Title: What to consider before publishing a course – a checklist for teachers
Course: Digivisio - DEMO course template > Section: Designing learner-centred education

Based largely on Laurea's guidelines for key considerations before course publication (Mattila, Marstio, Husman, and Punnonen).

E-learning is very different from “traditional” classroom education – both for the teacher and the learners. In e-learning, the learners are often alone with the course materials, so it is important to kick the course off with a good start. In a classroom, the teacher can correct small mistakes easily, and offer additional help. In an online environment, what the learner first understands might be incorrect, and it may be very difficult to correct any misunderstandings later. However, there are things you can do to ensure a successful outcome for the learning experience. And not just the outcome, but that the learner’s journey towards it is also pleasant and effective.

This checklist focuses on five categories, and they can be used regardless of the learning environment.

Settings

Incorrect settings may have a strong impact on the learner’s user experience. They need to have timely access to materials, tasks, and activities in order to successfully complete the course. Correct settings prevent unclarity about the demands: the learners know the deadlines, they can prepare for any time-critical tasks, communication works, grades are calculated correctly, the learners progress logically in their studies, collaboration is functional, and even the learners’ privacy is protected. There are also learners who require special attention in e.g. exam times due to dyslexia.

Check at least the following:

- Course dates (when opens, begins and ends), and who needs to have access to the learning environment
- Access to materials
- Any restrictions to progress
- Settings regarding evaluation
- Is there enough time to do everything? Use a resource calculator to get an idea of how much time the students will need to complete various tasks.

Critical information in its place

To ensure the learners’ participation, inclusion, and working in the activities, they must have easy access to where to find information, how to solve problems, and where to get support. Despite all instructions, there may be gaps which you need to fill in – perhaps a learner has encountered technical problem and has been unable to study, or maybe they have issues in their personal lives which are more important than studying.

Check at least

- Teacher contact information and availability
  - What channels (e-mail, phone,…), and when to contact
- Evaluation instructions
  - Schedule
  - How is the final grade formed
  - Task specific emphasis
- Solving problems
  - Support channels and procedures in different situations (e.g. technical issues, software/apps, devices, connections etc.)

More demanding tasks – peer evaluation and group tasks

You should be extra-careful with any graded activity, which contains several steps and requires close scheduling – especially from the learners’ viewpoint. These include group tasks and peer evaluated tasks, and especially group tasks which contain peer evaluations. Possible problems arise with e.g. not having enough time for the tasks, lateness and lack of clarity in grouping, and evaluation details.

Reserve enough time for group activities: for the group to form, for the groups to figure out what to do, to do the task, for collaboration, finishing touches etc. The “rules” for the groups must be clear: can a learner move from group to another, how is it done, where can they collaborate. Depending on the learning management system, a learner moving from one group to another may cause problems with evaluation, and the collaboration platform the group uses may be at odds with the demands of the collaboration partner or organisation.

Typical problem areas in peer evaluation are failing to schedule, not having enough instructions for the actual evaluation, and evaluation emphasis between the submission and the peer evaluation. If group-to-group peer evaluation is used, there needs to be enough time for it. Adult learners especially find it difficult to schedule a common time.

Check at least:

- Grouping done and groups “locked” early
- The progress (schedule) of the task and the demands placed on the learner are thought about and instructed
- Use and access rights
- Clarity of evaluation

The learner view of the learning environment

Learning environments are complex and it is easy to forget to update a simple setting, which may then affect the learners’ learning experience profoundly. Similarly, having logical navigation and course progress have an impact on how the learners feel about the environment. Visuality should not be forgotten, either – looking at the course from the learner’s role gives you a good idea on how diverse the course really is. If you feel it is boring, the learner is likely thinking it is even more boring – final moment to make it better. It is also good to think about what the learners see and when: can they access tasks right away, or should they go through the materials in a logical order before taking on the task? If a learner jumps straight to the task without studying the materials, they will miss out on a lot of essential learning.

Check at least:

- Accessibility
  - Informative and functional links, both within the learning environment and outside it
  - Informative tables and titles (e.g. title cells defined for screen readers)
  - Learning environment’s own styles used
  - Materials are legible and make sense
  - Alt-texts for images and the purpose of pictures
  - Subtitles in videos (and no long videos of talking heads!)
  - For more information, see section Accessibility
- Navigation is logical from the learners’ viewpoint
  - Learning environment elements have logical names (e.g. names and numbers of pages, tasks, assignments etc.)
- Links to possible online meetings (Teams, Zoom, etc.)
- Are the visuals and functionality in line with the organisational demands?

All ready – welcome to the course!

A Welcome-message helps to prevent some of the problems which arise at the beginning of a course. Typical learner questions include: when can the course be accessed, where is the teacher’s contact information, where are the links to the Teams-meetings etc. Usually quite simple questions, which are answered in the learning environment, but for one reason or another some learners need to know the answers before the course even begins.

Some suggestions on what to include:

- Inviting message subject – indicate clearly what is happening
- Who are you and why are you contacting the learners – this does not necessarily have to be very formal, and you can show your personality
- When does the course officially begin, when can the learners access the learning environment, and what link to use
- Brief description of the most essential contents and benefits of the course
- How is the course implemented
  - Is it fully online or are there campus meetings
  - Scheduling: Teams meeting times, if you know them already
- Some answers to frequently asked questions
  - Tech requirements, applications (if a learner only has a basic computer, can they access all course resources, environments etc.)
- Do you wish the learners to confirm they are actually doing the course – this is important if there are more interested learners than there are places in the course.

- Source: Mattila, Marstio, Husman and Punnonen (2024), Verkkojakso lentoon - opettajan tehtävät ennen opinnon alkua, Laurea Journal.