This paper describes the theoretical foundations of an online course to teach clinical educators how to convert a traditional face-to-face course for either flexible or distance delivery. We describe the design research approach to the creation of the course and the pedagogical theory behind the course development. We also present the details of the research project that we will be running including the rationale for the research, the research hypothesis and the research methodology. In concluding we give a brief outline of our experience of teaching the course for the first time. (Contains 3 tables and 10 figures.)