My university uses eCollege, which is a Pearson product. I cannot share the precise content and structure as it is proprietary, but you are heading in the right direction with your list.

In each course "shell," we have a standardized layout with general tools across the top (gradebook, email, document sharing, drop box, webliography, etc.) and a "course home" section and chronologically arranged content on the left. The home section includes resources applicable to the entire course, including a syllabus, a link to student resources (eBook, library, policies, tutorials, etc.), and an overview of the course project. Below that, each week has a tab. The main tab Each week's tab contains an overview page and  sub-tabs for the week's objectives, assignments, a prepared lesson/lecture script that may contain interactive elements, discussion threads, and virtual labs, scenarios, quizzes, or other learning and assessment tools for that week.

Many pages contain hyperlinks to other pages or resources, and weekly activities may require students to navigate to many pages to complete assignments, so it can be a bit confusing at first, but the consistent organization allows both faculty and students to develop a routine and familiarity that works well.

Faculty SMEs develop initial course content that is delivered to to each class's instructor and students. Online faculty follow the given content pretty closely. Onsite and blended faculty use the same shells but tend to add, delete and modify content much more.

To make the text-heavy content more interactive and engaging, we are building in live chat, live and recorded videoconferencing and screen sharing, and other multimedia features that both faculty and students can use at will.

I am taking classes at another university that uses Blackboard. It contains many of the same functional elements, though the arrangement is very different and recommended course content and resources are not preloaded.

Michael:

Thank you taking the time to share these details. I knew the information is out there. I can use your ideas to develop consistency in my own course shells.

Many thanks,

Debr

Though i have not used any template, i find this information very helpful for online courses. 

Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT)

Online teaching is increasingly common at many types of higher education institutions, ranging from hybrid courses that offer a combination of in-person and online instruction, to fully online experiences and distance learning. The following resources provide guidelines for creating an online course, best practices for teaching online, and strategies for assessing the quality of online education.

http://crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsot

Dear Debra! I think that in such matters it is necessary to listen first to the opinion of experts.

Vladimir

Krishnan;

Thank for the very resourceful link, which has been very helpful for my purpose.

Best regards,

Debra

 You have to focus on multiple facets of learning.  These include delivery and the use of standards to define what is delivered.  You also have to look at whole class and the individual lesson objectives.  I have investigated using my own ideas and established formats.  I have found that there are some rubrics designed for effective online learning (Quality Matters has an outstanding rubric and actually teaches how to design online classes).  

While this book does not provide the templates you seek, it provides a wealth of other practical knowledge about effective learning activities in online classes: Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing by Curtis Bonk and Ke Zhang. I highly recommend it.

This is a great question and I’ve enjoyed reading the existing submissions and examples. I tend to agree there is no “one” right template for course design (or layout for that matter), and many of the major course (and content) management systems have templates to choose from with respect to the graphical user interface as it concerns major and secondary navigation structures. If one is using one of the ubiquitous platforms like Blackboard, e-College, Desire2Learn, Moodle, edX.org, etc., you might ask the folks at these companies something like: Which layout schemes/nav structures are in widest use, most preferred (or least used) as related to your type of course and target audience? There is something to be said for standardization of the graphical user interface (GUI) over time as it facilitates familiarity, lowers those initial interface barriers, etc.

This said, if you want to strike out on your own with respect to the interface, it might be worthwhile, depending on your budget to conduct some use case scenarios with members of the target audience, develop some general personas of your typical users, and then ask them for feedback on completing some simple tasks within the environment (e.g., find/purchase a resource from the online store or library, add it to your personal space, create a collection with this and personal URLs of additional resources and share it via the community discussion forum, etc.). There are consultants for a modest fee that will conduct this type of GUI optimization for you, with some cool split screen videos that depict the facial expression of the user completing the scenario alongside the tracking of the mouse on the web site from the same user, as they perform a “think-aloud” sharing what they perceive as they attempt the task. It only takes 5-8 of these folks to provide keen insight and may help settle any internal “opinions” on nav structure and labeling of the same (e.g., what you call things matter)!

With respect to the “instructional design” of the course, this is a different matter altogether as related to a “template” and will, I suspect, draw upon your particular learning theory, desired learning outcomes for the course, and the sequence, frequency, and type of interactions you desire of your learners. Some of the “traditional” online courses are focused on weekly readings, reflections via a discussion forum, some larger group or individual project, alongside some longer individual writing assignments and online multiple choice tests. There are moves for more peer-to-peer interaction versus instructor-peer interaction (take MOOCs for example), and even in formal instructor-led courses, collaborative projects that involve individual accountability as well as an overall team grade, so all pull their weight equally.

I've read some nice things from Curtis Bonk at Indiana (years ago) about how to elevate peer-to-peer interaction in forums such as having weekly web discussion forum "starters" and "wrappers" to begin and conclude student-selected topics from an instructor list, pairing folks online with "critical web buddies" to overcome feelings of isolation, etc.

If you think about facilitating deeper and more flexible learning of knowledge and skills in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas, some espouse that the learning should be grounded in the exploration of locally relevant science phenomena and in designing solutions to engineering problems. With instructor guidance, learners could ask their own intrinsically motivated questions about how and why, as they wrestle with their own learning, engaging in practices such as developing and using models to understand phenomenon, collecting and analyzing data via investigations and designed solutions, incorporating mathematics and computational thinking, and communicating/arguing their claims and explanations based on evidence. The National Academy of Sciences developed a Framework addressing this “three-dimensional” nature of learning espousing that students will more deeply understanding the core ideas of science as they are engaged in the practices of science and engineering, and recognizing cross-cutting concepts such as patterns, system and system models, cause and effect, etc.

So, to the degree that one could look at the modes of delivery (synchronous/asynchronous), the mediums of delivery (web narrative/images, video, case studies, simulations, animations, immersive environments, augmented reality, mobile learning, online gaming, discussion forums, onsite lecture/demonstration, etc.), and the instructional methods at your disposal (debate, role-play, individual and/or group projects, investigations, design challenges, student presentation, student co-facilitating/teaching, etc.) , you might think about how the affordances across these areas might be “intermingled” and offered as varied opportunities for achieving the same targeted learning outcomes.

For example, video is good for affective motivation (if you seek changes in attitude/awareness to a topic), and has affordances for learning STEM topics such as slow motion; freeze frame, zoom, and rewind--that make exploration of certain science phenomena visible that otherwise would not. Simulations allow users to control variables that interact with each other and facilitate understanding of causal relationships in complex inter-related systems. Role-playing and case studies allow users to assume and learn about identities, explore dependencies, and engage in authentic scenarios as they apply critical thinking skills and analyze potential causes, anticipated outcomes, etc. So it's about how you might structure different learning pathways to facilitate coherent learning outcomes...

I hope this gets the creative juices flowing!

Hey Al Byers -- nice to see you here.  

Debra:  

You don't identify your LMS or the content areas.  As Al said, there's probably no single best, but there are templates that are in use in a variety of institutions.  You've gotten some suggestions of the common issues you probably should include in a template, but the piece that I think is missing from all the comments is the online pedagogy.  (folks that know me know this is always my focus.)  

It's possible to provide guidance for effective, quality, online pedagogy with the template of to allow junk courses to happen.  Rather than repeat what Al said, think about how the template can help facilitate UDL course design.

If you can, create the template, and work with the folks that administer your LMS so that every course instance starts with your template.  Even if you can't mandate the instructors use that, a well designed template will be seen as a helpful tool rather than a mandate by your faculty.  And, a well designed template will ensure that the basic required elements of the course - the stuff the university mandates be present -- will be there.   

BTW there's research on the benefit of a consistent look and feel to online courses in a program -- programs might have different templates, but the familiarity with structure, navigation, etc is valuable and contributes to program retention.  We had an evaluator call us on this issue with our first online teacher professional development course, (circa mid 1990s -- before there was an LMS ) and that lack of consistent look and feel contributed negatively to the user experience.

hope that helps.  More details about your LMS and program/courses and I may be able to provide more specific assistance.

Raymond:

Thanks for sharing your experience. We use Moodle for our LMS at the University, so all courses offered are found here. In the School of Education, we offer education graduate and undergraduate courses. I oversee the LMS course shells for our courses. But, I have found that there different variations of how lecturers present their content etc.so I was exploring what others do in addressing this issue.

Many thanks,

Debra

Ray-

Nice to see you as well!

Right on about UDL and consistency for the template to improve use/familiarity. There's a reason Photoshop doesn't change it major nav interface often, and I remember when Microsoft Word years ago piloted a "ribbon" for navigation that many found not to their liking/preference.

Dear Debra,

Here is a link to a handout that I provide, which explains a concept known as Cognitive Templates. 

http://www.seahorses-consulting.com/DownloadableFiles/UsingTemplates.pdf

These were developed by reverse engineering universal logic structures and cognitive constructs, and then tested and refined over more than 20 years.    There are just five templates, but they can be used singly, or as building blocks (e.g. using them together, as explained in the handout), to create any eLearning content.   In fact, they can be used for all forms of teaching and communication, because they are predicated on universal mental processes.

Because these leverage ubiquitous mental processes, their application ensures that your material will be more readily understood and retained.   As explained in the handout, independent research found that they improved comprehension by around 40%, and longer term retention of the content (as tested 25 days later) by up to 200%.   I hope that these templates will be of help in your development.

Wishing you all the very best,

Bruce Hilliard

Dear Debra, maybe the embedded link to free templates may also be helpful? 

http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/get-free-templates-e-learning/

Dear Researchers:

I extend a sincere thanks to you for sharing your very useful resources regarding templates for online learning that would inform my structuring of online learning content and activities.

Many thanks,

Debra

It is important to recognise that VLEs are used for different purposes and can be made up of a collection of software or a specifically designed application.  This means that the interface design is restricted to the software which is been used.  Also, there is a vast body of literature about interface design and user engagement, which needs to considered when structuring information and pages.

Based on student feedback/ comments, students want quick and easy access to materials. They dislike having to log into the VLE (Moodle) and for the most part they do not engage with the interactive elements (quizzes, blogs etc..) unless it is a requirement of the course.  However, there are a few students will use the interactive elements. The other issue, which students constantly complain about is the load speed and usability of the VLE on mobile equipment.  

What I have discovered over the years is that student want quick hits of information, the essentials, (see cognitive load theory and Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning) and signposting to a range of supporting materials.  I tend to order or group the supporting materials into complexity, which allows the student to build on their understanding (scaffolding) and allows the student to jump to their own learning level (differentiation). 

What does this look like on the VLE

I have attached a PDF of a drafted module which I teach.  As you can see this module is organised by assessment points and the associated lesson materials is provided within the folder (which uses a standard folder structure).  The purpose of this interface is to focus the students’ attention on the assessment milestones of the module, not the actual learning materials. This interface is constricted by the college policy which specifies requirements, creating a tick list approach to VLE interface design.  I have also attached a PDF of the spreadsheet which outlines these requirements.  This is a teaching tool which I use with my trainee teachers and is based on the levelled standards issued by the college. I also have RSS feeds on the right-hand side of the screen to encourage the students to engage with related research and current affairs. However, the metric from a different module indicates that there is little or no uptake of this feature.

However, If you want students to engage with the VLE in meaningful way, the lecturing staff as a whole, need to engage and promote the VLE in an authentic way.  For example, teaching from the VLE or linking to the VLE during lecturers. 

Top tip: The key to interface design is to listen to how the students engage with the VLE, often they simply want access to lecture materials.

Nice Dear Daniel Campbell