CONCEPTION AND

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

MOOC
Step by Step
Session 3
Step 1

SESSION PRESENTATION
Objective of this session is to guide the

TIP

student in focusing the main element to be

considered in a sMOOC management and in
the process to be followed.

Participate in
the practical
activities in
order to fix
contents and
directly
experiment.
This session has
3 activities:
Activity 1
Explore MOOC
universe
Activity 2 Go
in depth
Activity 3
Planning your
MOOC

We propose you to move on 3 different

steps:
1.

General conception

2.

Detailed planning

3.

Delivery design

Each step will be formed by slide contents

and an activity.

STEP 1:
GENERAL CONCEPTION

TIP

What should be defined before

starting with a sMOOC design?
The main structure of the course has
to be clear in your mind and, in

This is the most

important phase
in course design
as decisions
taken at this
level will
determine the
whole course
structure
development.
Future
modifications
will be hard to
be realized
without a
complete
revision of
course elements

particular:

Didactic objective

The target

General course index

STEP 1:
GENERAL CONCEPTION
General course index

TIP

Start to fill in
the form in
order to build
your general
index. Dont
worry if you are
able to fill few
parts, during
Step 2 you are
going to define
more details
and you will be
able to
complete it!

What will the course present?

Define in a general way which themes the
course is going to present. Think about
the knowledge and competences you
want the student to achieve during the
course and decide through which
activities he will obtain them.
Have a look at this form you can use as an
example for preparing your sMOOC index

STEP 1:
GENERAL CONCEPTION
Didactic objective

TIP

What do we want the target to achieve?

Define in a synthetic and clear way what

Ask a potential
user to verify if
the objective
and the course
presentation is
immediately
clear

students are going to learn when attending

your course. Usually a good objective is
no longer than a few sentences

STEP 1:
GENERAL CONCEPT
The target

TIP

Through an
example....you
decide to address
the course to high
school students. U1
you would:
use simple
language
focus on synthetic
and interactive
materials
consider school
"time schedule":
summer holidays,
periodic
evaluation exams,
etc...
aim for a first
involvement of
teachers who,
then, include their
students
privilege social
network in
communication

To whom will the course be addressed? Who will be the

main users?
The best way is starting to think what do I need to
know about my users?. You can refer to marketing
analysis and collect data (or express hypothesis to be
tested later on) about cultural, social, personal and
psychological factors. In particular there are some
aspects that have an important impact on course design
like:

age,

geographic position,

motivation,

style of relations

objectives ,

competences and available resources for using the

service.
This analysis can be conducted through different
technics like contextual design, user simulation,
contextual storyboard, etc What is important is to
devote time, in the initial phase, to perfectly
understand who will stand in front of you and adapt, as
much as possible, the course to the target as it
influences:

language to be used
typology and format of contents to be
prepared/published
organizational aspects
communication structure and strategy

STEP 1:
GENERAL CONCEPT
General index

TIP

Through an
example....you
decide to address
the course to high
school students.
you would:
use simple
language
focus on synthetic
and interactive
materials
consider school
"time schedule":
summer holidays,
periodic
evaluation exams,
etc...
aim for a first
involvement of
teachers who,
then, include their
students
privilege social
network in
communication

To whom will the course be addressed? Who will be the

main users?
The best way is starting to think what do I need to
know about my users?. You can refer to marketing
analysis and collect data (or express hypothesis to be
tested later on) about cultural, social, personal and
psychological factors. In particular there are some
aspects that have an important impact on course design
like:

age,

geographic position,

motivation,

style of relations

objectives ,

competences and available resources for using the

service.
This analysis can be conducted through different
technics like contextual design, user simulation,
contextual storyboard, etc What is important is to
devote time, in the initial phase, to well understand
who will stand in front of you and adapt, as much as
possible, the course to the target as it influences:

language to be used
typology and format of contents to be
prepared/published
organizational aspects
communication structure and strategy

STEP 1:
GENERAL CONCEPT
It is very useful, in this phase, to build a sort

TIP

of presentation of the course where the

main elements should be detailed and
defined at the end of the design phase (step
1 and 2).

These fields are

going to be
enriched during
Step 2.
When they are
revised and
finalized you
can go on Step
3 with practical
activity!

Start to fill the following fields:

main target
didactic objective
short course and activities description
title
course length
estimated effort
prerequisite