This module provides examples and strategies for specifying course goals, expectations, and policies when teaching an online course. This module is part of the Best Practices in Online Teaching Course created by Penn State University World Campus as a guide for faculty who are new to teaching in an online environment.
What to do?
Photograph by: Christophe Libert, Runner – Meeting, Gaz de France in Paris (2005), Photo #458554, http://www.sxc.hu/photo/458554 Effective online instructors provide at the outset course goals, expectations, structure, and related course/department/University policies.
How to do it?
Many of the following components commonly appear in a course syllabus. However, you may choose to include some of them in your course Announcements or elsewhere:
Course name and overview
Instructor’s name and contact information
Course goals and learning objectives (
See Example 1 )
A description of course structure, including how online courses work generally as well as specifics
Course materials or textbook(s) (both required and optional)
Course schedule, including lessons, reading assignments, assignments and deadlines, projects, quizzes, exams or papers, and/or other learning activities planned
Academic integrity (
See Example 2 ), policies (
See Example 3 ), and readings (
See Example 4 )
Guidelines for student participation (
See Example 5 ) and collaboration including: (a) Guidelines for online communication (
See Example 6 ), such as posting messages to online discussion board, responding to messages posted by others, sending course emails, and working in teams in the online course; (b) Policy for assignment submission and grading (e.g. by dropbox or by email); (c) Netiquette guidelines for the online course and/or additional netiquette resources (
See Example 7 )
Course objectives
Course Objectives Sample 1
At the end of this course, learners should be able to:
Appreciate the complexities involved in developing and executing a disaster plan for both EMS and hospitals
Describe the coordination involved in integrating these plans with existing federal and state personnel and resources
Explain the role of various domestic and economic policies on the planning for and recovery from disasters and terrorist emergencies
Identify the key psychological and social consequences of disasters and terrorism that must be addressed in disaster planning and response
Outline specific issues unique to urban search and rescue, disaster communication, agricultural biosecurity, and critical infrastructure protection
Recall fundamental research methodologies in the study of disasters
Course Objective Sample 2
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a sense of the historical scale of natural disasters, the rate at which they occur, the 'hot spots' for major disasters, and the degree to which the recent past is representative of the overall record
Compare and contrast the scientific causes and impacts of major categories of natural disasters (e.g. tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, volcanos, and mudslides)
Analyze any given natural disaster from a scientific, historical, and social perspective
Articulate key considerations in planning and decision making related to managing the impacts of natural disasters
