LDES 7202: eLearning Development

Creating and teaching a new elective for Georgetown’s Learning, Design, and Technology master’s program

A few details

The Project

I created (and now teach) the LDT program’s first hands-on course focused on designing online learning materials and curriculum.

Some special

Specifications

The course is delivered in a hyflex format with students participating both in-person and via Zoom each week.

How I solved it

My approach

I structured 5 units around the ADDIE framework, with 12 weekly assignments that guided students step-by-step through building a complete online course.

Student Debrief Highlights

I finished the eLearning Development course with more confidence in myself than I had before. It helped me develop new skills and gave me a path to continue my learning. Finally, I want to thank Professor Laura for designing the course with peer interactions at each stage. I appreciated all the feedback from Professor Laura March and my peers. They suggested how I could improve my work, highlighted its strengths, and boosted my confidence.

C2025 Student

Thirteen supportive learning partners, 12 hands-on projects, eight new applications, and unlocked skills, seven potential pieces for my portfolio, and one integrated design mindset—all contributing to my sense of fulfillment in the journey of eLearning Development. This experience has provided a rare opportunity for me to apply learning theories in practical decision-making scenarios and synthesize everything I have learned in the LDT program.

This learning journey facilitated, in particular, the creation of my first podcast, fostered a new-found appreciation for storyboarding’s value to learning design, and exposed me to the existing gaps in accessibility and universal design around us.

P2024 Student

This course came highly recommended by many peers in the LDT program, and I’m so glad that I was able to register. Because of eLearning Development, I feel more prepared to interview and perform the tasks required of a learning designer. The breadth of content and work I’ve created has left me with a well-rounded introduction to programs, software, and concepts that will serve me well moving forward professionally.

Thanks to this course, I feel excited about the future and confident in my path in this field. Hands-on experience with eLearning has provided me with clarity about my interests and abilities, which will improve my chances of succeeding professionally.

A2025 Student

This semester, I completed several projects in eLearning design, including developing multimedia content, creating interactive elements, practicing effective assessment strategies for online learning, and so on. The Canvas course design project was particularly challenging for me, in which build a learning environment with a syllabus, homepage, and content modules by Canvas, using a lot of HTML code. And designing interactive elements with H5P was also impressive. I discovered its unique advantages, including built-in scoring systems and various interactive exercise types that make online learning both more effective and engaging. Before this course, I only knew how to use PowerPoint slides. I also really appreciate Professor March for structuring the course with a great balance between readings, lectures, and project development time. It allowed us to focus deeply on developing our projects, which helped me explore more in digital education and also expand my technical skills.

W2025 Student

As someone who is looking to work within higher education, honing these skills in course design and development has been integral to my own professional development. In my work experiences at Georgetown, I have done design work of numerous scales, from whole undergraduate degrees to individual courses within a specific department. While I am not as intimately involved in eLearning design work in my experiences as this course has imagined it, I am taking away important skills of mapping and articulating what a fully-fleshed out course design process looks like, as well as the important discussions on accessibility, design principles, and technical skills that we covered in the class. Furthermore, as online education becomes more prevalent and ubiquitous throughout higher education, it is extremely important to continue grounding design work in the student experience and ensure that students have access to meaningful and engaging learning experiences in the digital sphere, minimizing as many accessibility and exclusionary barriers as possible.

J2024 Student

When I first started this course, I was extremely unsure of my skills and doubted whether I had the knowledge needed to create high-quality course content. However, the structure of this course broke down the entire course design process into very organized steps. Progressing step by step helped me identify my weaknesses, and the opportunity to resubmit assignments allowed me to learn by incorporating feedback and correcting my mistakes. This increased my confidence and helped me understand all the varied steps of the learning design process.

Additionally, this course has prepared me to create a portfolio that will make me a much more attractive candidate in the job market. I feel confident that I can showcase all the projects I completed in this course, and I am assured that they reflect my competence and talent in learning content creation. This has been my absolute favorite course in the entire program, and I feel that the skills I’ve gained have positioned me better to advance my career growth and professional skill development.

M2024 Student

The e-Learning Development class has been instrumental in helping me to understand more about the future career tack I’ve chosen. This class became my favorite this semester because of its structured and engaging learning process, which helped me not only acquire essential skills but also cultivated a deeper understanding of e-Learning principles and practices. As I embark on my future endeavors, I am equipped with the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to excel in the dynamic landscape of online education and technology-driven learning environments.

A2024 Student

This course is potentially the most relevant LDT course to my scope of practice and work. While I am trying to explore ways of taking eLearning beyond computers/laptops, a lot of the principles I learned here apply to mobile/app integration. My design sensibilities have gotten a boost through both the seminars and assignments. It has also been rewarding to see the approaches of my peers to understand different aspects of design in eLearning.

K2024 Student

Looking back, I am very glad to have taken eLearning Development because in the end, I can actually say I created my own course! Although I did not have the chance to use some eLearning platforms for my assignments, such as Articulate, I still plan to continue my learning journey by experimenting with different tools to create online learning experiences, now that I’ve learned a bit more about them. In addition to testing my personal propensities, this class helped me develop many practical skills I know I can apply to my professional goals. I now have a better idea of what it’s like being a learning designer and all the effort that goes into creating an accessible and well-designed class, which definitely gives me greater perspective on my future career path.

J2025 Student

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