The Art of Adding Color and Design to Online Courses
As I’ve been working this afternoon, making some big changes to my online courses here at the public library (my new favorite place to ‘work from home’), and also trying to come up with something to write about on the blog today, it occurred to me that maybe I could blend the two (why is the obvious solution never actually obvious until you’ve stared at it for long enough?).
In my online courses, I’ve been wanting to make some changes, but wasn’t quite sure where to start, which is why the meeting I had this morning with a colleague/supervisor was timed perfectly.
She had some suggestions that I’m excited to work on. To understand why I’m excited, you have to understand that this is the only school where I dream up and develop every detail of my course from scratch- so there’s a lot of creative freedom that comes with it.
Here are just a few things my friend had to say that may not mean a whole lot to you, but made me feel incredibly inspired (I like to think it’s the artist in me getting revved up to create again):
- Use more color in every part of my course.
- Incorporate visuals and pictures into weekly announcements.
- Give my students a short quiz/assignment using a creative internet-based software of my choosing to be sure they watch my online lecture videos.
It’ll be a long road to making the changes she suggested and incorporating what works best for me personally, but here’s a sneak peak of some inspiring educational quotes I plan on incorporating come Summer term (along with some snazzy fonts and colors, of course):
“Strive for progress not perfection.”
“What we learn becomes a part of who we are.”
“You learn something every day if you pay attention.”
“Intelligence plus character, that is the true goal of education.”
“There is always more to learn.”
Here’s to inspiration, education, and creativity. Happy teaching!