Teach Online

The Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) has been helping Waterloo faculty and instructors design, develop and deliver online learning that aligns with research-based best practices since 1997. Our creative, experienced team can help you with all your digital learning needs.

Whether you need a small digital resource to demonstrate a complex concept or you want to build a fully online course, we can help you meet your goals.

Allocated projects - fully online courses

Allocated projects range from the development of complete online courses to the creation of discrete digital materials to enhance on-campus/blended courses. CEL will provide you with dedicated resources to design and build your course or digital materials from start to finish comprehensively and collaboratively. 

We use a project management approach for these larger projects which requires a structured, significant, and sustained time commitment from you; for a fully online course it could span 3-4 terms. Over that time, you can expect to receive in excess of 500 hours of expert support.

If you’re interested in developing a course or digital resources in this way, contact your Department Chair. Allocated projects are approved at the faculty level as part of a coordinated online learning plan.

Agile development - online learning resources

We're also able to help you with smaller projects or creating online learning materials independently. 

Our agile development team provides a first-come, first served rapid response approach that can help you build simulations or animations, advise on online technologies, assist with learning management (LMS) setup and much more.  It is also an alternative option where an allocated project is not the best fit.

You’ll have access to the full range of CEL expertise (instructional design, web and media development, pedagogy, accessibility, copyright, etc.) in a flexible manner, without the lengthy timelines associated with our allocated projects approach. However, depending on other requests our response time can vary. These smaller projects are typically capped around 80 hours to ensure we can continue to help as many people as possible.

Support Model Comparison

Allocated projects Agile development
  • ideal for those who want full design and development support
  • ideal for those who have the time and inclination to work independently
  • new projects are prioritized and approved by faculty executives
  • requests can be submitted at any time and do not require faculty executive approval
  • dedicated CEL team assigned to your project
  • consultations with CEL experts as needed
  • in most cases, we build it all for you
  • in many cases, we provide guidance to help you build it yourself
  • completion dates are negotiated based on the complexity of the project
  • on-demand support, response times are based on our capacity at any given time
  • completion dates are negotiated based on resource availability and demand as well as the complexity of the project
  • no maximum number of hours
  • maximum 80 hours

An evidence-based approach

CEL is actively engaged in research with a mandate to advance online learning. Our provincially funded User Experience Design for Learning (UXDL) initiative is an award-winning example of our research pursuits and illustrates how our research drives our course design practices. We are always keen to hear from faculty whose research interests align with ours and welcome the opportunity to discuss potential collaborations. Learn more about CEL’s research activities.