Course Title: Instructional Systems Design Course Number: Y75.1010.001 Instructor: Holly Henry Email: hrh2@nyu.edu Online Office Hours: Wednesday 9:15pm-10:15pm and by appointment Course Overview: This course presents an integrated approach for analyzing and designing instructional systems. Students will be introduced to a variety of distance learning technologies, including learning management and content management systems. In this course students will learn the systems development life cycle for creating instructional systems and the relevant documentation for the analysis, design, and development phases of the life cycle. Key topics include requirements gathering, information architecture, usability, and evaluating distance-learning alternatives. At the end of the course students will produce a professional quality functional specification of a learning management system. Course Objectives: Students who successfully complete this course will be able to: Discuss the appropriate uses of the various technologies used in distance education Learn and apply the systems analysis and design methodology Read and create authentic functional and technical documentation Analyze performance needs Design, prototype, and propose an instructional system solution Required Readings: Alessi, Stephen & Trollip, Standley (2001). Multimedia for Learning: Methods and Development (3rd Edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Other online reading materials may be assigned during the semester. Recommended Readings: Various recommended reading materials may be made available to students online during the semester. Course Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course. Course Requirements and Assignments: In order to incorporate best practices into this class, student work will be central to the class discussions and lectures. 1. Participation: Students are required to participate in the in-class and synchronous class sessions and the asynchronous discussion board. The participation grade is based upon attendance in all class sessions and contributions to class discussions and discussion board postings in the Virtual College. 2. Instructional System Design Project: Students will analyze a performance need of their choosing,
design an instructional system solution, prototype the solution, and present it to the class. Several deliverables will comprise the project: a. Due 02/01: Statement of the problem to be addressed b. Due 02/22: Analysis Document c. Due 03/04: Information Architecture Plan d. Due 04/05: Functional Specification Document e. Due 04/29: Presentation of final proposal with prototype Specific formatting and submission instructions will be included in the assignment description. The assignment description will be posted in the Assignments area in The Virtual College at least one week before the due date. Important information about plagiarism: New York University takes plagiarism very seriously and regards it as a form of fraud. The definition of plagiarism that has been adopted by the School of Continuing and Professional Studies is as follows: "Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work as though it were one's own. More specifically, plagiarism is to present as one's own words quoted without quotation marks from another writer; a paraphrased passage from another writer s work; or facts or ideas gathered, organized, and reported by someone else, orally and/or in writing. Since plagiarism is a matter of fact, not of the student's intention, it is crucial that acknowledgement of the sources be accurate and complete. Even where there is not a conscious intention to deceive, the failure to make appropriate acknowledgement constitutes plagiarism. Penalties for plagiarism range from failure for a paper or course to dismissal from the university. Evaluation Plan The student s final grade in this course will be comprised of the following: Participation 5% Problem Statement 5% Analysis Document 25% Information Architecture Plan 10% Functional Specification Document 20% Proposal and Prototype 30% Class presentation 5% Total 100% Grading: Each assignment will be awarded a number of points based upon the percentages listed above. For example, the Analysis Document is worth 25% of your total grade, so a perfect score on the assignment is 25 points. The final grading scale for the course is as follows: Letter Grade Points A 95-100 A- 90-94 B+ 87-89
B 83-86 B- 80-82 C+ 77-79 C 73-76 C- 70-72 D+ 66-69 D 60-65 F Below 60 Feedback: Student feedback to the instructor Anonymous surveys: At the end of each class session, students can fill out an online anonymous survey as a way to give feedback to the instructor. Please use this forum as a way to give constructive feedback to the instructor. Instructor feedback to students The instructor will provide feedback to students on all assignments. Peer to peer feedback Students are encouraged to solicit feedback from their peers. There will be several times during the semester where students will be asked to provide written & verbal feedback to their peers. Course Outline Session One: Saturday 01/21 What is instructional systems design? What do we know already? What do we need to know? Meeting Type: In-Class Session Time: 2:00pm - 6:00pm o Instructional design vs. systems design o Appropriate problems for ISD application o Usability for learning o Technologies for instructional systems o ADDIE Instructional Design model o Systems development life cycle 2. Syllabus review 3. Reading due o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 1 - Introduction o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 12 - Overview of a Model for Design and Development
Session Two: Wednesday 02/01 Analysis: Requirements gathering o The analysis phase 2. Readings due o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 13 - Planning 3. Assignment #1, Problem Statement due Session Three: Wednesday 02/15 Analysis: Learners and Users o Applying theoretical approaches to learning design o Identifying ALL users of an instructional system o Translating user needs into functional requirements 2. Readings due o Online readings TBA o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 2 Learning Principles and Approaches Session Four: Wednesday 02/22 Design and Information Architecture (IA) o The design phase 2. Readings due o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 14 - Design 3. Assignment #2, Analysis Document due Session Five: Saturday 03/04 Development: Technologies Evaluating Alternatives & Content Management Systems Meeting Type: In-Class Session Time: 2:00pm - 6:00pm o Other technologies for distance education o Learning management systems o Content management systems o Open source (Why you should care) o Databases o Object-oriented programming 2. Readings Due
o Alessi & Trollip, Chapters 4-9* o Siemens, G. (2004). Learning Management Systems: The wrong place to start learning. http://www.elearnspace.org/articles/lms.htm o Avgeriou, P., Papasalouros, A., Retalis, S., & Skordalakis, M. (2003). Towards a Pattern Language for Learning Management Systems. Educational Technology & Society, 6(2), 11-24. http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/6-2/2.htm 3. Assignment #3, Information Architecture Plan due * We will divide responsibility for these chapters among the class. Each student will present one chapter s material to the rest of the class. All students should at least skim the chapters not specifically assigned to them. Session Six: Wednesday 03/22 Testing, assessment, and collaboration tools o Collaboration tools o Online testing and quizzing tools o Web-based learning 2. Readings o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 10 Tests o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 11 Web-based Learning o Online readings TBA 3. Discussion of requirements for assignment #4, Functional Specification Document, due 04/05 Session Seven: Wednesday 03/29 Usability & Social Interfaces o Navigation o Text size o Layout o Social Interfaces 2. Readings Due o Spolsky, J. (2004). It's Not Just Usability http://www.joelonsoftware.com/printerfriendly/a rticles/notjustusability.html o The Best of Eyetrack III: What We Saw When We Looked Through Their Eyes http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/main.htm o Other online readings TBA Session Eight: Wednesday 04/05 Strategies for picking tools and technologies
o Picking and evaluating products for online learning 2. Readings Due o Alessi & Trollip, Chapter 3 - General features of software for learning 3. Assignment #4, Functional Specification Document due Session Nine: Satuday 04/29 Functional specification presentations Meeting Type: In-Class Session Time: 2:00pm - 6:00pm o In-class presentations of proposal and prototype o Class conclusion. 2. Assignment #5, Final proposal, prototype, and presentation due Course Communication Strategy: Students will be given every opportunity to exchange ideas and express concerns with their instructor as well as with classmates. Consequently, communication will be achieved as follows: E-mail: Students will receive individual, group, and broadcast (all class participants) e-mail from the instructor. Students will have the ability to e-mail the instructor and any other class participant individually. The instructor will respond to student e-mails within 24 hours. Students will be required to respond within two business days to instructor e-mails that request a response. Virtual office hours: In addition to responding to e-mail, the instructor will be available to meet with individuals or groups of students during regularly scheduled synchronous office hours through the Centra program. (To attend or review instructor contact information, click the office hours icon on the "My Courses" page). Forums: The class Forum will be used to focus students on essential topics within the course, to discuss ideas related to the primary course focus, and to post certain assignments for group review or critique. The instructor and students will also use discussion board postings to share information throughout the duration of the course. Both the instructor and the students will be able to post questions, comments, files, and general information, to the class forum. However, students are asked to limit their postings to topics of interest to the entire class and of relevance to the topic of assessment in online education. Virtual classroom. Six virtual classroom events will be scheduled as the primary discussion of the session content. Effort will be made to schedule these events at a time convenient for all class participants and to record and archive all sessions. In the event that a suitable time for all participants cannot be scheduled, an asynchronous alternative will be developed. Text-based chat. Although text-based chat will not be used as a primary course-delivery vehicle, students may choose to schedule online text discussion for a particular topic with other participants,
for example, in discussing team projects. During the synchronous online sessions and office hours, the instructor and students will communicate via live chat and voice-over IP.