Designing Principles for Creating Effective Web-Based Learning Resources in the Geosciences

Topical Resources

Learning Goals

In the design of any educational resource, web-based or otherwise, a crucial first step is the explicit definition of the purpose or goals of the resource. Explicit definition of learning goals:

1. helps you to clarify what you want students to accomplish.
2. helps you communicate expectations to students more effectively.
3. helps you to select methods, materials and assignments that are most appropriate.
4. helps to guide your assessment of what your students have learned.
   

Knowing where you want to end up is the first critical step in not ending up someplace else. Explicit goals will help you ensure that your students learn what you intend them to in the class.

This part of the site will help you decide if online is right for you, give you tips on how to develop your Learning Goals, and provide you with some examples of web sites that do a good job of laying their goals out explicitly.