If you ask any online learner to make a list of things that cause distress in an online course, somewhere in this list you will find something to the tune of “unclear navigation.” Top quality courses will receive below-average ratings if the students are unclear as to what the instructor expects of them, or where they can locate items or course content.
You can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to develop highly interactive scenarios, lectures, games, and assessments, but if the learners don’t know where to find them or what you want them to do with them, the money and development time are wasted.
A simple but very effective solution to this problem is what I call “Course Roadmaps.” Just as the name implies, a course roadmap is a map of your course for the learner. Course roadmaps direct the learners where to go and what to do for each assignment. The most effective roadmaps give click-by-click instructions that walk the learner through the course. In this article I share with you the techniques that have worked for me and for my students.
The basic roadmap
Course roadmaps typically take one of two forms. The most common form of course roadmap appears beginning on the announcements, welcome, or home page. Usually it is a simple welcome with instructions on beginning the course. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1 This is the most basic roadmap.
These roadmaps are effective for courses that only have one or two tasks that the learner should accomplish. The learner clicks where instructed and then finds further instructions. (See Figure 2.)
Figure 2 The basic roadmap is best for simple courses.
This continues throughout the course (Figure 3) until the learner accomplishes all required tasks. Unfortunately this form of roadmap is difficult to use when you have multiple activities for the learners, such as a reading assignment, discussion board postings, research papers, and interactivities. The navigation becomes confusing as learners get deeper into the assignments. Sometimes the learners will find themselves going back to the beginning of the course and stepping through each click to get back on track.
Figure 3 The basic roadmap must stay simple.
The turn-by-turn roadmap
Another type of course roadmap is the turn-by-turn roadmap that learners can print. (See Figure 4) This style of roadmap is one that I use in all of my curriculum courses, and in any other course that has multiple assignments and projects.
Figure 4 This turn-by-turn roadmap works for multiple assignments and projects.
Create this course roadmap in a format such as MS Word, MS Works, or PDF, so the learners can print a hard copy and use it as they progress through the assignments. Many learners choose to check the items off, or even highlight them, as they complete each assignment. This roadmap tells the learner exactly what you want them to do step-by-step. Printing these roadmaps prevents the learners from trying to toggle between two screens while they work through the course. They can simply set the roadmap off to the side and glance at it as they complete each step.
Grading
An additional feature of the turn-by-turn roadmap is the “Grades for This Assignment:” section. This serves two main purposes: The first and most important purpose is to reiterate to the learner which item(s) from this assignment the instructor will grade and how the instructor will grade them (Test, Quiz, Homework, Participation, etc.).
The second purpose of the grades section is for the instructor. At the end of the week the instructor can quickly see what items he or she will grade and return to the student. This saves time. It prevents the instructor from having to read through the assignment to find out what items to grade.
Adjust the roadmaps as the students progress
At the very beginning of the semester these roadmaps are very specific and direct the learners through every single click and each step of the assignments. After the first few weeks, the learners are familiar with my methods of teaching online. When they get to this point, the step-by-step roadmap becomes a little redundant. (It’s kind of like telling you how to get to your new house ... after you have driven there a couple of times, you can find it without any additional assistance.) After this point, I can save some space and typing and simplify the instructions. The learners know that I post all of my lectures and supplements in one location, and that I post the quizzes in another. Since they now know where to find these items, I simply tell them to “Complete Lecture _____” and then “Take the quiz” when they are ready.
How to create the roadmap
The easiest way to create a course roadmap is to pretend to be the student. I create all of my course roadmaps with a legal pad, ink pen, and mouse. First, I sign into the course just as a student would; a good trick to use here is create a separate test account and set it up as a student, because with some learning management systems and learning content management systems the instructor view and the student view are different. Once I sign in as a student I use the legal pad to write down every step I take trying to accomplish the tasks that I (the teacher) want the learners to do. I record this in detail by each individual click. For example, I might write, “Click on the red “Stop sign” at the top left of the screen.” After recording all of the steps from start to finish, I then test the steps by having someone else sit at my computer and follow my written directions while I watch and note changes that I need to make. Once this test learner can follow my instructions and accomplish everything exactly as I want, I am ready to type it up and load it into the course. The only thing left to do is build a roadmap such as Figure 1 that directs the learners to the detailed map.
Conclusion
In Academia we rely heavily upon our syllabus as our rules and regulations for each course. Many instructors also use this as a place to locate instructions for assignments and even deadline dates. However valid this may be, we put too much emphasis on the syllabus and assume that the learners will read it and understand what to do. The key to directing learners to success in your online course is to hold their hand, walk them through your expectations, and give them a tour of your course with an online course roadmap.
Course roadmaps are an absolute necessity for every course. There is nothing worse, as a student in an online course, than stumbling around from week to week trying to figure out what the instructor wants from you. Some times it is not until after you receive a couple of poor grades that you find out what the instructor wants and where you are supposed to submit it. You can avoid all this confusion and stress if you create a course roadmap for the learners to follow.
