The Assumption That Costs Universities More Than They Realize When a university decides to build or convert an online program, the most common approach is to hand the work to faculty. After all, they know the subject well and have taught it for years, sometimes even decades. They have the credentials, the research background, and the classroom experience. On paper, they seem like the obvious choice. However, the problem is that knowing a subject deeply and knowing how to design learning around it are two completely different skills. And most institutions don’t make that distinction until something has already gone wrong. How Faculty Teach vs. How People Learn Faculty tend to teach the way they were taught, through lectures, readings, and assessments that test how well students absorbed the material. In a traditional classroom, an experienced professor can compensate for structural gaps in real time. They read the room, slow down when students look confused, spark a … [Read more...] about Why Your Faculty Are Not Instructional Designers (And Why That Distinction Matters)
instructional design
The Mistake Most Redesign Projects Make
When a course feels broken, we want to fix everything including rewriting the content, rebuilding the activities, redesigning the slides, and re-recording the videos. In my experience, however, recreating everything is almost always more expensive and less effective than a targeted approach. Here's why. In most underperforming courses, a small number of issues are responsible for the majority of problems learners experience. Weak learning objectives create misalignment that ripples outward. An unclear module structure makes otherwise manageable content feel overwhelming and missing navigational guidance leaves learners moving through material without really understanding what they're supposed to take from it. When you fix those specific things, the course transforms. If, however, you leave them unaddressed while rewriting everything else, you'll invest significant time and resources in a course that still doesn't work. The right question isn't how do we redesign this entire … [Read more...] about The Mistake Most Redesign Projects Make
Why Most Online Courses Fail (And How to Fix Them Without Rebuilding Everything)
Most online courses don’t fail in obvious ways. There are no floods of complaints, no dramatic drops in enrollment, no formal investigations that force action. Instead, they fail quietly. Students disengage slowly. Faculty sense frustration but struggle to understand the cause. Completion rates dip just enough to weaken learning, but not enough to trigger alarms. From the outside, everything looks fine, but on the inside, something clearly isn’t working. In my experience, this kind of quiet failure is far more common, and far more damaging, than outright breakdowns. The encouraging part is that most of these courses don’t need a full redesign. What they need are targeted fixes that address the real points of friction learners experience every week. Quiet Failure Rarely Comes from One Big Mistake When courses fail quietly, it is almost never because of a single design flaw. More often, it is the accumulation of small issues that compound over time. Students feel slightly … [Read more...] about Why Most Online Courses Fail (And How to Fix Them Without Rebuilding Everything)
The Minimum Viable Course: A Practical Framework for Sustainable Online Course Design in Higher Education
For more than a decade, online course development in higher education has been shaped by a front-loaded design model. That means that courses are expected to be fully built before launch, often with polished multimedia, comprehensive assessments, and detailed LMS structures finalized in advance. While this model emerged from a desire to protect academic quality, it has become increasingly difficult to sustain. Instructional design teams are supporting more courses with fewer resources. Faculty are balancing teaching with research, service, and administrative responsibilities. Program timelines are accelerating, while expectations for flexibility and responsiveness continue to rise. In this environment, the assumption that a course must be “finished” before it can be taught is no longer realistic. In response, many institutions are quietly adopting a more pragmatic approach, one that preserves instructional integrity while allowing for phased development. This approach can be … [Read more...] about The Minimum Viable Course: A Practical Framework for Sustainable Online Course Design in Higher Education
Top AI Tools Every Course Creator Needs—and How to Use Them to Make Your Life Easier
As a course creator, you're juggling it all: content creation, writing, video production, graphics, voiceovers, and marketing. It’s no wonder burnout is common. Thankfully, AI tools can take hours off your workload while helping you produce polished, professional content that still feels personal. In this article, you’ll discover the top AI tools every course creator should be using, and how each one can save you time, elevate your content, and streamline your workflow. 1. ChatGPT – Your AI Content Strategist and Writing Assistant Why you need it:ChatGPT helps generate outlines, lesson plans, quizzes, course copy, and even FAQs. It’s like having a brainstorming partner and scriptwriter in one. Use it to: 2. Tome – Instant, AI-Powered Presentations Why you need it:Quickly convert outlines or topics into visually engaging slide decks, perfect for eLearning modules, webinars, or client proposals. Use it to: 3. Murf or ElevenLabs – Natural AI Voiceovers Why … [Read more...] about Top AI Tools Every Course Creator Needs—and How to Use Them to Make Your Life Easier
The Future of Online Learning: What Faculty Must Do to Stay Relevant
Online learning is no longer a temporary solution or a supplementary format. It’s a permanent fixture in higher education. From Ivy League institutions to community colleges, universities are reimagining how, when, and where learning happens. This shift presents both challenges and opportunities, especially for faculty who want to remain relevant and effective in the years ahead. The future of online learning is fast, flexible, learner-centered, and increasingly shaped by technology. To thrive in this landscape, faculty must rethink not only how they teach but also what they contribute to the learning experience. Here’s what faculty need to understand and do to stay ahead 1. Embrace a Pedagogy-First, Tech-Second Mindset Technology is rapidly evolving, but it’s not a substitute for sound pedagogy. Faculty who focus only on tools, without adapting their instructional approach, risk becoming outdated. The future belongs to educators who prioritize how students learn and use … [Read more...] about The Future of Online Learning: What Faculty Must Do to Stay Relevant