#2: Navigation

One of the most important elements of good course design is navigation. The way you set up your course will determine how your students move through the content.

Consistency

One best practice would be to keep the navigation consistent from week to week. If your course is hard to navigate students will get confused and you will most likely get lots of emails and messages from your students asking for help.

Remove Unneeded Navigation Tabs

Only leave the menu tabs that you use in your course visible to students, this will create less confusion. For example, if you do not use the Outcomes tab, hide it. If you think the Modules tab is the most important, move/reorder it to the top of the navigation menu for students.

Use a Homepage for Navigation

Create a homepage that allows students to navigate to important areas of the course, such as pages and modules. The homepage should be clean and simple, with some graphics but not too cluttered.

Use a Table of Contents

Finally, consider creating a table of contents each week for your course. This way students know exactly which page to click on first and what needs to be accomplished by the end of the module.

Add All Deadlines to the Calendar

Anything that is time-oriented with a deadline or a specific date that it occurs should show up in the course Calendar for students. If you use the Syllabus homepage style, then these items will also show up on the homepage with their respective dates.