In Week 1 of the course, you’ll explore ideas around designing media that can support learning. You will start by discussing a theoretical perspective on multimedia learning: the dual-channel assumption. This will be the basis for a number of multimedia design principles that you can use and explore to help you effectively develop multimedia content for learning experiences. You will also consider content creation from another perspective: accessibility. You will look at resources on accessibility that can help you think about how to ensure that the content you create is accessible along multiple dimensions to support a wide range of learners.

In Week 2 of the course, you’ll focus on different aspects of assessment and the role it plays in learning experience design. You will look at the definition assessment to contrast it with the definition of evaluation to help you see the purpose of assessment in your designs. You will then look at different types of assessment, what roles each of those play, and approaches to designing assessments. Finally, you will look at rubrics and approaches for designing rubrics as assessment tools. All of this will help you see how assessment can help you refine and describe the ultimate learning impacts of your designs.

In Week 3 of the course, you’ll now transition to exploring evaluation and the role that it plays in learning experience design. Building on the previous lesson’s distinction with assessment, here you will look at evaluation in more detail along with the rationale for evaluation when you are designing for learning. You will look at different types of evaluation and what you gain from each approach. You will then look at some evaluation frameworks that can help you see why and how to measure the quality of your designs.

In Week 4 of the course, you’ll focus on entering the professional practice of learning experience design. You will review different career paths that connect with different aspects of learning experience design, and take a look at where the field might be headed to help you think about what direction you might want to pursue to move towards your own professional aspirations. You will also work on developing your own professional portfolio, where you can see how portfolios are used to convey your work and skill sets, and to help you start thinking about communicating your growing skills as a learning experience designer.