Principles of Online Design

This article from Florida Coast University was very helpful in outlining the process of analysis. Although focused on Online media, the concepts are almost identically linked to a blended environment. I found the principles outlined in this model to be clear and helpful in the design of the unit that I would ike to design.

Principles from the website are listed below:

Instructional Design
1.1 Instructional & Audience Analysis
Principles:
1.1.1 Formal or informal instructional and audience analyses should be conducted prior to the onset of a course design.
1.1.2 Instructional analysis should determine the suitability of a course for online delivery with present technology capability.
Principle:
1.1.3 Instructional analysis should determine areas of knowledge and skills involved in achieving instructional goals.
Principle:
1.1.4 Audience analysis should determine the learner's personal characteristics, intellectual skills, subject knowledge level, and the purpose of taking the course.
Principle:
1.1.5 Audience analysis should also include the learner's technology skills and previous experiences with online courses.
1.2 Goals & Objectives
Principle:
1.2.1 Course learning goals and objectives should be stated in a manner that is clear and measurable.
Principle:
1.2.2 Course learning goals and objectives should be publicly available and explicitly communicated to the learner.
1.3 Instructional Activities
Principle:
1.3.1 Specific instructional activities should be directed toward providing learners with the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience required to meet the goals and objectives of the course.
Principle:
1.3.2 Content should be sequenced and structured in a manner that enables learners to achieve the stated goals.
Principle:
1.3.3 Instructional and learning activities should encourage frequent and meaningful interactions among learners and between learners and instructors.
Principle:
1.3.4 While selecting appropriate instructional materials, the instructor should be aware of the online instruction copyright issues and carefully observe all applicable laws.
1.4. Evaluation
Principle:
1.4.1 Methods and procedures for formative and summative course evaluation should be carefully planned in the course design process.
Principle:
1.4.2 Methods and procedures for evaluating student learning must be well articulated and directly linked to the stated learner objective
Principle:
1.4.3 The content of course evaluation should closely link to the course objectives for the purpose of course improvement.
1.5 Teaching Strategies
Principle:
1.5.1 Teaching strategies should reflect personal teaching philosophy. They should be congruent with that philosophy and capitalize on the strengths of the instructor. Effective strategies assist learners in achieving learning goals and objectives.

Big Dog ISD Page - I like it!

<> That has to be one of the best titles for a web site - BIG DOG!

From Clarke's above titled page, some comments and forming part of my analysis of my chosen project - which is the Robotics Unit for Yr 10 Students.

Analysis: The building block of a training program. The:
Who - must be training
What - must be trained
When - will training occur
Where - the training will occur

Must take into account the wants and needs of the clients (Students and school/NSW Board of Studies). As Director of Curriculum and teacher, I know what the requirements are in terms of School and BOS, but what about the students???? I need to get some feedback from them. Will plan a forum in class to review what we did last year and what they want out of the next unit.

I am one of the SMEs….getting projects started, keeping projects ruinning, but starting from the right spot is not always my strength…hence this course will give me the skills to do this properly. The first unit on Robotics was exactly this…we have the gear, get into it, keep the excitement happening…but lost some focus on the learning path – and came out the end not knowing if the unit was successful or not – why? Because I didn’t know what would have made it successful! I am ready to change this!

Project Proposal #1

Have been thinking more about what to do for the project...
I teach a Robotics unit to Year 9 and 10 students. Last year I received the ordered equipment (Lego Mindstorms) and had little time to prepare for it...poor excuse really...

But it is an area that I would like to push, not only in the computing subject area, but as an area of extension and challenge and problem solving...then maybe even into getting the school onto the competition map!

So what I need is a clear introductory unit, or a follow up unit (which is where my Yr 10 class is at as they got the poor intro unit last year!) which allows a greater depth to be reached...

Still initial thoughts, will solidify soon and start the analysis...

Chris :-)

From the conclusion of Module 1:

David Merrill makes an excellent point when he states:

"Design is a very general type of activity that takes in many fields. Often mistakes are attributed to people when the design of the artifact involved is the real cause of failure. We often make design decisions that cause students to fail. This failure is often attributed to student effort, ability, or motivation when in fact it may be the instructional materials that are poorly designed."

How often have I heard this, that the course failed from a lack of motivation, the students jst were not into it...how much of this was because of poor instructional design?? Maybe even weak ID...I think a bigger factor than my previous thoughts...

Chris :-)

Where did start at??

In the discussion: "Performing an analysis of FET5601 - theory into practice... " initiated by course facilitator Reushle, Shirley under the heading:

USER/LEARNER/LEARNING CONTEXT ANALYSIS - Who are/were the learners?

She wrote:

Student evaluations also revealed that two main groups of learners were emerging:

• Those at the postgraduate (construction – dialogue) level who are looking for ways to assimilate instructional design principles that underpin their approach to instructional design, a chance to debate, consider alternative approaches
• Those at the conceptualization level who are looking for templates, recipes, definitive examples of how to “do” instructional design (McKendree et al. 1997; USQ Student Evaluations data 2000).
• Those who are between both stages.

Where did I start is my question? Initially floored by the topic, I thought I started at the conceptualisation level (or even before that!) . However, now I am not so sure, I have been at the first stage for a while, looking for ways to assimilate ID principles, but the formal side was missing...so I suppose that puts me in the middle, or out to the side...

Chris :-)