Design principles for Massive Online Courses

Examples from first year teacher education

Abstract

A new set of ‘common first year’ teacher education units has been developed at an Australian university. This paper discusses the further development of these units for large enrolment online degree programs. A needs analysis was performed and contemporary best practice consulted to develop a set of design principles that guided the redevelopment. The implementation of the design principles is discussed, and a formative evaluation of the conduct of the revised units is reported. Student and tutor feedback supported the new unit designs, but also identified some areas for improvement.