I recently completed a 7-week course titled Designing Online Information/Dreamweaver CS6. This is just one in many web-related courses that I have either taken or facilitated over in the past 20 years. As you can imagine, working with websites has really assisted me in working with various LMS systems and helping faculty with their online courses.

So how does web design translate to online course development? Easily! It will give you the basic understanding of:

• The latest HTML standards and how they affect online design
• The design process (e.g. design / plan offline before even starting your course/site)
• How your course or site will look on different platforms, resolutions, browsers and devices and why this is important
• The proper use of white space and how easy to read colours and fonts can affect your course
• Font use and what fonts are recommended for the web
• Applying visual elements (bolding key terms, limiting font colours and never using underline!)
• The proper sizing of images and using multiple images within your site or D2L pages
• Proper linking to both internal and external sites and resources
• The benefits of using CSS (Cascade Styling Sheets) versus tables or heaven forbid, frames in your course/site

Understanding the above points will give you a solid understanding of how to design online. With a well designed course, you can engage your learners and deliver the course content and learning objectives in a way that will truly enhance their learning experience.

D2L Course Templates & Workshops

Are you wondering if VIU has a D2L course template that would help you design a better course? We sure do! We are also offering workshops weekly on better course design and other D2L elements. Write us at learnsupport@viu.ca to learn more!