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Abstract
This qualitative case study explored professors’ perceptions of monitoring cognitive load in their online course content design and online course structure design in the Canvas learning management system (CLMS) at a university in Midwest Iowa. Through the purposeful sampling technique, five university professors, who have taught online courses in the CLMS, were selected as research participants for the research. Data from interviews, observations of online courses in the CLMS, and documents collected from online courses were gathered and triangulated through the constant comparison and open coding methods. The findings showed that six best practices: utilizing the Bloom’s Taxonomy, aligning instructional elements, utilizing the built-in features in the CLMS, creating more autonomous and collaborative activities, effectively combining various multimedia, and implementing consistency) helped monitor cognitive load in online courses for students. Ultimately, the research findings could be transferred to the similar online teaching contexts.