Course Design
Seven Principles of Good Undergraduate Education - Chickering and Gamson (1987)
If there was only one piece of Higher Education literature to be aware of, it would be Chickering and Gamson's "Seven Principles of Good Undergraduate Education." Although its a "classic," (ie--a bit old!) the fundamental principles remain relevant. Even though they were targeted at face-to-face classes, the seven principles also apply online. In fact, many folks that write books about online teaching base a lot of work off the principles.
Ten Tips and Best Practices for Teaching Online - Boettcher (2011)
These ten tips to practice come from Judith Boettcher. Although we won't go through them specifically, we'll cover many of them as we progress through this process.
The MSUB Core Principles for Quality Online Courses were created by the e-Learning Fellows. Based on the MUS Principles, these are the foundational elements of an excellent online course. (Look for the tab that says "Core Principles")