Authentic learning on the web: Guidelines for course design

Many teachers, when faced with the task of creating an online course, or adapting an existing course to an online format, are overwhelmed by both the affordances of the technology and by the need to create learning environments that do not simply replicate outmoded pedagogies in a new form. This chapter describes a useful framework for teachers and developers to guide the design of more authentic online learning environments. The chapter describes nine characteristics, derived largely from situated learning theory, and provides a practical and extended example of how the framework might be applied in the design of an online course.