4 Steps to Accelerate Your Online Course

Step 1: Review and Revise Learning Objectives

Collect your current program outcomes, course objectives, module objectives, and/or assessments and check that they align tightly. Each element should clearly support the others and guide students toward achieving the intended learning outcomes.  

If you notice that something isn’t aligned, start by identifying where the disconnect occurs. For example, this can happen if an objective doesn’t clearly support a learning outcome or an assessment doesn’t measure what it should. Revise or reword objectives to make them more measurable and ensure each assessment directly evaluates a stated objective. If you’re not sure how to realign these elements, note your questions and bring them to your instructional designer, who can help refine the structure before you begin your accelerated design.

Optional AI Prompts:

• “Given these outcomes and assessments, identify any existing misalignment and provide me with suggestions for improvement.”
• “Recommend ways I can rewrite these learning objectives using measurable action verbs aligned to Bloom’s taxonomy.”
• “Suggest scalable assessment types that best measure this learning objective for an online, seven-week course.”

Step 2: Deconstruct and Combine Complementary Topics

Take a moment to list all the topics in your course and group related concepts into clear, logical sequences. Combine overlapping material where possible and scaffold complex ideas across multiple weeks to build understanding during the shortened time period. For instance, if your course covers “Ethical Leadership” and “Corporate Responsibility,” these could be combined into a single week exploring “Leading with Integrity.”

If you discover extra topics that don’t directly support your learning objectives, consider moving them to optional or supplemental materials for students who want to explore further.

Optional AI Prompts:

• “Create a concept map showing how these topics might cluster or build on each other.”
• “Align these topics with my existing course learning objectives. Note any topics that are not aligned and make suggestions for improvement.”
• “Suggest which topics could logically be combined for a seven-week course without losing depth.”
• “Propose a weekly sequencing plan that balances student workload evenly.”

Step 3: Identify Supplementary Materials & Activities

Not every topic needs equal focus in an accelerated course. Now that you’ve tightened your objectives, alignment, and topics, it’s time to identify content that’s valuable but not essential to achieving your core objectives. These valuable components make excellent optional or enrichment resources. You might turn extra readings into a “Dig Deeper” section, create short discussion prompts for curious learners, or link to relevant articles, videos, or case studies for those who want to explore the topic further. This approach keeps your main course streamlined while still offering motivated students opportunities to extend their learning.

Optional AI Prompts:

• “Provide me with a few ideas to turn this resource into an optional enrichment activity for my online leaners.”
• “Draft short a short blurb I can include in my online course to highlight the optional readings for this topic.”
• “Review the following materials I’ve included in my course to support [topic] and [objective]. Provide recommendations about what materials are essential vs. supplementary.”

Step 4: Optimize Content and Assessments for Acceleration

Acceleration is about smart design, not content reduction. When you are designing an accelerated course, focus on making learning experiences more engaging, accessible, and efficient. For example:

• Instead of a 30-minute lecture, create a series of five 5- to 6-minute videos, each focused on a key concept.
• Replace long summary text passages with infographics, comparison charts, or short “key takeaway” summaries.
• Add low-stakes knowledge checks (such as short quizzes or reflective polls) to help students gauge understanding as they go.
• Use auto-graded assessments like scenario-based quizzes or application exercises to provide immediate feedback while reducing grading time.

Optional AI Prompts:

• “Recommend ways to condense this 10-minute lecture outline into three 3-minute microlecture segments.”
• “Rewrite this dense paragraph into a bulleted outline.”
• “Suggest five low-stakes quiz questions that check understanding of [topic].”