How to Design your Online Class (Visually And Structurally)

Good online course design includes both visual & structural design. The two components work together. This is how you can design your course.

What is it that makes people want to be able to

Are you able to access and engage with content that makes the learning process easy? Beautiful design and beautiful images which seamlessly take you across each course?

The most successful course designers recognize it's a blend from both.

A good online course design incorporates the structural and visual design. They work together to make your course both accessible and fun for your students.

Find out how to develop an online course that can wow your students and make them excited to start every class, we talk to Dr. Kelly Edmonds, an E-Learning Specialist and expert in course design.

Also, we get tips of Think In Color speaker Puno The founder of ilovecreatives the online education academy for digital creatives and the executive creative director for the ilovecreatives Studio which is a design and marketing company.

Learn 10 suggestions for an online course design to help your course stand out from the rest.

  Skip ahead here  

•    The difference between course design vs course development
•    Basics of online course design
•    Learning experience design
•      5 tips for expert learning experience design
•    Instructional design
•      Five instructional design strategies that will help students understand better

The difference between course design vs course development

In the discussion of the design of online courses, there are two terms which are frequently used - course design and course development.

The two terms are different and are both essential in creating a course students will enjoy.

A course's design usually occurs offline. You spend a lot of time dreaming up your curriculum and figuring out how it will serve your students.

Most of the time, you begin to think about your experiences of your pupils and how you could take them to a new learning experience.

To get started, Kelly suggests these ideas to encourage you to think more creatively about the course you're taking:

• Put the paper down on the floor and use vibrant markers to write thoughts, link them, with the course's titles and names
• Use fun software, like Inspiration to create and link your course ideas and every component (i.e. lessons, activities, resources, engagement, assessments)
• Share your course ideas with your friend in order to be clear on what you want to share.
• Create illustrations based on the mood, look and look of your course

Next up, Kelly recommends some studies online:

• Google Courses that align with the subject of your choice and find out what is offered and the way they do it.
• People in your groups on the internet or among your followers, if it would be something that interests them (also question why it is you think it's not)
• Go to Amazon and check whether there are any books related to your subject. Also, read feedback left by others (what they loved and what more they want to know)
• It is available to your mastermind group, mentors or coach, and receive an honest critique

This list is an excellent springboard to online course design and development, even if you have no idea how to start.

Fundamentals of design for online courses

After you've laid out the general concept of your online course, it's time to dig in a little deeper and think about the course's design further.

What information will you communicate to students? What will each lesson look and appear like? What can you do to engage your students and convince them to keep taking classes from your company?

Course design involves taking into consideration what the users' experiences which includes the design of the interface and the visual as well as the

Both of these make a difference in creating a course that your customers can benefit from and will want to finish.

Let's get into the specifics of visual and structural design for you to design an online course that is intuitive simple and simple to use.

Learning experience design

Everything about the graphics, font, layout and the color scheme of an instructional course will affect the learning experience. Get it wrong and students may leave the course and never return.

Your aim is to create an instructional course that makes your information as straightforward to learn as you can.

Designing learning experiences is also an opportunity to get creative by incorporating your courses' content into your curriculum and create a unique design that showcases the very best aspects of your business.

Here are 5 tips to help you do just that.

5 tips for expert learning experience design

  1. Get a distinctive logo

The creation of a memorable logo is the first step to nailing online course design.

Your logo is the most important way to establish consistency in your brand and make an impression that is positive to the people who visit your business.

Puno suggests using a wordmark which is a logo that uses text and your company name - to be one of the most efficient strategies to help get your brand's image across to the students.

"Wordmark logos are an extremely basic, straightforward method to create a professional logo," says Puno. "You are able to choose a font for free or invest a couple of hundred dollars to turn it into the wordmark." She recommends Typewolf as a good source for creating a Wordmark.

If you decide to use either an image or a wordmark, it's important to ensure it's appealing and professional. In the end, it's likely to be all over the place!

  2. Pick a gorgeous color scheme

The color scheme is the most important part of the online course design With a special emphasis on the break!

In the case of designing online courses, the colour schemes could go horribly wrong. Puna's golden rule is to ensure your text's hue contrasts with the background color so that your text is simple to comprehend.

Text written in white on a black background is one option to steer clear of since this combination can tire out your eyes and can make the text look blurry - the effect is known as 'halation'.

In contrast If you make your color choice right A unique color scheme will help increase the recognition of your brand and increase the brand's reputation among students.

Here's Puno's explanation of the fundamentals of color selection:

• The color palette you choose should comprise primary and secondary colors.
• The primary colors are the background color, the font's color and any other color that you want to catch your attention, such as buttons, icons, or other icons.
• Secondary colors are color splatters that complement your primary colors
• It is possible to use as many as 3 primary colors, and three secondary colors in your palette

But how can you decide your palette?

Puno gets inspiration from searching online for:

• Search the web for colors you like
• Go to stock photo websites, Pinterest, Instagram and other visual-heavy sites
• When you view a photo which has colors that appeal to you then grab the color for an Swatch
• Over time it will build up a collection of colors that you enjoy

Once you've done your homework Go back to Puno's advice and pick the main and secondary color for your course.

If in doubt seek out opinions from an outsider about your colors and ensure that the words are legible, your colors are in harmony as well as that you and your guests do not get headaches from watching the webpage!

  3. Look for a font that can be read

Another important element of design for online course design is your typeface.

Your main goal is to ensure your words are easy to comprehend.

Get researching and find a typeface that you feel matches the content and objectives. Sometimes , it's worth investing in a font if you find that perfect fit.

"If you do find a font that you like, I'll guarantee it's worth the cost," explains Puno. "To add that extra aesthetic, the emotional element that goes from the font is another method to show your personality ."

The typeface that best represents your company's image?

  4. Develop a user-friendly Interface (UI)

As with any other website, an online course needs to be well designed and organized.

If you're moving between slides, do you use overlays of video to indicate the changes? When users hover their mouse over one of the buttons, does the button light up or change color? How do you use blank space on the page?

They are all components of UI design. Your aim in UI design is to make your pages feel responsive, enjoyable to use and uncluttered.

This is the part where you really can add your own personalization to the color scheme and typeface. All UI elements that you place on your website should reflect the overall style of your branding.

The majority of creators contract designers to create the HTML0 elements, but you could also think about how you could do it yourself prior to enlisting someone else.

If you do hire a UI designer, ensure that you provide them with all the information you can so for them to create the style and feel you're looking for.

Puno is a step-by step procedure to inform your designer:

• Provide three examples of photos or web sites where you really like the style
• Pick out very particular things you love with these styles
• Choose what you do not like, and which is absolutely not something you want to duplicate.

This method ensures that you and your designer are both on the same page, saving your time as well as energy.

As Puno explains: "Every client that I've spoken to said they are more successful when they have done their own investigation and know their preferences and the kind of results they'd like to see."

Do not rely on anyone else to create the course of your dreams for you!

  5. Design a user-friendly User Experience (UX)

The importance of ensuring that your users can easily navigate your site is another essential component of creating online courses.

Students need to feel at control and free to explore the subject at their own pace. This is the point where UX design comes in.

provides a vast array of tools to help you tailor the experience for the course according to your exact specifications.

For example: is there an important slide that students must refer repeatedly? It is important that the button used for navigating to the slide is easily accessible. How will they get back to the previous slide? It's time to add a button also.

These might seem like small details, but when you consider them together they add a lot in the user experience. Just one simple button could determine if your course is enjoyable and easy to follow or frustrating and clunky.

UX design is what that will keep your customers returning to your business and not stumbling off the hill or joining the competition instead.

Straightforward and intuitive UX design is essential to ensure your course's accessibility for all types of learners.

One of the best ways to be sure your course is running smoothly is to test your own course and then ask friends, relatives and existing customers to try the course too. There's no better method to figure out what your students are going to see than to test your own interface!

Instructional design

Once you've got your course's interface that's looking and working fantastically, you could feel compelled to bang the course content and get the ball rolling?

It's not as easy!

It's now time to think about what you'll do to deliver your class contents to ensure your students gain the most knowledge, skills and value from the course.

You're an professional in your field. However, to create a course that works for your students, you need to put yourself as an absolute beginner. This means you need to think about your curriculum structure, the pacing, and content as part of the design of your online course.

Enter instructional design.

Here we'll take a glance at some of the key features from various designs to provide you with ideas for your own online course layout.

5 instructional design tips to assist your students in learning better

  1. Outline your course goals step-by-step

Here are the basic steps in Bloom's Taxonomy:

1. Recalling - committing the information to memory
2. understanding - demonstrating comprehension of the information
3. Applying by using the information in actual situations to solve issues or meet the goals
4. Analyzing - cutting ideas down into more simple components and then combining them into different forms
5. Evaluating  - using the information gained to discover innovative solutions and test
6. Creating Designing and creating new products using the skills

The main takeaway from this model is that one process can't take place without having the prior one completed. After all, how can you comprehend or apply information if you don't remember the information? What can you do to apply your knowledge if you don't understand it?

To help your learners understand and remember the details they are given, you need to make sure your lesson will guide the students through the steps step-by-step. It is essential to not skip between steps or cut any step out.

By following a logical instructional design, you're ensuring that the course you offer your clients precisely what they've purchased - a clear journey towards learning new skills.

Signposting these steps can also keep your students interested and conscious of the things they've already achieved and what they still have to come up with!

  2. Make sure you break down your material

Have you been in a class where you've been handed so much information that you're not sure how to deal with it all?

An anxious feeling sets in and you think: "there's no way I'm likely keep this in mind!"

It goes without saying that you must prevent this from happening when creating your own curriculum. Your goal is to have happy students, not panicked ones!

Be aware that you are an expert on this subject. Perhaps you're ignorant of seemingly insignificant elements that cause a ton of confusion to your students.

This approach emphasizes the importance of breaking down the information the instructor is teaching into smaller bitesize chunks. Everything you teach has to be supported by hands-on activities, discussions and discussions.

Moving on to tip number 3...

  3. Allow users to test their knowledge

Each instructional design model has one thing in common - encouraging learners to test and apply their knowledge as much as possible.

This method ensures that your students keep track of their progress while improving their knowledge of a topic.

Most importantly, it means that if they struggle when they are struggling with something, students will be able to recognize that they have to go back a few steps to learn about the subject better, rather than plowing into it despite the issue - at least in theory!

When it comes to designing and developing online courses, activities, challenges and activities are crucial elements that you can add to your course to provide a learning resource that is beneficial to your students and doesn't leave them confused and bored.

A top suggestion is to make sure you have practice exercises or real-world application of the material you're teaching are closely linked to the specific step of the curriculum your learners are following. It will ensure that it's an effortless journey toward increasing the knowledge of your students. Don't give them exercises that your students haven't mastered the skills to complete yet!

  4. Select the course structure you prefer.

A large portion of the online course design and design is based on the method you select to teach your courses.

Kelly advises you to build the course by completing one section in a row for more targeted learning that lets you see exactly how the elements fit together.

Try something similar to this:

• Part 1
• Modul 2
• Module 3
• Course intro
• Course summary
• Activities
• Email messages/autoresponders
• Sales page

Every module must contain the following:

• Introduction to the topic and the goals students can be expecting to learn by the end of course (to prepare their minds for learning)
• Lesson 1 (teaching using text, illustrations, audio, video, downloadable docs, etc. )
• Activity 1 in Lesson (to let them practice or taste the info for a little)
• Lesson 2-4 created identical to lesson 1
• Check all the material to ensure that it's connected, flows, and isn't overwhelming (adjust the amount of time if necessary)
• Summary of the class, the lessons they've discovered and the next steps

Try to make sure each lesson is no longer than 20 minutes, so that it's snackable and keeps the attention of adult learners.

While doing this, make your learning activities small enough with some kind of feedback. This will let students know if they understand the material correctly. The maximum time for each exercise is the ideal time.

  Related:  

For example, you might consider including short videos tutorials that summarize the most important lessons or to analyze the solutions. If you're translating a lot of statistical or numerical information you could try infographics rather than long phrases.

Massive blocks of text are always a bore. Use a variety of multimedia tools to make your content more digestible and help keep your students interested.

When in doubt Ask your students what they want to know more about, and then listen to their comments!

  Related:  

  5. Maintain an open mind and respond to feedback

When students find themselves overwhelmed by information, or confused about the best way to use it, understand that and be able to respond in a way that is appropriate to the situation.

It's crucial to stay curious and contemplate the changes you'll need to modify the design of your online course so that it's more easy to navigate.

When your course becomes open to the public, collect all the feedback possible from your users then analyze the data as well as the insights from your platform to determine what could be changed to improve your course. Which students are dropping out? What modules are they failing to complete? Which video do they choose to click off instead of viewing throughout?

You can collect immediate feedback from the students you teach in variety different ways, such as:

• Adding customer surveys to the end of every module
• Asking for feedback in your online community
• hosting one-on-one phone calls with learners

When in doubt, ask students how their learning design could be improved and what they would like from you for their learning to be more enjoyable.

If you are curious and open to fresh ideas, you can ensure that your class is the most enjoyable student experience you can offer your students.

Three things you should be aware of to design your online course

There are three more HTML0 fundamentals to Kelly and Puno that you should be aware of to design your online course.

  The first impression counts  

If a buyer decides to purchase an online course every little thing can influence the overall perception of your service. From your colors to the way you outline the objectives, your customer's experience will be shaped through the aesthetic and the structure of the course.

If it's about designing your online course and development, you should aim to make your client feel confident in their purchase and pleased with the purchase. Let them feel confident in the brand and you through making everything enjoyable for them to go through.

  Accessibility and inclusivity is important  

Create a varied and dynamic course that has a welcoming style and no jargon can aid in making your online environment feel safe and approachable. Consider using a variety of content and games too.

  Research, research, research!  

One of the most effective ways to ace designing your online courses is to take inspiration from others and keep learning. Examining everything from UI designs to aesthetics designs will allow you to create an engaging, well-rounded experience. Your job as an instructor will never be completed - in order to remain at the top of your game you need to stay interested!

Tools to help in online course design and creation

The interface is user-friendly and the site has a lot of features for course like forums, quizzes and many more, that are simple to create and edit. makes course creation simple and stress-free.

Camtasia. In terms of audio recording Kelly is a fan of Audacity (free). For graphics creation, Kelly uses 123RF which provides a large collection of royalty-free and affordable images.

With the right tech it is possible to make online course design and development effortless and simple.

Make your online course now !

Online course design is not just about the look and experience of your course. it's also about your material and the method of teaching your material. If you are able to master both of the elements above, you'll be able to make a course that is engaging for students and keeps students coming back for more.