20 Key elements of an effective course website

 

Why Does it Matter?

A well-designed course site makes learning smoother and more predictable for students. Clear instructions, easy-to-find resources, and a logical layout reduce stress, confusion, and wasted time. When students know who their teachers are and how to contact them, they feel more connected and supported, which can reduce feelings of isolation and encourage engagement. Providing detailed course information early on helps students understand what is expected of them, while a clear conclusion allows them to reflect on what they have learned and see how the course connects to their broader program or goals. For teaching teams, collaborative notes and shared resources ensure the course runs consistently, even when staff change or unexpected absences occur. These practices save time, maintain quality, and help create a more reliable learning experience. Taken together, they contribute to greater student satisfaction, stronger engagement, and better overall outcomes.

What does it look like in practice?

A course site that effectively guides students through their learning experience will ideally satisfy a broad range of criteria; learning design, assessment  and  evaluation,  social  interaction,  technology,  usability  and  accessibility (M^cInnes et al., 2025). While many checklists and rubrics exist for evaluating your course site, these are usually highly contextualised to the institution and environment for which they were designed. Here we present five broad criteria that are ubiquitous to any quality course, these are:

• A welcome and overview are provided for the course with the structure clearly explained and the curriculum concisely deconstructed for students
• The course introduces teaching staff and provides students with their preferred means of communication and a single shared space for asking non-personal course-related questions
• All essential course information is provided in a dedicated section of the course site; this includes the course outline as well as all summative assessment tasks
• A course conclusion is provided which summarises key course learnings and encourages student reflection
• A collaborative teaching notes area is available containing key facilitation and course information

These criteria are also discussed in the following videos (only available to UniSA staff):

• Kirsty Summers on Teaching online
• Hayley Timms on Hints to help you with teaching online

In this section:

Each of the criteria listed above will be discussed in more detail in this section:

• • Welcome and Overview
  • Introduce Teaching Staff
  • Essential Course Information
  • Course Conclusion
  • Teaching Notes

1. Welcome and overview

Rationale

Providing learners with a welcome and course overview creates a positive first impression of the course and sets learners up for success while enabling the teaching team to set the tone and begin building teaching presence. These resources assist in orientating and familiarising students with the course, which can lead to increased course completion rates (Taylor, Dunn & Winn 2015). Deconstructing the curriculum through a course overview assists learners in getting comfortable with the scope of the course and what they will be learning, and enables them to visualise their learning journey—where they are going and how to get started. Explaining the structure helps students prepare for their studies in advance, enabling them to better plan and organise their learning. Further, providing an overview of the structure of the course can make it easier for students to navigate through the course materials. It also contextualises the course content within the degree program or industry/professional practice. Therefore, effectively communicating the general parameters of the course in this way can increase students’ sense of connectedness and learning, while reducing learner uncertainty (Shea, Sau Li & Pickett 2006).

Additional tips & suggestions

• Developing a short course introduction video and welcome text is a simple way to give an overview of the course and deconstruct the content/curriculum. However, when making your video, be sure to focus on deconstructing the course content, as opposed to things that may change, such as assessment due date (this saves you from having to rerecord the video each year).
• Creating a screencast course tour can help orientate students to the structure of your course site, showing them where to find key information and content. This is particularly important in first-year courses when students may not have used the Learning Management System (LMS) before.
• Consider creating a short quiz that contains questions about the course—where content can be found, assessment due dates, content covered etc. to allow students to self-check their understanding of the course parameters.
• Pre-write an announcement post or email to send out at the start of the course, informing students about key aspects of the course and how they can get started.

2. Introduce teaching staff

Rationale

As discussed in the Building Online Communities with Your Students chapter, student-teacher interaction is one of the key forms of engagement within the online content (Anderson 2003). Consistently accessible and responsive teaching staff contribute to increased teaching presence and reduced feelings of isolation, both important factors in student retention (Scott et al. 2008). Establishing positive student-teacher interaction early in a course is critical for success (Shackelford 2012); therefore, teaching staff introductions are a fundamental first step. Teaching staff should be introduced in the context of their expertise and role, with photographs and further self-disclosure as appropriate (Song et al. 2018). In the course, there also needs to be clear details on teaching staff’s preferred mode of communication and availability. In larger courses where there are multiple tutors, students need to be made aware of who their tutor is and when they should contact them versus the course coordinator. As well as contact information for teaching staff, students should be directed to ask non-personal course-related questions in a shared space, such as a discussion forum, as this helps to create a searchable bank of questions and answers that all students can access. Ensuring that there is a single shared space for all course-related questions limits the number of unique places students have to search for answers and will reduce their propensity for simply emailing teaching staff directly.

Additional tips & suggestions

• Create a quick reference list for students of preferred communication methods and when each should be used, e.g. forums for …, LMS chat for…, email for…, phone for …
• Have a list on the course site of teaching staff and their contact details. Make sure that students know who their tutor and course coordinator are.
• Have each member of the teaching team write a short bio to be included on the course site alongside a photograph of themselves.
• Indicate to students your response time to email and other communications, e.g. within 24h for weekdays and within 48h at weekends.
• Monitor the questions students ask in the course forum, if the same questions are asked by multiple students or every study period then consider if sections of your course need to be clearer, or if you can include a course FAQ.

3. Essential course information

Rationale

Many institutions have policies and procedures that stipulate what information must be provided to students at the beginning of a course; this usually includes a course outline and detailed information about assessment requirements. Even if your institution does not require you to provide this information in a certain way, it is good practice to make it available at the outset of the course.

One of the aspects of digital course content that students rate the highest is clarity (Ralston-Berg et al. 2015). To aid in providing clarity to students about their course, it is important for key information to be easily accessible in one place, in this case, the course outline and summative assessment tasks.

The Course Outline should be explicit about all essential course information, including but not limited to; the course learning outcomes, the teaching calendar, assessment overview, any learning resources or equipment required for participation in the course, textbooks, class mode (blended, f2f, online), and key policies. Further, to reduce confusion, there needs to be parity between the Course Outline and the information on the course site. This does not necessarily mean duplicating information but that the information in both sources needs to match.

Similar criteria apply to information about summative assessment tasks:

• Instructions for completing assessments are explicit, well-written and include all necessary information and resources
• Assessment success criteria are clearly articulated and modelled in student work
• Students are informed when an exam or timed assessment is compulsory and have practice resources and adequate time to prepare

Ideally, all information and resources (e.g., templates, guidelines, data sets, assessment rubrics, etc.) students need to complete assessment tasks successfully should be available from a dedicated section of the course site.

When students are given explicit coherent instruction, they perceive teachers as being more invested in their learning and are more likely to engage in their studies (Roksa et al. 2017). Further, setting clear expectations, especially regarding assessment, is linked to greater student satisfaction and retention (Roy et al. 2020; Scott et al. 2008).

Therefore, instructions for completing assessment tasks should aim to maximise clarity and reduce the possibility of confusion occurring for students by being detailed, explicit and well-written. This also includes clearly providing all necessary assessment information, such as due dates, word counts, consequences of late submissions, extension policy, academic integrity, grading policy, and timing for returning assessments.

Finally, support resources should also be provided for all assessments, for example, links for help with referencing, resources on improving writing skills, and links to technical/software help resources. Further details about designing effective assessment tasks are available from the Principles of Assessment Design chapter.

Additional tips & suggestions

• Review your FAQs after each course delivery and determine whether the questions relate to the outline or could be addressed with supplementary information and/or editing the instructions on your course site.
• Ensure the spelling, grammar, capitalisation and punctuation used in the Course Outline and assessment instructions are at the standard you require of your students.
• Check that your assessment pages include (or have links to) all necessary information and support resources, e.g. due dates, word counts, consequences of late submissions, extension policy, academic integrity, grading policy, the timing for returning assessments, links for help with referencing, resources on improving writing skills, and links to technical/software help resources.
• Ask a peer (or another critical friend) to review your syllabus and assessment instructions from the perspective of a student and provide feedback to you. Reciprocate.

4. Course Conclusion

Rationale

A course conclusion is used to review the course learning outcomes, consolidate student’s learning by encouraging them to reflect on key content, establish the connection between this course and other courses in the program, and motivate students to continue their lifelong learning journey. In this way, students self-regulated learning is encouraged whereby they reflect on their learning with the purpose of self-evaluating their learning and adapting it in the future, thus developing foundational lifelong learning skills (Zimmerman 2002). See also the chapter titled, Supporting Students’ Self-Regulation through Online Learning Design for more information on this topic.

Additional tips & suggestions

• Add a forum so students can ask questions as a form of closure and to foster insight into accomplishments. The “summary” forum could ask students to: ask any final questions, reflect on their learning progress, or share tips and advice for new students.
• Create a summary resource (can be text, video, etc.) that provides an overview of the course from start to end, recaps the learning objectives, recaps on areas where students had the greatest difficulty, establishes the connection between this course and other courses, suggests resources the students can use to continue their lifelong learning.

5. Teaching notes

 Rationale

Teaching notes are collaboratively developed by the teaching team and are reviewed and improved each offering. Fundamentally, teachers’ notes are a management tool for the teaching team—there are lots of things to remember to do when teaching a course, so having a well-developed list of things to do based on previous offerings means you waste less time worrying about what you need to remember to do and you can just get on and do it.

Teaching notes should provide week-by-week guidance on how to run the course as well as key notes about aspects of the content or facilitation. Teaching notes are also a key risk management strategy for the course, helping the course to continue to run even when there are unplanned absences of staff or when a course is handed over to a new teaching team. Finally, teaching notes should be kept on the course site to allow for easy access and location of information.

Additional tips & suggestions

• Consider creating a pre-course checklist to include in the teaching notes—this will remind you of routine checks and updates, such as checking links to external websites, updating the reading list, scheduling Zoom sessions, assigning students to Groups and Groupings, meeting with tutors, etc.
• Develop a communication strategy for your teaching team/context that considers your team communications as well as how the team will communicate with students.
• For Q&A forum types, pre-devise the initial threads and have them in this section ready to copy and paste when the course rolls over.
• Review and revise your teaching notes as your course changes.

 

Knowledge Check – What Did You Learn?

Here are some comprehension check questions to reinforce the key points of the chapter:

 

What does it all mean for me?

To apply the concepts discussed in this chapter to your own context, consider taking the following steps:

• Review Your Current Course Site: Identify whether each of the criteria discussed in this chapter is met (e.g., welcome and overview, introduction of teaching staff, essential course information, course conclusion, and teaching notes).
• Evaluate Clarity and Accessibility: Assess the clarity and accessibility of the information provided. Are students likely to find what they need quickly and easily?
• Plan Enhancements: Based on your review, list specific enhancements you can make to improve your course site. Consider creating new resources, reorganising content, or adding new sections.
• Implement Changes: Implement the changes you have planned. Ensure that any new content, such as videos or written materials, is clear, concise, and engaging.
• Seek Feedback: After implementing changes, seek feedback from students and colleagues. Use their input to make further improvements.

References

Anderson, T 2003, Modes of interaction in distance education: Recent developments and research questions. Handbook of distance education, pp.129 – 144.

M^cInnes, R., Hobson, J. E., Johnson, K. L., Cramp, J., Aitchison, C., & Baldock, K. L. (2024). Online course quality evaluation instruments: A scoping review. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 40(2), 55-75. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.8978

Ralston-Berg, P, Buckenmeyer, J, Barczyk, C & Hixon, E 2015, ‘Students’ Perceptions of Online Course Quality: How Do They Measure Up to the Research?’, Internet Learning Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 38 – 55.

Roksa, J, Trolian, TL, Blaich, C & Wise, K 2017, ‘Facilitating academic performance in college: understanding the role of clear and organized instruction’, Higher Education, vol. 74, no. 2, pp. 283 – 300.

Roy, S, Beer, C & Lawson, C 2020, ‘The importance of clarity in written assessment instructions’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 143 – 155.

Scott, G, Shah, M, Grebinnikov, L & Singh, H 2008, ‘Improving student retention’, Journal of Institutional Research, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 15.

Shackelford, JL 2012, ‘Contribution of Learner – Instructor Interaction to Sense of Community in Graduate Online Education’, MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 13.

Shea, P, Sau Li, C & Pickett, A 2006, ‘A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses’, The Internet and Higher Education, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 175 – 190.

Song, H, Kim, J & Park, N 2018, ‘I know my Professor: teacher self-disclosure in online education and a mediating role of social presence’, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 448 – 455.

Taylor, JM, Dunn, M & Winn, S 2015, ‘Innovative Orientation leads to Improved Success in Online Courses’, Online Learning, vol. 19, no. 4.

Zimmerman, BJ 2002, ‘Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner: An Overview’, Theory Into Practice, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 64 – 70.

Further Resources

Gannon, K 2018 ‘How to Create a Syllabus: Advice Guide’, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

University of Wisconsin Whitewater, ‘Improving Your Syllabus’, Accessed 7 March 2022.

• In 2015 Dr Cathy Stone undertook a national project with the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education on improving outcomes in online learning. The key findings from the report are summarised in the Executive Summary. A copy of the Full Report is also available.