P2PU courses have:

• a set length

• clear learning objectives

• a weekly syllabus with carefully balanced workload or well developed tasks

• a social/collaborative element (projects, meetings, forums)

• post-course reflection for all participants

LENGTH

Course length is up to you. At P2PU we found that maximum participation lasts 2-3 weeks and begins to drop off there after. Clearly, 2-3 weeks may not be long enough to cover your topic.  Participants are by nature self-motivated, yet busy people. If your topic is intense, spread out the workload by running a longer course. You can ask participants to commit to sections of the course, or identify the most crucial aspects of the learning goals to cover in a few weeks.

You can run a 6, 9, or 12 week course, but keep in mind what we've learned about engagement. Long courses require a lot of work on the facilitators part to re-engage participants.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Learning objectives are explored in a P2PU course two ways:

1. Course organizers identify basic learning objectives
   Developing learning objectives are a necessary component of P2PU courses. Learning objectives are a broad generalization of the purpose of the course and include the acquisition, retention, application, and adaptability of knowledge and skills acquired through participation. What skill or sum of knowledge will a participant gain? Where will they be able to apply it?

2. Participants identify their personal learning goals
   You'll find that P2PU participants have differing motives for taking a course. Often participants work on a range of projects within the same course. Therefore, participants should identify their personal learning goals when they sign up for the course and revisit them when course begins. Ask participants to share their personal learning goals with the group to promote discussion and cross-pollination of ideas.

SYLLABUS & WORKLOAD

A syllabus should be created to cover weekly meetings, readings, or assignments. For more structured courses break down your course content into weekly themes with learning goals and group meetings. Project goals and assignments should have clear deadlines. Meeting times can be set once you have selected participants and chosen times that work for the group.

For each week, courses usually have

• a short description of the goals for the week,
• some required "readings" (text or media)
• relevant tasks/activities that you and your participants are expected to complete. 

Be mindful of the workload for both you and those who will take your course. A heavy workload throughout may extinguish people's enthusiasm in voluntary situations. Past organizers have identified this as one of their major design flaws. Research has shown that short, timely activities work best in online environments. If shedding the workload is not an option, consider spreading out the syllabus to span many weeks in sections. (This may be the best option for adapted OCW courses, and intensive courses leading to academic credit.)

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Content development depends greatly on the style of course you are organizing. True peer-to-peer courses don't need much structure. Rather, they need clear expectations stating that every participant in the course is responsible for development of the course syllabus.

For more structured and reflective courses (reading, writing, discussing) create assignments for individuals and/or questions for group discussion based on your resources. Make sure to build in some sort of peer review whether it's commenting on each others' writings or group discussion of contributions.

For project based courses create distinct goals for each week surrounding tasks from the syllabus. Participants should be encouraged to review each others' projects or work in teams.

POST-COURSE REFLECTION

When the the course ends, organize some sort of feedback forum (video conference, discussion forum, personal blogging, chat) to encourage reflection from participants. They will be able to round up what they learned, what they liked about the course, and what can be improved. This is an important stage in the process, as it captures how much the participants learned.

☜  Return to Course Design Handbook