Title: Instructional Design for Distance Education: What's Different?

Presenters:

• Doreen Gosmire and
• Karen Norum

Audience:

Instructors who deliver courses using distance technologies such as the internet and interactive TV.  Instructors who are beginning to deliver courses using distance technologies.  Those who are interested in what is different about designing instruction for distance delivery.  The optimal audience size would be a range from 8-25.

Rationale

Designing courses for distance delivery requires extensive planning.  Learning activities that take place naturally in a face-to-face setting need to be purposely structured into a distance delivered course.  "It is essential to consider elements such as the content, the learner, the strategies for teaching, and the means of assessing the learning experience" (Smaldino, 1999, p. 9).

This workshop will provide a way for participants to reflect on their current teaching beliefs and strategies.  They will consider how those beliefs influence course design (whether it is face-to-face or distance) and determine how instructional design for distance delivery is different from designing for a face-to-face environment. This workshop is based on a 14-hour workshop we offered to faculty at the University of South Dakota through the Center for Instructional Design and Delivery in Summer 2001.

Objectives

• Examine personal beliefs about learning and reflect on how those beliefs influence the design of courses.
• Become familiar with constructivist learning theory and its role in instructional design.
• Become familiar with instructional design models.
• Be able to match the appropriate technology with the level of interaction desired.
• Gain confidence in course management issues and concerns.
• Become familiar with current issues and research being conducted in this arena.
• Understand why designing for distance delivery is different than instructional design for a face-to-face setting.

Format

Participants will examine their beliefs about learning and determine how those beliefs influence the design of their courses.  This will be accomplished by participants interviewing each other about their best learning experience and discussing the common themes.  We will then discuss as a large group, what the implications of this activity are for the design of distance delivered courses. 

Present an overview of constructivist learning theory and its role in instructional Design. This will be done through a short presentation and discussion. 

Present an overview of instructional design models: traditional and emerging models.  This will be done through a short presentation followed by discussion.  If available, participants can spend some time reviewing a website. 

Present an overview of Bloom's Taxonomy and use it to determine what kind of technology is appropriate for the level of interaction desired.  This will be accomplished through a short presentation, discussion, and a small group activity. 

Discussion of teaching strategies with an emphasis on what can be done by distance that cannot be done face-to-face.  This will be accomplished through a small and large group discussion. 

Discussion of course management issues: managing asynchronous and synchronous discussions; group projects; general course communication.  If available, we will have students try out these online course tools. 

Discussion of caveats and concerns: Do people learn as well by distance as they do face-to-face?  We will present findings from the "no significant difference" research as well as from our own research.

Presenters

Doreen Gosmire is an Assistant Professor of Technology for Training and Development at the University of South Dakota.  She received her Ed.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1995.  Her background includes instructional design, learning theory, leadership training, distance education and theory.  She serves as the Director of the Distance Teaching and Learning Academy for the State of South Dakota.  She has taught courses by distance using both interactive TV and web-basedtechnologies.

Karen Norum is an Assistant Professor of Technology for Training and Development at the University of South Dakota.  She received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1997.  Her background includes instructional design, learning theory, organizational theory and development, organizational systemic change, and qualitative research. She has delivered courses by distance, primarily web-based, using Web CT.

References

Smaldino, S. (1999).  Instructional design for distance education.  Tech Trends, 43(5), 9-13.