Online Teaching: Evaluating and Improving Courses

This 12-week microcredential will equip you with the skills you need to evaluate and improve your online courses.

Designed for individual educators and trainers as well as learning institutions, this microcredential will support you to ensure the ongoing success of your online courses and technology-enhanced learning (TEL) provision, whatever your sector.

Harness the power of technology-enhanced learning (TEL)

Whilst the use of technology for teaching and learning isn’t new, the COVID-19 pandemic saw organisations and individuals move courses and teaching online at unprecedented speed. For some, implementation has been so quick that it’s not evidence informed.

As the world has adapted and become accustomed to accessing services online, technology-enhanced learning and online teaching skills are more in-demand than ever before.

This course will support you to create an ethical course evaluation framework, analyse cause and effect relationships in your findings, share appropriate insights with stakeholders, and ultimately improve the impact of your online courses.

Evaluate the effectiveness of your online teaching

By determining the most effective ways of making online learning and assessment work for your students and making remote teaching work for you, you can minimise the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on student learning.

This microcredential will help you to pinpoint the factors limiting and enhancing your courses and teaching, and enable you to use these insights to build upon and enhance your online teaching provision.

You’ll be encouraged to apply the knowledge and skills you develop to your own setting and to draw on peers’ experiences as part of your learning journey.

Complete online course evaluations and create teaching evaluation plans

Developed by leading online and distance education experts from The Open University, you’ll learn how to identify what is and isn’t working and why using best-practice educational evaluation techniques.

You’ll learn how to create an ethical evaluation strategy that’s appropriate to your context and setting, and conduct analysis of your evaluation findings that you can apply to adapt your online course design.

Are online teaching evaluation skills in-demand?

The global online learning market is projected to be worth $325 Billion by 2025. Moves towards blended learning coupled with COVID-19 social distancing measures driving teaching online, mean that studying online is not only becoming commonplace but also being integrated into traditional teaching methods.

As such, the ability to determine the effectiveness of online courses and teaching practices is a new but essential skill for educators.

Do I need experience teaching online?

To get the most from this course, you should have experience in adult learning settings, though not necessarily in teaching online. If you have recently moved your teaching online or are considering it, this microcredential will enable you to upskill in this area.

Throughout the course you’ll take part in weekly activities to support and consolidate your learning. At the end of the course, you’ll submit an assessment which is marked and graded by subject matter experts.

This course is part of a suite of Online Teaching microcredentials from The Open University: Creating Courses for Adult Learners; Embedding Social, Race, and Gender-Related Equity; Accessibility and Inclusive Learning; and Teacher Development: Embedding Mental Health in the Curriculum.

Academic credits from this course can contribute to The Open University’s Masters in Online Teaching.

Courses under this program:
Course 1: Online Teaching: Evaluating and Improving Courses
-Learn how to improve your online teaching and course provision and create online teaching evaluation frameworks.