Dr. Jerry Kemp is considered by many to be the father of Instructional Design.  He has broadcast his message to educators, administrators and politicians throughout his career with significant results. Today, as we develop curriculum materials for interactive multimedia and distance learning, instructional design is our initial concern. It provides a blueprint to ensure effective integration of curriculum and technology to facilitate teaching and learning.

 

Distance education continues to expand educational opportunities for students with flexible, highly interactive formats to serve a diverse population of learners at many locations. Availability of two-way audio/video, computer networks, and the World Wide Web enables integration of technologies to provide powerful tools for teaching and learning. A systematic approach to instructional planning is required to provide quality education for a diversity of learners and learning environments.

Initially we base our decisions and actions on past knowledge and experiences with the assumption that something new should fit within established and accepted patterns. Is it not true that most people still think of education as conducted by a teacher standing at the front of a classroom, frequently talking and using a blackboard? They see students, seated in rows listening, and when directed, answering questions or reading from a textbook and completing workbook assignments. This approach to education is now changing.

As teaching moves into distance learning, teachers recognize that the planning requires attention to concerns that are often ignored or not treated as important in conventional classroom teaching. These include:

·      Motivate expectations of students before instruction starts and offer support to them before, during, and after instruction takes place.

·      Overcome the impersonal nature of distance learning and the lack of direct human support students encounter by ensuring that adequate communication takes place between individual students and the instructor, and among groups of students.

·      Help students self-discipline themselves to manage study time and fulfill responsibilities for participation, completing assignments, engaging in projects, making contacts with other students through interactive media, and so forth.

·      Decide how to determine that students exhibit positive behaviors of being actively involved in acquiring knowledge and practicing new skills.

·      Determine how students can interact with each other at different locations between class sessions.

·      Accommodate students who miss a session, or otherwise are unable to follow a preset schedule.

·      Coordinate activities and responsibilities with local teachers, parents, facilitators, and assistants, including those who operate local receiving equipment.

·      Integrate and control the use of diverse media by teachers and students.

·      Recognize the potential for technical problems at both the instructor’s facility and at student site locations and how to be prepared to overcome them or substitute with other media or activities.

Because of these and other requirements, it should be recognized that many interrelated factors must receive specific attention when planning a distance-learning program. Neglecting or improperly treating any of them can lead to confusion and even unsatisfactory results. Therefore, a comprehensive, systematic process is necessary for designing a distance education program.

 

A PERSPECTIVE for EDUCATIONAL PLANNING

Ask yourself: “What are your beliefs and practices that reflect your approach to education as required in today’s society?” Some years ago a colleague, Dr. Ron McBeath,developed a model that helps us to examine and categorize our own beliefs and actions within the educational process. This perspective can be most helpful as a new instructional technique like distance education becomes widely applied.

McBeath identified three patterns of educational change and transformation that can be related to the shifts in society from the Agricultural period through the Industrial era, and now into the Information age. These patterns reflect the principles, practices, and outcomes of the educational process for each stage as shown in Figure 1 on the following page. (Please review it before proceeding.)

Which Stage needs primary consideration in distance learning? Essentially your reply should be “Stage 3” as it fits most educational needs of our students today who are living, will be working, and raising families in this Information age. As McBeath states in an early article:

 

 The move in education today is away from autocratic and laissez-faire toward democratic control; from doing things to and for students to doing things with them. Through this shift in control, responsible freedom for students is more attainable. It is significant that this move toward practices of readiness, involvement, and inquiry are most likely to produce outcomes such as response mastery, adventure, and self-actualization. These are all important for educating students in today’s rapidly changing society.

 

                                                            Figure 1

A Model Depicting Educational Change as Sequential and Transformational

Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3
	Principles
autocratic	laissez-faire	democratic
passive mind	independent mind	interactive mind
linear thinking	open-ended attitude	pluralistic approach
	Practices
teacher dominated	permissive	inquiry centered
do things to	do things for	do things with
subject emphasis	method emphasis	interdisciplinary
product oriented	process oriented	performance oriented
extrinsic manipulation	random reinforcement	meaningful involvement
standards grouping	age grouping	Readiness
	grouping
class teaching	group teaching	independent study
fixed stimulus	multiple stimuli	organized stimuli
limited access	random access	systematic access
limited resources	multiple resources	instructional systems
teaching aids	audiovisual techniques	instructional technology
	Outcomes
fixed response	varied response	response mastery
convergent thinking and rote memory	convergent thinking plus free expression	convergent thinking and divergent thinking
competitive	cooperative	adventure and creativity
inner directed	group directed	self actualizing
dependent	independent	interdependent

(Adapted from R.J. McBeath, “Is Education Becoming?” AudioVisual Communication Review (Spring 1969, pp. 36-40).

 

You may still feel comfortable with some elements in Stages 1 and 2, but realization and practice should gradually move to encompass all the components under the Stage 3 principles, practices, and outcomes. Taking into account the requirements of the Stage 3 factors and the specific complexity of the distance learning process, an orderly, systematic design of instruction should be used. This can offer a practical way to guide you for deciding on and accomplishing the goals of a program that potentially lead to positive attitudes about learning by all participants, comprehensive high levels of student learning, and program success for teachers and support personnel.

 

A DESIGN PLAN

The following operational questions, within five major phases of a systematic plan, should be answered as your planning proceeds. (Following each question, as appropriate, brief explanations or examples are included.)

Analysis Phase

1.    A distance education program being developed should overcome what educational problems or serve what student learning needs?

2.    What is the purpose or goal for the program?

3.    What priorities and constraints for the program need recognition as the planning starts? (time frame for implementation, monetary and other resources, relationship to other participant activities, other logistics)

Developmental Phase

4.    What basic skill areas, curricula topics, interdisciplinary themes, and problem-based projects should comprise the instructional program?

5.    What subject content supports each skill, topic, theme, and project? (facts, concepts, principles, procedures, beliefs and values)

6.    In terms of subject content, what learning objectives should students attain for each topic or theme? (areas of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, written so each one contains a verb that describe what learning is to take place and the content to be treated; and optional parts consisting of a performance standard that indicates the minimum acceptable accomplish in measurable terms and any special conditions under which the learning would take place. This component of planning should relate to the standards that are part of the concern for meeting accountability in education today.

An example of a learning objective might be: Using a world map (condition), locate (verb) five contact areas (content) in which the Cold War took place with an accuracy of 90% (standard). (Note: Students should receive a list of required objectives prior to the start of instruction for the topic or theme.)

7. What is the level of each student’s preparation for studying a topic as determined by pretesting? (required prerequisite knowledge and skills; level of present competency with topic and theme objectives to be taught) Based on pretest results, some students may require review or remedial instruction in prerequisites. Others may be able to skip some instructional content as they already have acquired the knowledge or skill. Careful planning and direction of individual students may be required because of such shortcomings or advanced ability.

 8. What instructional methods and learning activities can be used to accomplish the objectives? (teacher presentation with student participation, self-directed student learning, student-to-teacher or student–to-student interactions) Recognize that frequently more than one method should be used to accomplish topic objectives so as to serve the various learning styles of students.

9.    What communications technologies and instructional resources are available and most suitable to carry out instructional and learning activities? (broadcast system, video system, and/or data communications system including connection to the Internet; media forms include print, audio, still/motion projected, electronic forms in many categories, and multimedia types) Evaluate those available, recognizing advantages and limitations; make selections for use in conjunction with the instructional methods and activities specified in #8 above.

10. What logistical support is required to initiate and maintain the instruction and learning? (budget, facilities, equipment, materials, personnel services, schedules)

11. How can attainment of learning objectives (evaluation of learning) by students be determined? (student self-testing, teacher’s written test forms, reports, project results, and student portfolios; latter types judged with rating scales)

Implementation Phase

12. Do the results of a program tryout indicate need for any changes or improvements to meet expectations? (test run with sample of student population to determine how well learning objectives are being accomplished, within the time schedule and use of resources, along with reactions and suggestions from program participants, leading to necessary revisions before full implementation)

13. What other matters may need consideration when implementing and managing the program? (orient and train support personnel to build skill and confidence in their participation; orient and guide student participants; using databases and other methods for record-keeping including schedules, student progress, budget and expense categories, inventories of materials for use, and so forth; keep involved and interested persons informed and updated on results and progress; maintain teacher competencies on advances in technologies and new practices for distance education)

Program Evaluation and Revision Phase

14. After initial use, does the program meet an acceptable level of learning competency and other positive behaviors for following groups of students; if not, what revisions should be made? (Consider the questions: What reactions are received from students, parents, teachers, and program support personnel? Which program components have satisfied the goal originally set? Which program components need attention for improvement or revision?)

15. Does the program operate in a cost-effective and efficient manner? (Consider these questions: To what degree do students achieve competency with the learning objectives? What student gains are there between pre- and post-testing? {effectiveness} How well does the program use personnel, teachers, facilitators or coordinators, time, facilities, and funds? {efficiency leading to cost effectiveness})

Use a survey and a few open-ended questions to obtain reactions, attitudes, and concerns about the program from students. The results of these evaluations may require modifications for the next time the program is offered.

16. With success, are there extensions of the program to consider? (serve new groups of students, initiate a next level course, or expand to additional courses and instructors)

While the above questions are stated in terms of a program being newly developed, the questions and follow up comments can also serve as review and evaluation for a presently operating program.

As educators read the above questions, they may feel confident that they are knowledgeable about many of these topics, often having studied them during teacher education and then applying them in teaching. Also, administrators and teachers who are involved in distance education may believe they already use the components of systematic planning introduced here. These opinions may be true. If so, for such persons the information here can be a reinforcement, review, and extension of what they now do. But experience has shown that in many situations these beliefs and practices are rarely substantiated. Few of these components in systematic planning receive the detailed attention and careful applications that are necessary in comprehensive distance learning programs.

           

SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGING THIS PLANNING PROCESS

While the 16 above questions can lead to the successful design of a distance education program, they do not have to be applied in a linear order as separate steps within a procedure. You will recognize that each element can affect the development of other ones. Insights gained in later planning stages often lead to revisions of earlier ones. Therefore as you proceed, you will find that changes, deletions, reordering items, and additions may be necessary. For example: Following the development of learning objectives for a topic, you might next decide on testing methods so there is a tight relationship between objectives (component 6) and evaluation (component 11). Maintaining an open mind, with some creative thoughts, and being flexible are essential throughout the planning process.

Here are some additional suggestions that can help when designing, implementing, and managing a distance education program:

·    Keep in mind the Stage 3 principles, practices, and outcomes of the McBeath model of transformational change as a framework for the structure of the program and its evaluation.

·    Someone who understands and is experienced in applying a systematic planning process may be beneficial as a consultant since this method goes beyond conventional curriculum planning, especially within the new concept of distance education. This person, often called an instructional designer, much have a background in instructional systems design (ISD); knowledge of educational philosophy, learning psychology, the communications process, instructional and evaluation methodologies; and experience with both conventional and new instructional technologies.

·    Recognize the need to manage the “politics” associated with introducing a new program into an organization. This would include:

·  Try not to get bogged down with minor details that could become a discouragement, leading to superficial or hasty decisions or unnecessary changes in the instructional program.

·  When things go wrong, examine what happened and revise accordingly. Learn from both successes and failures.

·  Set checkpoints for the planning team to sit back and respond to these formative evaluation questions:

·    Build and maintain trust, a sharing attitude, continuing support, and accountability among all participants.

While there is more information and many more suggestions to offer, space does not permit more treatment of this subject on the systematic design of distance education programs. If you find merit in the approach to instructional planning outlined above, more in-depth treatment of each topic can be found in the author’s new book –An Interactive Guidebook for Designing Education in the 21^st Century, Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT) Box A, Bloomington, IN 47402-0120, email: info@technos.net; phone: 800 457-4509.

Finally, let us stand back and consider the personal feelings and needs of individual teachers, and others, who become involved such a new program as distance education. Be aware that for some individuals the initial enthusiasm for a new endeavor can weaken and fade in time. The excitement of creation and mental challenge could subside and for some teachers the program may appear to become too routine and repetitive. Also, there may be new, more attractive events that could shift a person’s interests. But even in view of this possible eventuality for some individuals, recognize that attention to three stages of personal involvement by teachers in innovative activities can best ensure success and their continued positive involvement.

·    Readiness – Identify those persons who are dissatisfied with the present beliefs, practices, and outcomes of education, and in particular their own programs, and want to do things differently to provide students with new educational opportunities while improving their learning and attitudes.

·    Support – Initiate and continue to guide, assist, and provide necessary resources or otherwise support the efforts of those “ready” to change in a systematic manner.

·    Success – Results can be personal satisfaction for accomplishments with reinforcement from students, parents, and colleagues. This is a motivation to continue and extend the transformational efforts toward further success.