Instructional Design Best Practices

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With many schools, institutions and companies continuing to deliver courses online to remote...

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edited November 2022 in Social Groups

With many schools, institutions and companies continuing to deliver courses online to remote audiences, course creators need to consider how to accommodate international learners.

 

When preparing a course, a new set of questions have become part of the needs analysis. Consider the following questions as you create your own course:

  • Where are my learners located?
    • What time zone are they located in?
    • Is hosting a video conference a teaching method that will work for my learners?
  • Can my learners access the resources and tools I’m using in the course from their location? 
    • Is their Internet connection stable?
    • Are any of the content or websites I’m presenting in the course blocked in their location?
    • Is the resource behind a paywall?

 

Set Your Time Zone in Brightspace

When you set availability or due dates in your course, learners will experience those dates based on their time zone.

 

For example, if a learner residing in Mountain Standard Time (MST) views an assignment that is due on September 14th, at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST), the due date and time appears to the learner as September 14th 3 pm MST.

 

Find out more about setting your time zone on Brightspace Help.

 

Evaluating Secondary Resources

Remember to explore if all your learners will be able to access the resources in your course, focusing on their access based on location. For example, some countries or locales may restrict access to YouTube, Vimeo, Google Docs, LinkedIn Learning, Blogger, Wordpress, Wikipedia, and other frequently-referenced websites. 

 

Here are a few tips and resources to help you start thinking about your learners’ internet restrictions:

  • Assign blog-writing assessments using the Blog tool or by setting up a Discussion Forum meant for peer collaboration. 
  • Provide a transcript in PDF format as a downloadable text-alternative to a video hosted on an external site like YouTube. 
  • Search for information sources that are free to access (when possible) – or request paid access from your institution or organization.
  • At the beginning of the course, consider using the Survey tool to ask students where they’re based. If applicable, do a quick search to see if the sites or resources you reference in the course are blocked in those locations. Lists of apps and websites that are blocked in different countries are available online.

 

How do you handle creating courses for an international audience? What are your go-to resources? Any other considerations? Please share in the comments!

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