Examples of Organization in Online Courses
Course Organization
Organize courses into sequential modules
| Met | Not Met |
| Sequential Modules | Grouped Modules (Avoid) |
 |  |
| Course journey is clearly presented. | Course journey is not conveyed. |
Sequential modules provide students with a continual understanding of where they are while progressing through a course. Sequential modules guide students through the journey of the course.
Grouped or “bucket” modules lead students through excessive clicking and scrolling through disconnected content. Grouped modules hinder students from seeing their journey in a course.
Module Items
Include all module related items in module
| Met | Not Met |
| Activity Items in Module | Activity Items only in menus |
 |  |
| Shows a connection (or alignment) between content and activities. | Content and activities are not presented as being connected to each other. |
All items related to a learning modules should be included in the module. All content pages, discussions, quizzes, assignments, and other activities should be presented to students in one location. This allows students to better plan for the scope of work and see what items need to be completed.
Omitting activity items, such as discussions, quizzes, and assignments the related learning module causes excessive navigation and searching. This can lead to inadvertent incompletions of learning activities and assessments.
Clarity and Content
Present instructions in sequential order using numbered lists
| Met | Not Met |
| Instructions presented with numbered lists | Instructions presented in paragraphs |
| Easily shows next step. Useful for pacing or to mitigate interruptions. | Causes continual review of the paragraph to move to next step. |
Instructions written in sequential order using numbered lists allow students to see progress through the assignment. It is recommend to start each step with a verb.
Instructions written in paragraph form causes continuous review to see the next step. If used, paragraphs in instructions should be used in the beginning as overview statements.
Last updated: 9/21/2023