Designing Effective
Online Instruction
A Handbook for Web-Based Courses
Franklin R. Koontz
Hongqin Li
Daniel P. Compora
Rowman & Littlefield Education
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford
Preface v Part 1 Theory and Research
1 Online Instructional Design: What Is It? 3
2 Learning Theory 19
3 Distance Learning Research Findings 31
Part 2 The ASSIST-Me Model for Web-Based Instruction
4 Step 1: Analyze Instruction, Settings, and Students 49 5 Step 2: Write Performance Objectives for E-learning 70 6 Step 3: State Instructional Materials, Organize Content,
and Media 88
7 Step 4: Implement Instruction 107
8 Step 5: Solicit Student Response to Instruction 118 9 Step 6: Test, Evaluate, and Revise Instruction 139 10 Step 7: Maintenance of an Online Course 158
Appendix 171
About the Authors 175
iii
INTRODUCTION
The designing of online courses requires a radical change in thinking in the way the instruction is designed and presented to the student. Going from the traditional classroom instructional environment to online in-struction is like going from an inin-structional television lesson that trans-ports students from the classroom to a distant country to be immersed in the history, culture, customs, and music to a silent movie where students may feel lonely, isolated, and ultimately responsible for their own learn-ing. The designed instruction must create a learning environment that will accommodate students in this new online learning setting. The primary re-sponsibility of the instructional designer is to make sure the online pro-gram accomplishes the learning goals, in other words, that the students learn what they are supposed to learn.
Courses taught in instructional design (ID) in the area of instructional technology are found in the majority of colleges of education. In some stitutions instructional design is a required area of study. These courses in-troduce a myriad of traditional instructional design models suitable for traditional classroom instruction but not for the design of online instruc-tion. To date, however, few, if any, research-based models using a systems approach are available to design Web-based instruction.
NEED FOR WEB-BASED ID MODELS
Traditional classroom design models are presently being taught and used for this new form of online instruction. Some designers and online in-structors still contend that Gagné’s nine events of instruction (1985) and Keller’s (1983) ARCS model are sufficient to use when designing online instruction. These models address instructional strategies and motiva-tional strategies. However, according to a recent study conducted by Dr. Xiangqin Sun in 2001, half of the 133 instructional designers who were v
surveyed indicated there was a need for a specific instructional design model to be created and used for Web-based courses. A second study con-ducted by Dr. Hongqin Li in 2003 using a Delphi technique also found the need for a specific instructional design model that addresses the unique nature of this type of instruction. The majority of the respondents to the survey indicated that the traditional models being used did not address the teaching/learning variables of Web-based instruction and that there was a need for a specific instructional design model dedicated to the design of online instruction. In addition, there was a call by teaching faculty and professional instructional designers for a specific model dedicated to de-signing Web-based courses.
A variety of online courses, degree programs, and certificate pro-grams lack proper instructional design structure and are no more than cut-and-paste lecture notes or textbooks on a Web site. Many teaching faculty are still designing their courses on a trial-and-error basis using the same teaching and design techniques used for conventional class-room instruction and have no evidence of the effectiveness of their Web-based courses.
PURPOSE OF THE ASSIST-ME MODEL
The purpose of the ASSIST-Me model is to introduce an instructional de-sign approach for Web-based instruction that may be used by teaching fac-ulty who design instruction for online courses, professional instructional designers, and faculty who teach instructional design courses. The AS-SIST-Me model, based on the Delphi research study Investigation of an Instructional Design Model for Web-Based Instruction (WBI)(Li, 2003), offers an instructional design procedure intended specifically for the unique nature of online courses. Design procedures were obtained from a panel of professional instructional designers and synthesized into a model that contains the essential steps to be included in the design process. The ASSIST-Me model describes a step-by-step procedure that demonstrates how online instruction may be designed.
The ASSIST-Me model for WBI is presented as an open-systems ap-proach, in other words, once the analysis phase has been completed, the designer may begin to design other parts of the instruction and will not be forced to follow a lockstep linear system. The model gives the designer maximum flexibility when creating effective instruction.
The text will not explain, however, the user interface design, or how to put courses online. That instructional material is already available. The text will also not explain the production procedures of various media such as audio, video, multimedia development, and so forth. That instructional material is also available.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXTBOOK
This textbook is divided into two major parts. Part 1 deals with necessary background information about the concept of instructional design. Chap-ter 1 addresses the basics of instructional design procedures, the need for a new model and approach, some building blocks that will foster a better understanding of need for a design model for online courses, and basic characteristics of instructional design. Chapter 2 discusses what a well-designed lesson should include in the way of elements of learning, and various learning theories. This chapter deals with how our students learn and how we can design instruction that will enhance their learning. Chap-ter 3 discusses what the research says about online learning and what we know enables students to learn.
Part 2 of this text introduces the ASSIST-Me model and has its own introduction.
Chapter Organization
Each chapter begins with an outline of the chapter, knowledge objec-tives that should be considered, and a lexicon that introduces new vocab-ulary terms used in the chapter. At the end of each chapter, online case studies have been included to give you examples of how other online in-structors have designed their courses.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the faculty who participated in the on-line case studies and shared their onon-line course designs. If you would like to learn more about their courses, you may e-mail them for additional information.
Dr. John Cryan, professor of early childhood, for sharing his under-graduate course “Philosophy and Practice in Early Childhood Education” PREFACE vii
in the Department of Early Childhood, College of Education, The Uni-versity of Toledo. E-mail: [email protected].
Dr. Earnest DuBrul, associate professor of biology, for his graduate course “Scientific Thought and Communication” in the Department of Bi-ology, College of Arts and Science, The University of Toledo. E-mail: [email protected].
Dr. Ella Fridman, associate professor, engineering technology, for her undergraduate course “Applied Thermodynamics” in the Department of Engineering Technology, College of Engineering, The University of Toledo. E-mail: [email protected].
REFERENCES
Gagné, R. (1985). The conditions of learning and theory of instruction. (4th ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Keller, J. M. (1983). Motivational design of instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.) Instruc-tional design theories and models(pp. 383–434). Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Li, H. (2003). Investigation of a new instructional design model for Web-based instruction (WBI): A Delphi study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH.
