Exploring the Common Structures and Sequences of Real-World Online Learning Modules

Online learning “modules” are generally defined as units of learning, often in reference to the amount of time that learners spend to consume the materials, acquire the learning, and test out of that sequence. No widely accepted or formal definition of such modules exist. How modules instantiate depends on many factors, not least of which is technology (authoring tools, learning management systems, and others). Given the wide availability of “modules” on open-source sharing sites, digital learning object repositories and referatories, proprietary learning management system (LMS) instances, massive open online course (MOOC) sites, cloud-based survey suites, websites, wikis, commercial proprietary online training sites, taking a bottom-up coding approach from real-world examples (both open-source and proprietary) is a healthy place to start exploring some common structures of real-world online learning modules. This chapter defines a pared-down approach to mapping online learning modules on some relevant dimensions.