This instructional engineering workbench is a design support system created for the users of MISA 4.0. It gathers interrelated series of tools to channel and support the instructional engineering tasks. Its goal is to enhance coherence among the products of the method and to provide quality control over the various components of a learning system. Like MISA, ADISA is independent specific from delivery platforms, instructional strategies, media, and knowl- edge. Its main role is to assist content experts and designers to choose, adapt, and integrate these various components and approaches.
ADISA is the first instructional engineering support system that integrates knowledge modeling to fulfill the requirements of e-learning engineering. Other instructional engineering support systems exist, such as Designer’s Edge, but they are based on more traditional methods that do not use knowl- edge modeling and that cover many fewer aspects of e-learning system design. AGD, the ancestor of ADISA, integrated knowledge modeling, but it sup- ported only the tasks used in the initial version of the method, MISA 1.0. Moreover, AGD was a local system that did not provide distributed support to a design team.
As illustrated by Figure 5-1, ADISA is accessible to design team members via a Web browser. The left part of the screen is used to access the workbench functions. Four menus and a chart allow users to select one of the thirty-five MISA tasks that lead to elements of documentation. The right-hand section displays a tool that assists the user to create a selected ED—here, the learn- ing event network (ED 222). In this case the corresponding editing tool opens up the MOT model editor so the user can construct a model representing the structure of a course composed of several modules, or learning units.
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Figure 5-1. ADISA: An Instructional Engineering Workbench.
Other elements of documentation appear as forms, such as the one (ED 224) displayed in Figure 5-2. The four menus on the left of the screen access software functions.
TheProjectmenu is used to create, open, copy, or delete a learning sys- tem project. This menu also manages access rights, so team members can work on various elements of documentation prior to their integration. Because ADISA is entirely accessible through the Internet, users can work on-line, storing models on a server, or they can download ADISA and work off-line, using local storage space. The two copies that result may be synchronized using another option of the Project menu.
TheEditmenu offers various options for building a documentation ele- ment selected from the chart. The ED can be saved and annotated, and users may also add a table of additional properties. They can indicate docu- ment completion or validation, and also view and archive documents, sav- ing several copies representing various stages for the production of reports. TheReportsmenu allows the grouping of document versions to create reports by phase, by axis, by author, by intended receiver, by element of documentation, or any other grouping criterion chosen by the user. Figure 5-2. Example of an ED Form (224).
TheSitemenu allows users to search ED forms and models. It also offers a help option and on-line assistance. Through this menu ADISA may be downloaded from a server to a customer’s computer for off-line work. Finally, this menu grants access to a browsing function accessible with any Web browser. This allows people performing a validation function to view an element of documentation under construction without modifying its contents and to annotate it with suggestions to the designers.
On a technical level the workbench uses the basic functions of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT, and DHTML and file data storage in XML. The DHTML format allows designers to create dynamic forms, mod- ifiable according to the user’s previous decisions. Once completed, the DHTML forms, just like the MOT models, are stored in XML files. This method facilitates the propagation of data between elements of documenta- tion, the integrated ability to search for keywords in the models or the forms, and communication with various database formats and other systems used for the production of the instructional material or training management.
The high-quality graphics of the workbench provide a global and a struc- tured view of the instructional objects, which facilitates the design. The fact that all the tools are integrated in the same workbench and can share data avoids a separate process of data transfer from one tool to another, saving time and eliminating transcription errors and inconsistencies from this source.
ADISA is based on a large quantity of instructional knowledge from the MISA 4.0 method, especially the seventeen instructional object typologies, each thoroughly researched. These typologies are integrated in the properties forms as options, reminding designers of the various possibilities from which they can choose. As for the models, a standard model library can be made available to start the modeling process.
The data entered by the user in the forms or the MOT editor can be transferred to another element of documentation in various ways. Figure 5-2 illustrates this fact. The DHTML form describes the properties of each learn- ing unit defined in the LEN network (see Figure 5-1). The first attribute is the name of the learning unit. It is selected from a list read from the LEN
network (ED 222) and transmitted to ED 224. The data are propagated auto- matically between the two elements of documentation.
The next two lines of the form in Figure 5-2 describe duration, evalua- tion weight, and amount of collaboration in a learning unit proposed to two target audiences, here labeled as IAO and ITIE. They illustrate another auto- mated data propagation feature, this time from ED 104, where these target audiences are first defined. The names IAO and ITIE (students registered in two programs) are transmitted automatically to the ED 224 form.
Other data on the first three lines are entered directly on the form by the user. Lines 4 and 5 of the form in Figure 5-2 illustrate another form of prop- agation, this time nonautomated. Once the knowledge model (line 4) or the learning scenario (line 5) has been created, the name appears on the form and it can be displayed on screen to help the designer identify the type of scenario. In the next section of the form, the designer chooses a tutor-type scenario with ramified course (offering choices) and a free pace of learning activities (decided by the learner). The designer can verify whether the model of the scenario corresponds to this description.
ADISA seeks to create a balance between automated data propagation and user propagation. On the one hand automated propagation is convenient as it avoids replication of data already created in another ED. Without auto- matic propagation, using MISA and ADISA would often become tedious. On the other hand automatic propagation complicates teamwork, as conflicts may occur between two designers when one is modifying data used by the other who is involved in building another ED. Unfortunately, this situation would force the designers to work sequentially rather than in parallel. More- over, automatic propagation is not the best solution when the user is the best actor to make certain delicate choices.
For example, a significant task of the designer (ED 430) consists in group- ing all the instruments appearing in the instructional scenarios within a certain number of instructional materials. These instruments can be grouped in dif- ferent ways, using different media, according to a training program need: a ref- erence handbook, videos, multimedia, or Web sites. To assist the designer in this task, ADISA provides a table, such as the one illustrated in Figure 5-3. Here, the system groups the instruments appearing in the models of the learning
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Figure 5-3. A Tool to Sort Instructional Materials.
scenarios (320) and presents them on each line of the table. The columns rep- resent the materials to be built, as defined by the user in ED 430. This inter- face enables the designer to choose the instruments that he or she will group in one or more materials, just by clicking the appropriate boxes. For example, a
designer could choose to group all reference information related to the contents of the course both on a Web site and in a printed guide.
In sum, ADISA offers users three ways to propagate data from one ele- ment of documentation to another.
Automated propagationhappens without any user interventions. The data from a source element are transferred directly into one or more fields on the form of the target ED.
Source-type propagationconsists of transmitting data from one or more source elements for a user to decide which data will be integrated into the target ED.
Information-type propagationconsists of displaying on the screen a model or a form that is particularly useful in the construction of the target ED. The user is free to take it into account or to ignore it.