A Taxonomy for Online Course Architecture

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Faculty and course developers often resort to shorthand when describing design options, including traditional, web-based, synchronous, asynchronous, hybrid, blended, and bichronous. These abbreviated descriptions are trendy and convenient but tend to oversimplify the complexity of course design and delivery. A more precise taxonomy that describes a course’s architectural features will aid communication and enhance collaborations among higher education faculty and course development personnel. This issue of Undersized Ideas/ Oversized Impact will explore six categories of descriptive terminology related to Space, Pace, Interactivity, Assessment, Media Rich Content, and Learning. Additionally, we will examine how varied curricular models (e.g., competency-based education, problem-based learning) overlap the proposed taxonomy’s six basic categories.