Two Important Principles

1.3.1 Specific instructional activities should be directed toward providing learners with the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience required to meet the goals and objectives of the course.

The subcategories listed underneath this principle (promoting active vs. passive learning, incorporating authentic learning experiences, and accommodating multiple learning styles) are important in all types of curriculum design, but they can sometimes get overlooked in distance learning courses. I think distance learning can provide many opportunities for active learning, especially if offline activities and collaborative projects are included in the design. Likewise a good course should provide opportunities for learners to apply the course concepts in their current jobs. I recently participated in a distance learning course related to climate change education, and I really appreciated the opportunity to apply the activities from the course in my position as an education manager at a science museum. I also had many opportunities to share my successes and challenges in applying these activities with other educators via Moodle.

4.2.2 Module Progression
The instructor should be consistent in organizing and presenting modular/session/weekly instructional activities and facilitating student learning.

This is another principle that I have found extremely important in my own experience with distance learning courses. Because face-to-face interaction is limited or nonexistent, frequent changes to the course format, assignments, and other activities can be easy to overlook. I always appreciate a course that follows roughly the same format from week to week or module to module. Having assignments due on the same day of the week and scheduling webinars at consistent dates or times makes it much easier to keep up with the course content.