What should I include in an online course lesson?
Each lesson of an online course should have: (1) a goal; (2) content/instruction directly related to the goal; (3) example(s) or demonstration(s); (4) a practice activity for learners; (5) and a brief summary/check for understanding. Keep extraneous information to a minimum. Also include clear instructions, downloadable materials if needed, and instructions on what to do after completing the lesson.
What to include in an online course lesson
Begin every lesson with an objective. Let your readers know what they should know or be able to do by the end of the lesson. A specific objective will also help you determine what information should go into this lesson, and what should wait until later.
The main parts of the lesson
- Goal: Describe what the final output will be in non-technical terms.
- Reason: Introduce the topic, method, or technique without adding extra details.
- For example: Demonstrate the idea using a realistic example.
- Example: Model the process when learners need to see each step.
- Practice: Let students do a task that they can do independently.
- Review: Review the key points and confirm if the goal was achieved.
Keep the lesson focused
Restrict your lessons to one major subject, or to a closely related set of topics. Use headings, brief paragraphs, bullet points, or images to make your content more scannable. When you introduce a term that might be unfamiliar to readers, briefly define it on its first occurrence.
Give learners practical support
When there's a resource that will support a task (a checklist, a template, a worksheet, a reference file, a link), describe it and make it available in a usable format.
Tell learners what comes next
At the end of the lesson, you should explain what learners need to do next. It might be a quiz, a practice assignment, another lesson, or a project. If the lesson is part of a course, explain how the skills in this lesson connect with the next step.
Before you publish a lesson, do it yourself, then have someone else follow along. You'll likely find gaps in your instructions and areas where your example wasn't clear enough based on the questions they had.