Essentials of Online Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide

by Marjorie Vai, Kristen Sosulski

Overview

Essentials of Online Course Design, Third Edition, takes a fresh, thoughtfully designed, step-by-step approach to online course development. Although online learning proliferates across today’s K-12, higher education, and business sectors, creating online courses can still evoke a good deal of frustration, negativity, and wariness in those responsible for their quality and functionality. This book provides readers with a set of standards based on best practices in the field of online learning and teaching. Pedagogical, organizational, and visual design principles are presented and modeled throughout the book, and users will quickly learn from the guide’s hands-on approach.

The guide’s key features include:

• a practical approach informed by theory
• clean interior design that offers straightforward guidance from page one
• clear and jargon-free language
• examples and screenshots from learning management systems to clarify and support the text
• a checklist of online course design standards that readers can use to self-evaluate
• a companion website with examples, adaptable templates, interactive learning features, and other resources: http://essentialsofonlinecoursedesign.com

This thoroughly revised third edition incorporates new content on live video instruction, updated technology terms and software applications, increased coverage of digital accessibility strategies, refresh examples and references, and more. Readers of this highly popular book will find that preparing for online teaching can be a satisfying and engaging experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032644240
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/31/2025
Series:	Essentials of Online Learning
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Marjorie Vai has been directly involved with online education and training for twenty-five years. Most recently she designed and developed the online graduate program in teaching English at The New School, USA.

Kristen Sosulski is Director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and Clinical Associate Professor of Information Systems at New York University, Stern School of Business, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction to this Guide Part 1: Introducing Online Learning 1. Orientation to Online Teaching and Learning 2. Elements of an Online Course: A Tour Part 2: Communicating Online 3. Access for All: Language and Writing Style 4. Access for All: Visual Design Basics Part 3: Developing and Using Engaging Course Materials 5. Engaging the Online Learner 6. Activities and Tools: Working Collaboratively and Independently 7. Finding and Using Resources that Engage 8. Assessment and Feedback Part 4: Building the Online Course 9. Building the Course Foundation: Outcomes, Syllabus, and Course Outline 10. Structuring the Course: Lesson Design Appendix A: Writing Learning Outcomes Appendix B: Using the Standards Checklist

Editorial Reviews

"If I had to choose a single book to share with a faculty member about how to design and teach an online or blended course, or with an instructional designer partnering with that faculty member, that book would be Essentials of Online Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide, Second Edition. In this concise, clear, and well-written volume, Marjorie Vai and Kristen Sosulski provide a methodology for online and blended course design that is informed by learning theory and seasoned by practical experience. This is the standard reference guide that those of us involved in online and blended learning will be keeping close at hand."

Joshua Kim, Ph.D., Director of Digital Learning Initiatives, Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL), Dartmouth College, USA, and Blogger for Inside Higher Ed - Technology and Learning

From the Publisher