Are you looking for ways to enhance or improve your online courses? One of the best things you can do is establish a simple course review process.
As the developer of a course, we can sometimes be a bit too close to the content, meaning that feedback from others is a great way to identify errors or areas for improvement. The best way to do this is by setting up a structured review process.
Quality assurance or review is best achieved when it is done methodically and habitually, as opposed to a random or inconsistent process.
In this blog post, we take a look at why effective course review is so important, and some advice to help you get it done!
Student Experience
Reviewing your course content for accuracy and consistency helps to streamline the content and improve overall outcomes for your online learners. Students will get better results if the content is clear and easy to understand, with no mistakes or inconsistencies to create confusion.
If a student has a good experience with a course and finds it helpful and easy to use, they are more likely to leave positive feedback, recommend it to others, and perhaps even sign up for another course with you!
Fixing Errors Or Inconsistencies
The first attempt (or first several attempts!) at developing a new course is likely to have a few errors – and that’s ok! Something that might help is having a simple list of things to check through once you have completed the initial draft.
This might include things like:
- doing a spelling and grammar check
- identifying any missing content
- checking dates/names/facts for accuracy
- making sure the instructions are clear and straightforward, and
- checking that any test answers are all correct.
When we talk about consistency in an online course, we are talking about the design and content elements that make your course professional and coherent. Some things to consider when reviewing for consistency might include the visual design elements like fonts, text size, and colours.
Taking the time to address any potential issues with the content will really elevate your course, make it look slick and professional, and help create a seamless experience for your learners.
Checking The Functionality
It is also important to check that all of the more technical components of your course are in order before it is released. This includes things like:
- making sure links are working
- all images and videos are displaying or playing correctly, and
- the navigation is working as it should.
If a course is clunky and not easy to navigate and work through, this is likely to take away from the experience and may impact completion rates, or lead to poor feedback.
Student Or Subject Matter Expert Review
So, if you want an unbiased and independent opinion, who can you get to review these things for you? Asking your students can be a really good place to start. You could establish a small group of students or subject matter experts to trial new course content with.
Go through your review checklists with them to ensure they are answering the right questions – they are likely to pick up on things that you may not have noticed!
Third Party Course Review
Another option is to hire someone to look at your online course as a whole, viewing your content with a fresh set of eyes and from an outside perspective. This ensures that your review will be truly objective and is likely to result in the most effective and meaningful feedback.
My Course Review package is the perfect solution. I would be thrilled to work with you on finalising your online course. I will take an objective, unbiased view of your content to help you get set up for success. I will provide feedback on what does and does not work within the course content, and ensure that course requirements are simple and clear, so that your students can achieve the best possible results.
Contact me for more info on this service.
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Author
Debbie Mills Robertson
Thinkific Specialist for Online Courses
debbie@taskdiva.co.nz
027 345 7000
