About creating online course

 About 4 years ago, I came across Canvas platform when I was searching for different learning platforms. It had a free access for teachers and students and I decided to try that. I explored its various functions and little by little started creating my own course. At the time, I focused mainly on IELTS preparation so the course I created contained exercises and tips to practice for IELTS

I divided the course into 2 modules such as Listening and Writing. Each module included different sets of tasks. I uploaded some videos and audios and also some documents related to the course. I used the comments sections as discussion boards and encouraged the students to leave comments after each task.

After I had created the two modules I posted the link to my Facebook page and several people tried this course. I got individual feedback from each of them then which was very positive.

There were different activities including different modes of study. Some activities had to be discussed with others so it can be said that it created an opportunity for learners to connect with each other.

As we had to create an online course as a part of our assignment in ILT at university, I returned to this course after all these years. I edited and deleted some of the tasks there and added more interactive and interesting tasks. I also tried to use some of the new online tools that I had learnt about during our sessions.

One of the factors I particularly paid attention was the integration of different tools. Although I found it a bit difficult to embed different sources of activities together I could learn some useful ways of creating new activities.

One outstanding thing about the course I created is that it does not only focus on the task completion but also after every activity students are encouraged to share their thoughts with each other and share their ideas. Moreover, the variety of tasks can be suitable for different  learning styles which means learners will not get bored of the same repetetive tasks.
The course I created still needs improvement and testing but I think this was a good experience and a large step towards professional development as a teacher.