Enhancing the Student Online Experience

Concurrent Session 4

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

We've all been witnesses of inconsistent online courses so we've come up with a few strategies for enhancing the student online experience. In this discovery session, we'll provide what's worked well for us when it comes to using templates and style guides to create a more robust online experience.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Syleste Hoskins, University of South Florida

Syleste has been an instructional designer and multimedia developer at USF's Innovative Education department in Digital Learning for 3 years, and has been working in education and instructional design for the last 9 years. She graduated from the University of North Florida with a Masters of Educational Leadership and specialization in Instructional Technology and Design. She has a passion for helping people learn and opening their minds to new experiences and possibilities using best practices in online learning theory and universal design. She loves online learning because it provides people with the ability to learn anywhere and makes learning more accessible to everyone. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children.

Co-presenter: Melissa Tipton, University of South Florida

Melissa received her B.S. in Elementary Education, and her M.Ed in Instructional Technology from the University of South Florida. Prior to being an Instructional Designer, Melissa spent nine years teaching in the Florida K-12 Public Schools. Melissa began her E-learning career in 2011 and has been an Instructional Designer for the University of South Florida since 2014.

Tags

OLC Accelerate 2017 Learner Services and Support Academic support Learner Learning analytics Learning communities Learning management systems Online students Personalization Retention Student engagement Student orientation Student readiness Student success Support Universal design

Extended Abstract

Picture this: you’re enrolled in your first two online courses, and want to familiarize yourself with the content and instructors before the classes start. When you login to Class A, you’re presented with a blank screen. Where do you go? What do you do? What course am I even taking? Hoping for a better outcome with Class B, you’re presented with an image of the instructor, and an incoherent line of text that you discover is the link to the syllabus. No matter what LMS you’re using, it’s imperative that we, as online course developers, provide students with a consistent and seamless online experience that sets them up for success throughout their online education and beyond.

We've all been witnesses of inconsistent online courses so we've come up with a few strategies, tips, and tricks for enhancing the student online experience, from a big picture and more-detailed point-of-view.

In this discovery session, we'll provide what's worked well for us when it comes to using templates, iconography, style guides, and color palettes to create a more robust online experience.

In addition to working within the LMS, we’ll also demonstrate how the student online experience can be enhanced using Rapid Development Tools, such as Storyline.

Upon completion of this discovery session, you’ll be able to:

  • Recognize the qualities of a well-designed online course.
  • Create consistency throughout the LMS, templates, style guides, and iconography.
  • Apply strategies to test the student online experience when working with rapid development tools.