Universal Design And Development Of Online Courses

As it is maturing gradually, online education is becoming an popular education model which academic education, vocational education, corporate companies, training and special education are favorite to, and it is also an important way to achieve education for all and lifelong education. Online courses are important learning resource for online education, which have been the focus and emphasis of the scholars at home and abroad. The current study found that the online courses provide learners with the freedom of time and space, but did not take into account the breadth, differences and diversity of learners, which made online courses unaccessible to part of learners. Regardless of any conditions, learners participating in online courses become our concern. As a result, foreign scholars proposed a concept named Universal Design, which made learners use online courses anytime and anywhere.The idea of this study is:on the basis of the investigation of universal design in online courses. Combined with the theory and criteria of universal design, summed up the universal design principles, strategies and design elements of online courses. For to prove the feasibility of universal design and development, this study designs and develops an online course named "History of Foreign Literature" as an example. This study is divided into three parts:The first part is demands of universal design. This study defines online courses, universal design, universal design for learning and some concepts related to universal design. Using case studies, questionnaire survey and interview, this study analyzes the status of universal design of online courses and the awareness of designers, so as to determine the position of this study.The second part is about how to design universally. This study summarizes five principles and three strategies of universal design and then describes design elements of universal design in detail:interface design, information representation, communication and learning support.Finally, this paper summarizes the universality of the online curriculum development process, methods and requirements. For to prove universal design is not just an ideal concept but a more practical possibility, this study designs and develops an online course "History of Foreign Literature" as an example.