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Educator's Voice

Volume 6, Issue 8
August 10, 2005

Utilizing Course Templates and Model Courses to Provide Consistent Quality

Many institutions are asking instructors and development teams to create courses in a template course environment. This article is intended to explain what a course template is, what a model course is, and how these lead to the creation of a master course. I will suggest some variables a school or program should consider when creating course templates. We will also look at some best practice content pieces, possible standard content items, and examples of look-and-feel formats that allow instructors to author easily and consistently within a standard presentation environment.

What Is...

What is a course template?

A course template is a look-and-feel environment that is set up to encourage consistent content presentation within and between courses. A template can be quite simple, with only margins and font style included, or it can be more complex, such as templates in which pages are governed by a cascading style sheet that dictates content presentation on a page level.

Simple course template:

More complex course template:

What is a model course?

A model course contains the look-and-feel rules of a template course, but adds prompts to instructors based on the content area (e.g., in a discussion content item, there could be tips on how to create a robust discussion question). These suggestions are based on best practices that the institution wishes instructors to follow. In some model courses, prompts are accompanied by sample text the instructor is encouraged to use in lieu of creating his or her own directional text. Here is an example of this in the Virtual Office area of a model course:

In other words, think of a course shell as a canvas. A template provides a background environment, but a model course is like a paint-by-number. A complete course that has been developed from the starting point of a template or model course template is often used as a master course.

What is a master course?

A master course is a course that contains content that has been implemented into a template or model course shell, and from which a program or department copies all section offerings each semester. It is basically the "clean copy" of a course to which minimal, if any, changes are made to the structure, policy content and pre-determined content items.

Template considerations

When planning your course template, it is a good idea first to define the conditions under which the template will be used. Here are a few things you should address.

1. What are the policies of your school? Are there institution or program-wide pieces that the students are required to know and that therefore must be present in the template shell?

2. Who are your developers? Who will be doing the course development in terms of placing content into the template environment? The design of your template will differ substantially depending on your development staff. If you are using a trained course development team, you can feel confident using a more complex design. If you are relying on instructors to upload their content into the template, then your template should be as user-friendly and sturdy as possible.

This is not to say that a template intended for faculty development can't run off of style sheets, for instance. The template can have a design in place which makes it clear to the instructors where they should type or paste their content, and which areas they should refrain from manipulating. Here is an example of a warning in the Visual Editor of a template course. This warning protects the html code calling to the style sheet from being inadvertently altered by faculty developers.

3. What is the look and feel your institution or department prefers? It is likely you will bring over school colors and logos, but look and feel elements go beyond that. For starters, you will need to choose a font, preferably one that is sans serif such as Verdana or Arial, and of a size that is legible without being so large that text will scroll unnecessarily.

Another design aspect you will want to build in is margin space. In addition to lending a professional appearance to a text page, this "white space" will also reduce the eyestrain that can be caused by reading from a monitor.

What about banners and images? These not only add to the aesthetic design of the course, but also can help to "brand" your program through the use of consistent themes. Of particular instructional value is the use of signpost icons that let the student know when a certain activity is being assigned. Used throughout a program, icons can help students to identify assignments and to feel comfortable with knowing they have not missed completing all required tasks. Here are some sample signpost icons:

Other features that could be included in a template or model course are:

a. Stock announcements: These can be created as announcements for the instructor to populate or delete as he or she sees fit, or they can be pre-populated with text, requiring little or no instructor editing. Here are a few examples of common announcement titles:

b. Content items: Will your template offer a standard set of content items that must be used in each unit of the course, or will each unit contain a large array of different content item options from which the instructor can choose?

c. For a model course, what forms of guidance will this template provide to faculty developers?

Simple guidance will let the developer know where to type or paste text.

Guidance that includes prompts will give a bit more structure to the template pages by signaling to instructors what kind of text they should be implementing in which areas of the page or course.

Providing sample text in content areas gives the instructor a head start in development by removing some tasks from the development process.

In the example above, instructions to the student on how to participate in a triple-layered discussion thread have been made a part of the introductory text for the discussion content item. This lightens the instructor's authoring task. In addition, the use of consistent directional text also aids the students as they progress through courses in a program that was developed using the same model course template, as they are familiar with the icons and their associated coursework.

After reaching some conclusions around the design aspects of the course, remaining decisions center on the content area elements of a template or model course, and on best practices to keep in mind for each area.

A. Course Homepage: In a model course, the Course Homepage will be set up to help instructors build best practices into their content. To do this, choose and provide delineated content areas. Here at eCollege, our understanding of online best practices leads us to recommend the following five items be present in a model Course Home area:

1. Announcements: Look above for titles of some stock announcements to provide the instructors.

2. The course title, in a large, colored and bolded font or as an animation containing said font.

3. A welcome statement and brief overview of the course.

4. "Getting Started" instructions to aid students in moving into the left-hand navigation content.

5. A relevant image for visual interest.

B. Course-wide content: These content items under the Course Home area on the left-hand navigation bar will be items required by the institution and also information that applies to the course as a whole. A Student Lounge thread is a valuable addition to this area, as is a virtual Instructor's Office. This is also a good place to repeat policies and procedures found in the syllabus that are especially important for student success in the course.

C. Unit Homepages: As with the Course Homepage, Unit Homepages present an opportunity both to interest and orient the student regarding the material to come. In a model course, the Unit Homepage is developed to provide the instructors with an easy way to include information about the unit that the busy student can reference at a glance.

Best practices suggest that a Unit Homepage contain much the same elements as a Course Homepage. These are:

1. An introduction to the unit.

2. Unit objectives.

3. A relevant graphic.

4. A checklist of activities that a student must perform in order to be successful in the unit.

D. Content items: As mentioned above, a template or model course will provide the "structure" of the course through the left navigation bar. There are two scenarios under which this occurs:

1. The institution or program uses a predetermined set of content items. The instructor or course author plans content around these content areas.

2. The institution or program provides the instructor with a range of content items from which he or she can pick and choose. Unused content items would be hidden or deleted.

The content items you include in the template or model course and the instructions you give instructor developers for using them will determine the final shape of your course and program environment. Consistent use of a select set of content items throughout the units gives the course a "textbook" feel in which the student will always know where to find a certain type of content. A mix of content items based on the instructor's presentation choices can be more challenging for the student to navigate, but gives the instructor more latitude when developing the course.

No matter what model you choose, having a templatized environment with a look-and-feel that runs through a program's or school's course offerings can be a good idea and is becoming more common. A well planned environment ensures that design principles that support online study are implemented. Rather than stifling instructor creativity (a common fear), many faculty developers find that they can concentrate more fully on authoring content when design considerations are made for them and are easy to implement.

       –Vicki Galloway Harsh, M.A.

TIP

The Browser Test

You certainly don't have to be a computer or Internet authority to deliver your online course. That said, to be a successful instructor in the online education environment, you and your students will need to use computers that meet minimum hardware and software requirements. Since these requirements will change as newer versions of programs are released, it's best to take the Browser Test (generally accessed through your Institution's Homepage).

The Browser Test has been designed to check your computer automatically to make sure it meets specific minimum requirements. If you "fail" any portion of the test, you are provided with a link to a free download site/area. The technical requirements and the Browser Test are designed to let you know what the minimum computer hardware and software requirements are to achieve success in your online interactions.

Tip: In your Welcome Email or Welcome Announcement at the start of a course, as well as in your Syllabus, remind students to take the Browser Test. You might combine this suggestion with a reminder to take the Student Orientation Tutorial, if they have not done so already.

       –Ken Switzer, Ph.D.