Course Development Process
Course Development Process

The course development process can take up to six months (or more) depending on an instructor's schedule and the amount of time they can dedicate to it. Creating a course can be a lengthy process of locating material, creating online content, developing assessments, and placing it all in Canvas. This often takes more time than is expected.
An important thing to keep in mind is that courses DO NOT OPEN for enrollment until the course is complete and ready to teach. For this reason, it is often a good goal to have the course completed in time for enrollment which typically occurs in April for Fall and October for Summer and Spring semesters.
>>Click here to check specific enrollment dates
The course development process is outlined below. Read through the different steps and begin to determine what a course timeline might look like for you.
Course Development Process
The online course development process includes five main steps.
STEPS | TO DO ITEMS |
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STEP 1: |
Before the course development begins the following occurs:
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STEP 2: |
The course planning process begins with the development of the following items and a meeting with the media specialist:
>> Meeting can be scheduled with media specialist to discuss online lecture options |
STEP 3:
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During this step of the process the items below are created and placed into the course.
In addition, course checks are performed at different points during this step (see below). Instructor should also complete the Teaching Online section of this orientation during this step. COURSE CHECKS Course Development Check 1
Course Development Check 2
*A module is the equivalent of 1 week of work in a 16 week semester. There are typically 16 modules or sections in a course. Shorter semesters will have the same amount of work and modules in spite of their condensed format. |
STEP 4: |
During this step, the course development is complete including all modules, assignments, and teaching elements and the Course Evaluation Rubric is applied. |
STEP 5: |
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STEP 6: Course Enrollment Opens |
Some of these additional steps may occur once the course development is complete and the semester begins.
STEPS | TO DO ITEMS |
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Semester Begins |
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Course Begins |
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Mid-Term |
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Course Concludes
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>>This completes the Standards and Guidelines portion of the Guide. Once this is completed you can proceed onto:
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