BerkeleyX Course Development Resources

The following resources are provided as a reference for campus instructors and departments who are developing new courses on edX. If you are interested in developing a course or program on edX, email us at berkeleyx@berkeley.edu to set up an initial exploratory conversation. 

Get help from DLS Course Development Services!

Need help developing your online program? Digital Learning Services (DLS) can provide course development support for edX on a cost-recovery basis. This includes project management, instructional design, accessibility, and media production. To learn more, contact us at digitallearning@berkeley.edu

Platforms, Accounts & Resources:

Platforms:
edx.org/school/berkeleyx (public listings on edx platform from UC Berkeley)  

partners.edx.org(documentation/community for edx partner staff)

studio.berkeley.edu (course authoring environment)

edge.edx.org (campus instance of edx platform for local classes and experiments)

Course Development Resources:

edX101: Overview of Creating an edX Course

edX Guide: Building & Running an edX Course

BerkeleyX Course Facilitator Guide 

edX Course TA Guide

Program Retirement:

Retirement Steps

Retirement Communications Templates

BerkeleyX Accessibility Protocols (Mandatory Compliance):

edX Accessibility Assurance Workflow

UC Berkeley Accessibility Basic Course (Edge) (You will need to create an account on edge in order to access. Go to https://edge.edx.org/register and please use your berkeley.edu email address)

Digital Learning Services Accessibility Hub (bCourses)

Sample Course Development Milestones (2-6 months)

  1. BerkeleyX Conversation: Exploratory conversation with BerkeleyX Program Manager to gauge suitability of project for edX platform and best approach (self paced vs. instructor led, standalone mooc vs. professional certificate program)

  2. About Page Template or Professional Certificate Program Proposal Template (for Professional Certificate Programs). This is shared with BerkeleyX and edX program staff for feedback and greenlighting project..

  3. Project Plan: Project Scope, Budget, Timeline, Staffing 

  4. Assemble Project Team: Instructor/SME, instructional designer, media producer, writer/editor, Course TAs.

  5. Content Inventory: identify existing course materials (bCourses site, lecture videos, readings, reading materials, etc.)

  6. Course Map list of all course units along with instructional elements (video, readings, quizzes, discussions, etc)

  7. edX101 (optional) and Accessibility Basics (required) training for all course staff

  8. Create edX Course Shell in edX Studio(course authoring environment)

  9. Create Sample Module in Studio

    1. See Create a New Course in Studio

    2. BerkeleyX Initial Accessibility Review (See edX Accessibility Assurance Workflow). Sample module  shared with BerkeleyX Accessibility Lead (typically 3-4 months before launch). 

    3. BerkeleyX Instructional Design Review (optional)

  10. Content Production

    1. Build out rest of units and courses following target of sample module

    2. Mid Content Accessibility Review (See edX Accessibility Assurance Workflow) Course Team delivers several modules for to BerkeleyX Accessibility Lead for review and feedback. (2 months before launch)

    3. Promo Video: Prepare promotional or About video(s) for your public course/program listing(s) on edx.org. This is not required but a good video overview really helps sell the course/program. Note: Berkeley course teams do not have access to the Publisher interface for performing this task. Your BerkeleyX Program Manager will upload video on your behalf. 

  11. Final Content Review 

    1. Editorial Review (style, consistency, errors) 

    2. Beta Testing Your Course

    3. Final Accessibility Review (See edX Accessibility Assurance Workflow) Final Content should be shared with BerkeleyX Accessiblity Lead 4-6 weeks before launch.

  12. Course TA Launch Preparation

    1. Course Launch Checklist (Complete Mooc Development Checklist Webform when complete)

    2. BerkeleyX Course Facilitator Guide

    3. edX Course TA Guide

  13. Course Launch & Operations (Ongoing)

    1. BerkeleyX Program Manager "announces" Course/Program (publishes listing) on edX.org (typically 4-6 weeks before course start date) after confirming details of course About page or Program page. 

    2. Course Launch & Operations (See Managing a Running Course )

    3. New Course Runs

      1. Contact BerkeleyX Program Manager to create new runs (typically 6-12 months for self run courses). See Re-running Your Course

      2. Accessiblity Review: Any new content must be reviewed for accessibiliity before launch (See edX Accessibility Assurance Workflow)

      3. New course runs launched

  14. Course/Program Retirement

    1. Please review the following resources and alert BerkeleyX Program Manager as early as possible to minimize learner frustration and issuing refunds:
      Retirement Steps
      Retirement Communications Templates