookstore, or at least a phone or fax ordering system to the institution, should be used to help learners purchase the correct book(s), disks, tapes, and so on for each class. You might also choose materials that are easily purchased from other online bookstores, such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, et cetera. If materials are sent as part of a course packet, and paid for as part of the total course fee, the materials should be sent as soon as learners register for a course.

The benefits of requiring learners to use printed peripherals are the same benefits of using any type of hardcopy information: It is portable wherever they go. Learners do not need special equipment to access a book, although they need VCRs or CD or DVD players for other types of course materials. They do not have to worry about the server being down or lack of access to a computer. They can keep the materials once the course is over, without downloading information from the course site. Some learners also like the feel of a textbook, because that is traditionally what they think of as a repository for course information. Real classes, to some learners, require at least one textbook.

Information on CDs or even floppy disks (as long as they remain available) can provide learners with sample documents, additional software or plugins that will be useful to their online work, and practice exercises or simulations to help them complete an online task once they log into the course site. You or your institution may produce disks with information and examples customized especially for your course. You might want to create tutorials to help learners use the software required for the class or to practice using tools that they will find on the course site. You might have background readings that supplement the linked information found at the site. Whatever is appropriate content for your course might be added to these personalized disks.

Many printed textbooks also bundle CDs with the book. If you have selected a textbook as a peripheral for your course, you might see if additional materials, such as a CD, come with the book. This process could save you the time and expense of producing customized materials to go along with what you have designed for the course site.

However, the downside is that materials designed to go with a textbook provide standardized examples, not ones specific for the approach you are taking toward the subject matter or the assignments you have developed specifically for the people in your class. You should check the effectiveness of any supplementary materials that come with textbooks to see how much information will really be useful in your course and if you still need to provide more personalized information for class members. If you develop peripherals on your own, disks are a good choice, because they can also be useful for storing multimedia files that may take up too much space on the server or be more difficult to access and use repeatedly from the course Web site. Of course, the problem with using disks is that learners have to use them with their computer, which may make the peripherals less portable. Adult learners on a business trip, for example, probably will not drag several CDs with them; they will use the course Web site and perhaps take a book to read when they do not have computer access. Peripherals should offer convenience, variety, and materials that cannot be used or easily found on the course site or in another format. They should justify the extra cost or time in using them as part of the core course material. They should allow skills development or provide in-depth information not found in other sources.

If you require peripherals, choose them carefully so that they provide easily recognized benefits to students. The number of peripherals should be low; you want to encourage online learners to do much of their learning online.