Online Course Evaluation: Brain Structure and its Origins - Coursework Example

The title of this course is ‘Brain Structure and its Origins. It is offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Course Structure
The course covers tens of topics and is divided into seven major components. The first component of this course entails a description of the syllabus: This component describes the objectives of this course among learners. Additionally, it highlights the importance and specific topic of this course among learners. On the other hand, it describes the structure of this course among its learners as well as points that should be taken into consideration when one undertakes this course. The next component of this course is the Readings; in this component, learners are provided with a variety of books and other secondary sources of information that they can use for further reference.

There is also the lectures component, which covers the slides and audio: This section provides learners with 38 lecturers that explicate the specific topics covered within the course. It is followed by the assignment component, which provides a list of learning assessment tests that are supposed to be covered by students. Moreover, the course has an exam component; this component lists the number of mid-term review exams and the final exams that shall be undertaken by the student. The sixth component of this course is the study materials; basically indicates the general handouts of possible study questions since 2008 and other mid-term and final review questions that should be revised by learners. Consequently, the last component of this course provides online learners with an opportunity to download study materials.

Design Principles and Development Process
The design of the course outline integrates various dimensions of the worked example principle. According to Clark and Mayer 2011, the worked example principle is an imperative and quite a powerful tool that can be used to facilitate cognitive learning. The corpus of the worked example according to Clark and Mayer 2011 is basically a step-by-step strategy applied to demonstrate to learners how to perform tasks and solve problems.

Multimedia Principle
In this online course, the lecturers seem to have applied the fourth principle worked example, which is the multimedia principle. Worked example multimedia principle involves the use of audios, texts, graphics as well as content sequencing (Clark & Mayer, pg. 271, 2011). This is evident in the sense that learners are provided with course hand-outs, recorded audio lectures as well as a properly sequenced course structure and outline.

Contiguity Principle
An analysis of this online course indicates that the learning design also incorporates Clark and Mayer’s contiguity principle. According to these pioneers, this principle states that the use of graphics for an online learning material should be accompanied by texts properly aligned to it to provide elaboration of the graphics (Clark & Mayer, pg. 271, 2011). The visual and audio material applied in this e-learning process entails an application of this principle.

The principle of Modality and Redundancy
The principle of modality is another principle that has been applied in this online course to ensure that learners attain the highest level of understanding in various subjects within the course. Specifically, the application of this principle is evident in this course owing to the fact that the provision of visual lectures has been accompanied by audios that attempt to explicate the meaning of the subjects. According to Clark & Mayer 2011, the principle of modality entails the use of audio when providing visual lecturers to elaborate the information disseminated by the visuals (pg. 271). Additionally, the principle of redundancy is also evident in this online course; this principle indicates that learners need to be provided with a platform where they can refer to directions, while responding to the questions (Clark & Mayer, pg. 272, 2011). This is evident in the course handouts where students are provided with directions that they have to follow as they refer to certain questions within the course outline.

Pros of the Course
The application of the principles of multimedia designs in learning processes is usually characterized by the existence of some benefits. The first benefit occurs through the reduced workload that students may be subjected to as they try to comprehend visual lectures. This is usually achieved through the use of texts that are properly incorporated with the visuals and audio to explicate their contents (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p. 269)

Cons
According to Clark & Mayer 2011 and the major challenge that may arise in the application of the multimedia design principles is the fact that some students i.e. visually impaired or those that are facing challenges of hearing problems may not comprehend lessons taught through this procedure. Additionally, a lack of aligned texts when using multi-media design principles may reduce the capacity of the students in understanding the contents of the lessons.

How to Integrate Principle of Personalization on this Course Outline
The personalization principle as an online learning design occurs when the multi-media learning software is transformed from a formal model to a conversational learning style. According to Clark & Mayer 2011, the conversational model of learning ensures that multimedia learning software is elaborated through narrations, texts as well as cues and feedbacks. In this regard, only the presentation style changes, while the content of the learning materials remains the same. This can be integrated into this online course using a simple strategy; engaging students in face-to-face discussions, giving cues, and taking feedback from students.

Conclusion
Teachers and online learners may acquire knowledge regarding the application of multi-media design principles in the provision of learning materials. Additionally, online teachers and learners may also learn the specific challenges associated with the use of multimedia design principles thus enabling them to determine ways through, which these challenges may be reduced or avoided.