EDT4OL/Snapshot/Course outline structure
The navigation of the course website is based on the structure of the course outline, which sets out the sequencing and chunking of the learning materials. With a well-defined underlying structure, the navigation of the course website should result in a learning progression based on manageable units of information.
A note about nomenclature
In this course, we refer to the manageable unit of information as a learning pathway which is the sequence a learner would typically complete during a session. We have purposefully avoided using nomenclatures like:
- Topic --> Section ---> Unit or
- Module --> Unit ---> Lesson.
This makes it easier to re-use and integrate resources across institutions, and to avoid ambiguity which may arise when the same concept is used to mean different things in different contexts and environments.
Course outline structure
Learners are free to choose their own labels for the structure of their site to sequence and chunk the learning materials. In this course, you are required to develop one learning pathway. Usually 'learning pathways' are situated within the context of a larger course structure - so, for example, this course has the following structural components:
- Startup which provides the steps for getting started
- Course guide which contains information about the learning outcomes for the course, an overview, the course syllabus, and list of challenges
- Interactions where copies of course announcement emails are posted, together with the aggregated course feed
- Application portfolio which is a requirement for gaining access to this course
- Learning challenges which lists the individual learning pathways and sub-pages (i.e. the courseware which guides learners through the learning resources and course activities)
For the purposes of this course, you are not required to develop the outline structure for a full course site. The minimum requirements for the course outline are:
- Course landing page or homepage for the course (where you will provide some information about the site)
- One learning pathway
Of course, you are free to develop a more comprehensive structure, but the main focus of this section is to set up the outline sequence of individual pages within the learning pathway you are developing.
Example sequence of an individual learning pathway
The outline of a learning pathway is a list of the sequence of individual pages planned for a learning session; in other words, a 'table of contents' for individual pages of your learning pathway that will be listed in the navigation of the website. The outline is used for chunking concepts, which sets out the sequence of individual webpages and navigation for a learning pathway. For example, in this course, the sequence of pages for the learning pathway titled "Outlining a learning pathway" in the wiki outline (scroll down to the relevant pathway in the 'Learning challenges') is summarised in the following table:
| Learning pathway page | Summary of the page content |
|---|---|
| Overview | A summary of the learning objectives for the learning pathway |
| Video signpost | A short video showing the outcome of outlining a learning pathway |
| Sequencing and chunking | A summary of the ways content can be organised and description of the concepts of sequencing and chunking, noting the importance of consistency of design |
| Thinking about visual design | A description of the connection between content and form, in the context of visual design |
| Start - Outlining a pathway challenge | An overview of and rationale for the learning challenge |
| Tasks - Outlining a pathway challenge | An outline of the tasks that the learner must complete for the challenge |
| Outputs - Outlining a pathway challenge | A description of what the learner must produce for the learning challenge, including a self-assessment rubric using the traffic light template |
| Quiz | A short formative quiz with feedback, covering core concepts in this learning pathway (which will also form part of the summative test for the Participation Badge) |
| Course designer badge - Part 2 | Details about the remaining requirements (Part 2) for gaining the Course designer badge |
The next step in the process is to convert the learning pathway outline you created previously into a wiki outline page, so that you can generate your first snapshot to WordPress.
