For a more detailed list of definitions please refer to Instructional Design in Elearning

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1 John Andrius 8 December, 2003 Instructional Design for Online Learning Introduction With the increasing widespread use of online learning solutions in the education and training sector, practitioners are faced with the rising pressure to learn and use new technologies associated with online learning. This pressure may cause practitioners to rush through or even avoid instructional design. The resulting consequences from this is that the learning experience may not be instructionally sound resulting in learners not clearly knowing what they're going to do or how to go about doing it. In designing and planning curriculum, practitioners must avoid the temptation to become so engaged in using technology that they neglect to design effective learning experiences. This temptation may also cause practitioners to neglect connecting the learning activities to a larger outcome. These outcomes, along with clear performance expectations stated in advance of instruction become the backbone of learning in any environment. This article will identify some strategies and resources that may help practitioners in implementing sound instructional design practices for their online curriculum design. What is Instructional Design? Many definitions exist for instructional design, simply put: Instructional Design is the systematic process of translating general principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials and learning. --Sara Mc eil, University of Houston For a more detailed list of definitions please refer to Instructional Design in Elearning Face-to-face versus online Instructional Design Developers of classroom-based, or face-to-face curriculum have been using a variety of instructional design models and principles for years, so can these models be employed for designing curriculum for online delivery? To answer this question we need to consider the differences between instructional design for face-to-face courses and instructional design for online courses. Face-to-face: The degree to which the practitioner must plan the components of the course prior to the commencement of a learning experience. Online: The need to understand the impact that the technology has on the learning process and the need to understand the impact that the technology has on the instruction process.

2 So in essence nothing will change with regard to designing a learning experience, however practitioners will need to understand how technology may be used to enhance the learning experience, rather than detract from it. When creating courses for online delivery practitioners need to consider the following criteria: Outcomes Online Assessments Learning Activities Interaction Technology Evaluation First decide what it is you want students to know or be able to do when they finish the course. Then investigate the activities and tasks that will make the learning meaningful, fun and relevant. A point to consider is how to stop asking, how am I going to teach this topic and instead ask what are my students going to learn? Create a meaningful learning experience If practitioners are to create a meaningful learning experience they need to clarify their instructional goals and outcomes. What do practitioners want their students to learn and be able to do as a result of a course? The answer to this question is to be precise and write down your detailed expectations. What issues or assignments are typically most difficult for students? To answer this question practitioners need to draw upon their own experiences. How can creating online content help address these difficulties? Practitioners need to thoroughly research this the technology must be used to enable new opportunities not otherwise available - not just for a technological alternative. Principles and Models of Instructional Design The following is a list of principles created by Mager, suggesting what practitioners should consider when writing course objectives (sourced from Preparing Instructional Objectives by Robert F. Mager 1984): Principle 1: An instructional objective describes an intended outcome that is measurable rather than a description or summary of learning content. Bad Example: Students will understand theories of human communication processes. Good Example: Students will demonstrate learning by applying theories of human communication processes to write a business proposal in the form of a letter to a prospective employer. Principle 2: Sound instructional objectives are stated in terms of what the learner will be doing when demonstrating his achievement of the objective.

3 Verbs to Avoid When Writing Objectives: to know, to understand, to really understand, to appreciate, to fully appreciate, to grasp the significance of, to enjoy, to believe Verbs to Use When Writing Objectives: to write, to recite, to identify, to differentiate, to solve, to construct, to list, to compare, to contrast Principle 3: Define the important conditions under which the behaviour is to occur (givens or restrictions, or both) Example: Using the 3D software program, students will be able to display a building on the screen. Example: Without the aid of a plan, students should be able to draw the external structure of the building including surfaces and external features. Principle 4: Define the criterion of acceptable performance, if applicable. Example: Students should be able to describe a genus of a plant using at least one botanical and one functional definition. Principle 5: Write a separate statement for each objective. Multiple statements can clarify your instructional objectives. Similar to the principles above, instructional design models give structure and meaning to an instructional design problem, enabling practitioners to negotiate the curriculum design task with a conscious understanding of the design process. Models help to visualise the problem, to break it down into discrete, manageable units. Two of the most widely used models include: 1. The ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) Model is an iterative instructional design process, where the results of the formative evaluation of each phase may lead the instructional designer back to any previous phase. The end product of one phase is the starting product of the next phase. 2. The Dick and Carey Model is also one of the more popular instructional design models. It is a systematic method of designing instruction noting that every component is crucial to successful student learning (Dick and Carey, 1996). Rather than discuss the merits of each model here, access to a range of resources that include in-depth information regarding these two models is provided below. An Introduction to Instructional Design - Utilizing a basic design model Instructional Design Models Creating online assessments

4 Similar to writing instructionally sound curriculum, creating online assessment is much easier if you plan it out before you being to develop it. The following might sound simplistic, however students studying online can t raise their hands to ask the teacher to clarify something they don't understand, therefore, any material created for online delivery must be written as clearly as possible to avoid any confusion. There are a few important things practitioners must consider before they begin to create online assessments: What instructions will be included with this assessment? What types of questions will this assessment contain? What is the grade value associated with each question? What sort of feedback will be provided to the students? Examples of performance-based assessments (summative): In an instructional unit on web design: A web page that demonstrates accessibility guidelines (visual/spatial) In a science unit: An animation project that shows a volcanic eruption (visual, logical/mathematical In a language course: A video that demonstrates public speaking skills (linguistic, body-kinaesthetic, interpersonal) Examples of other alternative assessments that may be used online: Portfolios Learning contracts Self assessments Peer assessments Examples of online learning activities: Discussions Projects Interviews Research Critiques A question that is often asked about assessing students online is how do you stop someone cheating? While there are no magic answers to this question there are a number of strategies that practitioners can employ. These include: Many of the same problems regarding the authenticity of a student s work and plagiarism exist in the traditional face-to-face classroom as well. For a student to obtain help through an entire online course would take considerable effort. For most students it is just not possible to have this consistent help through many tests at many different times. Use a log-in/password system. Make exercises difficult enough so that someone who hasn t undertaken previous work in the course will have great difficulty in completing the assignment.

5 Give many short assessments that are embedded in class exercises so that it would be difficult for a student to have assistance all the time. Ask students to relate the subject matter to their own experiences so their answers are personalised and difficult to replicate. Require students to submit an outline and rough draft of written assessments before the final assessment is due. By doing this practitioners have the opportunity to see the work in progress. Give different questions to different students construct a large set of questions and have them randomly selected (i.e. a database of 100 questions with 20 randomly chosen). Put time limits for the online test; ensure that the test is taken in a certain amount of time. WebCT LMS has this option. Have non-online assessments as part of the overall course assessment. Finally, remember that testing should never be the only means for assessing the abilities of students. If they are evaluated with a variety of different methods, practitioners will have the best way of ensuing that there is real learning taking place. Technology considerations Clearly list minimum requirements Provide training during orientation period Anticipate problems Provide technical support for students Conclusion The challenge for practitioners is the same as it has always been - how to help students learn. The difference between the traditional face-to-face classroom and the cyber-connected classroom is just a matter of space, and practitioners must learn how that space helps to define student perceptions of education. If practitioners follow these three simple rules 1) reviewing learning theories, 2) following an instructional design process and 3) being creative, they will be assured of creating meaningful learning experiences. Fuente: