Faculty who are planning on developing a fully online course should begin the process early. Best Practices for online course development recommend a 5 month development timeline. Ideally, a course should be fully developed prior to releasing it to students. That’s not to say that adjustments and additions can’t be made along the way. It is simply advised to avoid being in a situation where you are building a course while teaching it at the same time. Attempting to stay “a module ahead” of your students will most likely lead to a very frustrating and stressful experience particularly when developing and teaching your first online course.
The staff of the Teaching Resource Center is available to assist faculty every step of the way during the design, development, and delivery of online, blended, and web-supplemented courses. We have created a sample timeline that faculty can follow to facilitate the process of development and ensure that the resulting course is functionally sound and of high quality. Please download the SUNY Broome Development Timeline for New Online Courses document and make an appointment with an Instructional Designer. For additional information regarding the role of the Instructional Designer in the course development process, please see the What is an Instructional Designer and Why Would I Need One? in the Support for Online Faculty area of this website.