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Design patterns for building online courses in a virtual learning environment

Abstract:

With the massive growth of the e-learning in higher education institutions, the demand for implementing online courses in Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has increased. The responsible ones for adding the learning resources are the teachers, however, they do not have a good practice to design online courses. As a consequence, the students do not adapt in these unattractive and little usable environments. To mitigate this problem, this article proposes the creation of design patterns for the creation of online courses in a VLE, but articulating at the same time with a pedagogical methodology used in virtual education. This study proposes a methodology for creating e-learning design patterns. As a result, a catalogue of ten design patterns is created. Additionally, an online course model to guide teachers in the creation of new courses is proposed. To assess the validity of the proposed patterns, two evaluation processes were carried out; the first one to measure ability to design online courses with the teachers and the second one to measure the usability of the online courses with the students. They consider the virtual environment more attractive and more usability.