I. Instructional Systems Design (ISD).
In Chapter 6 : Course Design and Development of Moore and Kearsley's Distance Education: A Systems Vies (1996, P102), the authors introduce model of the Instructional Systems Design (ISD). It is a product of several theoretical perspectives on learning and teaching. These perspectives include systems theory, behavioral psychology, and communications and information theory (Dick and Carey, 19985; Richey, 1986). Typically, in the model, the development of instruction is divided into 5 stages with each stage containing certain procedures:
The model is a recognized standard for designing distance education courses. It could be applied to all development teams even though the extent to which the procedures are followed is somewhat different according to the size and nature of development teams as well as the funding and training the development teams get. Although many might follow the same basic stages of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation, some traditional universities or home study schools might not follow it. The full-scale implementation depends on the commitment of the teaching institution to the total system approach to education. Besides, I'm afraid it also depends on the training the employees in the institution, and on the funding the institution get.
II. Other Model
The increasing complexity of the subject matters taught through distance education calls for a cognitive approach to instructional design. Cognitive task analysis-based instructional design (CTA-BID) might be an approach especially appropriate for distance education because distance education requires high-fidelity instructional materials that teach cognitive content with little or no classroom instruction. It is said CTA-BID organizes instructional materials around the results of a cognitive task analysis that identifies the optimal knowledge structures, mental models, strategies, and skills underlying expertise in the subject matter. CTA-BID has produced innovative instructional programs aimed at teaching cognitive skills, accelerating the development of expertise, and improving student performance and training efficiency.
Richard E. Redding wrote the article "Cognitive task analysis for instructional design: Applications in distance education" . This article provides an overview of CTA-BID and its applications in the design of instructional and testing materials for distance education. It also review recent developments in education, psychology, and instructional design that complement CTA-BID. This article could be found in Distance Education - An International Journal Volume 16, Number 1, 1995. Another study in the field could be found in Taylor's "Novex analysis: A cognitive science approach to instructional design" (Educational Technology, 34(5),5-15).
III. General Design Principles
Different courses can be developed by different instructional design model, but the evaluation of a course can apply some general principles in terms of good structure, clear objectives, small units, planned participation, completeness, repetition, synthesis, stimulation, variety, open-ended, feedback and continuous evaluation. How to weave all these elements together in a course is a learned skill. In good course design, one activity might reflect the spirits of several principles to make the course appear to be direct and neat. Take EMC503: Current Issues & Problems in Educational Media & Computers as an example, we could see how the design of the course activities applies each of the 12 principles. The course is designed to be one of the first courses in the Educational Media and Computers program to introduce problems and issues in the field.
Well defined structure of EMC503 is reflected in the clear structure in reading topics, seminar format, and reference resources. The reading topics cover the following: Media and learning, media and instructional design, computer-based cooperative learning, learning theory and technology-based instruction, visual learning and technology, principles of perception, screen design, and ethics. The seminar format starts with face-to-face discussions in the first three weeks followed by on-line discussions for 11 week and ends with face-to-face presentation and review in the last three weeks. The reference resources are offered both in the favor of specific assignment and in favor of general sense. With the help of a 17-week schedule of topics, students will always know what is expected from them.
There are only three objectives described in the course description of EMC503. They are: identify and describe at least three current problems or issues in educational media or educational technology, write annotated summaries from articles found in different professional or scholarly journals in this field, and write a research paper which examines one issue or problem in our field. Though not too many but they are enough to identity suitable learning experiences and make evaluation easy.
The planned participation is embed through discussion throughout the course and materials in EMC 503. Discussion questions will be posted by students to FirstClass and will be the basis of discussions for the online week. Students are expected to contribute a minimum of two thoughtful dialogue to each discussion. Each student will post a question and moderate the discussion for one online week. At the end of the week, the discussion leaders will summarize and post the main points of the week's discussion. Besides, eleven 1000-word essay assignments are scattered through out the whole semester with an average one assignment a week. These assignment are well enough to keep the students on the right track.
In EMC503, the activities designed in discussion, assignment and final project give the light to the principle of completeness, repetition, and synthesis of the course design. Extensive commentary or examples could be found in students' quotations and citations while they write their essays, post discussion on-line and make arguments on-line. The summary assignment for the student discussion moderators and the final project for each student enable students to practice their synthesis ability. Besides, the arrangement of the final presentation and the review of the whole course are still other ways to reflect the spirit of synthesis.
The stimulation effect of EMC503 might possibly the result of its other features reflected in variety, open-ended, and feedback. EMC503 use different media and technology in the process of instruction. It uses handouts for reading, Powerpoint for presentation, FirstClass for discussion and communication, and WWW whiteboard for sharing web sites. The discussion and assignment have an open-ended feature giving the students the opportunity to provide different examples, solutions and references. An endless web of information helps student to identify all kinds of current problems and issues in educational media/educational technology. Students can get immediate feedback from others response to their comments, posted homework as well as the assignment grading. All these might be the reason that the course can attract students.
The continuous evaluation of the course could be done through the observation of students. Recording the students' responses and their use of course elements like reading materials and programs are most convenient way to collect data for analysis.
IV. Conclusion
Course design and development is a complex procedure. It calls for efficient design models and need to meet general accepted principles. It is an challenge for the educators to be aware of the strength and weakness of different design models and weave them together to provide a sound instructional course.
1. Moore, M.G. & Kearsley, G. (1996) Distance Education: A systems View. Wadsworth Publishing Company.
2. Richard E. Redding, R. E. (1995). Cognitive task analysis for instructional design: Applications in distance education. Distance Education - An International Journal , 16(1).
3. Taylor (1995). Novex analysis: A cognitive science approach to instructional design. Educational Technology, 34(5),5-15).
Online
EMC503: Current Issues & Problems in Educational Media & Computers http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc503/index.html