Overview of the Course

1. Introduction

Online learning is increasingly found in every area of education, from schools to workplace skills training. Even where teaching is primarily ‘face to face’, online tools and interactions have become a key part of the learning experience. If you work in education or training at any level, online or face to face, you need to develop new skills and understanding in order to make the right decisions, make the most of the opportunities, and overcome common challenges.

In this free course, we share the basic knowledge needed to produce an effective online course. You will hear about the experiences of three Open University educators and share your own experiences leading to course participants understanding the ideas and tools that shape how to produce an online course. Examples are given of free or commonly available software and hosting platforms, with some key features of OpenLearn Create and Kolibri platforms to help you to understand how to present your course online. You will also learn useful methods that will guide you to test out these new ideas in your future practice.

Listen to the audio in which Michael Ngoasong introduces the course

2. Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

3. How you can study this course

The course can be studied as a blended learning course in the sense that we combine online learning materials (texts, pre-recorded material, quizzes and case studies) and a virtual seminar that both a facilitator and course participants will attend to discuss and learn from experiences. Blended learning is sometimes referred to as hybrid learning, mixed learning, or integrative learning. The blended learning course can be studied in 3 hours.

The online element of the course can be studied sequentially, or the material can be used as a reference guide with sections studied in any order. It includes structured study time guided by the material that you will be expected to study and the skills that you will develop in completing the course. For the course material, we have also provided downloadable alternative formats. For instance, if you are unable to listen to the Voice-Over-PowerPoint slides, you can download the slides and study the content.

For the 1-hour Live Event, you will use the notes you have made from completing the online study activities to join the group discussion that will be offered on Zoom to support your learning. For the discussion you will be encouraged to share ideas for courses or training that you are working on or might be thinking of, as the basis for learning how to create your training online. The facilitator will provide feedback during the discussion, summarising the learning and providing suggestions for participants to take forward.

If you work through all the content in this course and pass the end-of-course quiz you will be awarded with a certificate to recognise your learning. 

4. Badge Information

By studying this course, you have the option of gaining a digital badge.

What is a badged course?

Badges are a means of digitally recognising certain skills and achievements acquired through informal study and are entirely optional. They do not carry any formal credit as they are not subject to the same rigour as formal assessment; nor are they proof that you have studied the full unit or course. They are a useful means of demonstrating participation and recognising informal learning.

If you’d like to learn more about badges, you will find more information on the following websites:

• Open Badges – this information is provided by Mozilla and IMS Global, a leading provider of the open badges system.
• Digital Badges – this information is provided by HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), a global community working to transform how we learn, and particularly making use of technology.

Gaining your badge

To gain the badge, you will need to have visited every page within the course, and scored at least 50% in the end-of-course quiz.  When you have done this you will receive email notification that your badge has been awarded and it will appear in the My Badges area in your profile. Please note it can take up to 24 hours for a badge to be issued.

Your badge demonstrates that you have participated in the course. The digital badge does not represent formal credit or award, but rather it demonstrates successful participation in informal learning activity.

Accessing your badge

From within the course:

1. Go to the navigation block and under My Profile you can access My Badges. When you click on My Badges you will be taken to your My Badges page on OpenLearn Create.
2. To view the details of the badge, to download it, or share it, click on the badge and you will be taken to the Badge Information page.
3. You can download this page to your computer.

Sharing your badge

Badges awarded within OpenLearn Create can be shared on multiple platforms using a badge aggregator such as Badgr, Badge Passport or Credly. They can then be shared to other platforms such as LinkedIn and Wordpress.

When you complete this course and hopefully starting producing and delivering your own online courses you can build your digital badge and award to participants that complete your course.

Now go to Session 2