Author(s): Brandy Perkl, Ph.D.
Originally posted: July 24, 2016I've been completely in love with Google Sites for online course design for a while now. Not only is it an extremely simple interface to learn, but the sites look great, work well, and are more accessible than most to both students and professors. For example, did you know you can update your Google course site easily from any device? Google sites integrate seamlessly with D2L, and have the added benefit of existing after D2L clears out course content from its servers - so you can keep your course looking and working the same every semester!
The incomparable Romi Wittman made a series of tutorials to share based on our work on this project together, so you can take advantage of this (free!) method to improve your course design. And the final video makes it very clear how to ensure we are compliant with UA and FERPA when using this method - a major boon when you want to stay in step with the U.
Now take up thy mouse, go forth, and actually spend your time teaching (vs. managing your LMS) like you thought you would when you started this whole teaching career thing. Let me know how it goes for you, I'd love to have a tribe of Google-rs to compare notes and tips with.
Happy Google-ing,
Brandy & Romi