New to developing an effective online training? Here're five steps to get you started.

1. Planning an Online Course
01. Understand the audience’s needs
02. Use a ‘backward design’ approach
03. Apply a pedagogical framework
04. Create a course structure
05. Adopt appropriate formats of delivery

2. 01. Understand the audience’s needs
Needs & Objectives
● Why is the program needed? What issue does it need to address?
● What is the gap in the market?
● What outcomes will the course deliver?
Participants
● What are participants interest, background, role and professional level?
● How many participants are we expecting, 10, 50, or 500?
● What is participants’ motivation in taking the course?
● What are participants’ prior knowledge?
● If a similar course is taught f2f, what worked and what didn’t?
Educational Outcomes
● What will participants will get out of the course in terms of knowledge,
skills and attitude?
● What core questions will be addressed?
● How will the the outcomes be applicable to participants’ personal life
or work?

3. 02. Use a ‘backward design’ approach
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4. 03. Apply a pedagogical model to learning design
Engage
Capture participants’ interest,
activate prior knowledge and make
connections between known and
unknown
Explore
Carry out experiential activities to
explore the concept or skill. Form a
common set of experiences
Explain
Provide the concepts and
instructions after participants have
had the initial experience
Evaluate
Review and reflect on learning,
provide evidence for changes.
Elaborate
Participants apply what they have
learned to new context to develop
a deeper understanding.
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Diagram: The 5E’s instructional model
Other pedagogical models
Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction
Bloom’s taxonomy

5. 04. Create a course structure
The document provides the scope of the course
design and ensure constructive alignment of
‘objective-evidence-content’. Key information to
include:
● Program/Course objectives
● Weekly or module level objectives
● Topics and sub-topics
● Assessment/evaluation plan (if required)
● Resources (existing & new)
● Content & activities
● Facilitation plan (if required)
A template: Online Course Planner

6. 05. Adopt appropriate formats of delivery
More automation
Lower running cost
More facilitation
Higher running cost
Self-paced activities
● videos/podcasts
● readings
● infographics
● interactives
● case studies
● exercises/quizzes
● self-reflections
Assessment/Measurement
● automated assessment
● self-assessment
● journals/portfolios
Educator-led activities
● live sessions
● mentoring/tutorials
● Q&A
● moderated discussions
Assessment/Measurement
● facilitated discussions
● written assignment
● project-based evaluation
● problem-based evaluation
Peer activities
● social learning activities
● group-based collaborative
activities
● polling/wordcloud/group
ideation
● Group discussions
Assessment/Measurement
● peer evaluation
● group evaluation/presentation