Accessible Information Architecture: Participatory Curricular Design  

This presentation describes the process of engaged negotiation that re-engineered an inappropriate course design to one that met student needs.

Salvo, Michael J. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Information Design>Instructional Design>Education

ADDIE Model

The ADDIE model is the generic process traditionally used by instructional designers and training developers. The five phases—Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation—represent a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools.

InstructionalDesign.org. Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Methods

Applying Audience Invoked Models to Instructional Design Methods

You should know what appeals to and motivates your audience before you approach them with a suggestion for action. The same point is also true for writers. The writer must have a good idea of who the audience is and what motivates them in order to create arguments that will convince his or her audience to not only to read the text, but also to behave in the desired fashion after they have read the text.

Cleman, Kelly A. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design

Asking Questions  

Students learn by actively interacting with the material, and by interacting with each other along the way.

Doumont, Jean-luc. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Instructional Design

Assessing a Hybrid Format    

As college instructors endeavor to integrate technology into their classrooms, the crucial question is, 'How does this integration affect learning?' This article reports an assessment of a series of online modules the author designed and piloted for a business communication course that she presented in a hybrid format (a combination of computer classroom sessions and independent online work). The modules allowed the author to use classroom time for observation of and individualized attention to the composing process. Although anecdotal evidence suggested that this system was highly effective, other assessment tools provided varying results. An anonymous survey of the students who took this course confirmed that the modules were effective in teaching important concepts; however, a blind review of student work produced mixed results.

Katz, Susan M. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Beyond the Borders of "English": Teaching Technology Tools in the Undergraduate Technical Communication Curriculum  

The field of technical communication is in many ways inscribed by technology. As a result, technical communication programs not only must provide students with a foundation in the theory and practice of the field, but also must give students some level of proficiency in the technology tools they will need to put that knowledge into service in the workplace.

Brumberger, Eva R. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Software

Build It Right And They Will Come  

Teaching through the Web requires instructors to reconsider their previous assumptions about the nature of teaching, lecture, testing, and student/teacher interaction. In online classrooms, instructors often serve many design and maintenance roles. Managing the time required for these roles is an inescapable part of online instruction. The simpler the overall course design, the less often the instructor has to shift from role to role. Online instructors must use textual, visual and interactive metaphors consistently to help guide students toward productive forms of interaction. Finally an equal mix of textual, visual and interactive rhetorics is vital for effective online course design.

Gillette, David. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Building a Swan's Nest for Instruction in Rhetoric    

When a composition teacher incorporated community-based writing assignments into her course, she found that the curriculum did not support students’ transitions to nonacademic settings. Her success in transforming the curriculum suggests that the writing classroom can function not only as a site for “general writing skills in-struction” but also for analysis of rhetorical variation.

Bacon, Nora. CCC (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Rhetoric

Building Group Spirit  

Technical communication courses and training programs often benefit from peer review or group critique. To encourage learning, these activities require a constructive climate: Students must listen to one another, be receptive to feedback, and refrain from reproaches, interpretations, and judgments. Such a positive group spirit is not a given, especially if the school or corporate environment encourages competition more than collaboration. Teachers must foster an appropriate environment if they want their collaborative learning activities to be successful.

Doumont, Jean-luc. Intercom (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Collaboration

The Changing and Emerging Role of the Instructional Developer  

Today's instructional developer is required to know much more than the Instructional Systems Design methodology. He/she must know a multitude of authoring tools, and must also know the storyboarding and development process for designing technology-based learning programs. Technology-based learning presents four unique challenges for instructional developers. These are: accommodating different learning styles; addressing differing technologies in learners’ computers; developing training packages for mass quantities of learners; and acquiring new skill sets. Technology-based learning also presents many new opportunities for instructional developers, including the chance to develop exciting tools such as wizards, coaches, and computer-based training programs.

Levin, Marissa. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Education>Instructional Design

Commentary on International Learning  

This article, subtitled “Audience Analysis and Instructional System Design for Successful Learning and Performance,” by Margaret Martinez is a must-read for all committed to seeing to it that technologies keep their promises and achieve their potential. There is a propensity among technology proponents to disregard, or at least to minimize the importance of, individual differences among learners and the impact of differences in learning. While the research design, execution, and fi ndings are significant it is important to recognize this work for what it is—a meaningful addition to a less-than-adequate body of knowledge. In our (still) instruction-centered educational environment it is still frustratingly diffi cult to elicit recognition that we are all different in many ways and that includes how we learn. Ms. Martinez has provided us with a contemporary update on individual difference data which flows well from her excellent historical review.

Russell, Thomas L. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>International

Communication as the Foundation of Distance Education  

Communication plays a vital role in learning, not only with respect to expository and discussion methods of instruction, but at a more consequential level in the development of higher mental processes through acquiring and learning to manipulate symbols. This has been so at least since the early days of Greek society where education of the citizen primarily was concerned with the ability to express oneself in a thoughtful manner in order to develop a better society. Isocrates, one of the first Western educators, stressed the relevance of speech in sharpening thought and judgment; his emphasis on the relationship between education and speaking well became the standard throughout the ancient Western world.

Brooks, Robert F. Kairos (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Computer-Mediated Conferencing: Teaching in a Virtual Classroom  

Asynchronous desktop conferencing, or computer-mediated interaction, is one of the new technologies in education. A videocourse with an interactive conferencing component was used successfully in a distance course for graduate students in technical communication. The technology allowed students to collaborate, peer review, and conference at their own pace without coming to campus. Computermediated conferencing has promise as a teaching tool for technical communication.

Coppola, Nancy W. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Contextualizing the Learning  

Perhaps the most overlooked teaching principle is the one stating that we learn by linking new material to known material. If we cannot connect what we must learn to what we already know, we can hardly anchor it in our mental schemata and thus make it our own, at least durably. Moreover, our motivation for learning would at best be extrinsic (some sort of obligation, perhaps): Why would we want to learn material to which we cannot relate? Even if we could learn the material without context—by memorization, for instance—we could not recognize situations where this unconnected knowledge applies. For all practical purposes, it would be useless.

Codone, Susan K. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Instructional Design

Corporate Software Training: Is Web-Based Training as Effective as Instructor-Led Training?      

Web-based training has been both acclaimed as a self-paced, consistent, stand-alone alternative to traditional instructor-led training and disparaged for its high development costs and dearth of qualified trainers. Critics especially question its effectiveness. This case study tests the effectiveness of a stand-alone web-based training program and compares the results to that of an identical instructor-led course. The course provides highly task-oriented instruction for a computer software package and was developed using a proven instructional design methodology. The data from this study show that web-based training is as effective as instructor-led training for stand-alone software application training in a corporation.

Coppola, Nancy W. and Robert Myre. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Course Authoring Systems: A Review

Many instructor-led courses are being considered for conversion to electronic or distance delivery. A recent HRD survey by the American Society for Training and Development predicts that by the year 2000 only an estimated 54.8% of training will be instructor-led, compared to 80% in 1996. By contrast, the market for training delivered via new technologies is expected to go from 10% in 1996 to over 35% by the year 2000. Web-Based Training (WBT) is expected to account for a sizable portion of these electronic course developments and conversions.

Phillips, Vicky. GetEducated.com (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Creating Online Training: Dos and Don'ts

As a technical communicator, you may be asked to create online training for your organization. Your first attempt at online courseware development may seem a bit daunting, but take heart. Here are a few online training DOs and DON'Ts that can help you avoid some common development pitfalls.

Miller, Karen Massetti. STC Central Iowa (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

A Curriculum for the Research and Practice of International Technical Communication  

It is no secret that businesses around the world need to compete globally in order to survive. What is a secret is that technical communicators in every county in the world are untrained to deal with the issues, deadlines, standards, and quality measures necessary to address the needs of global businesses. This paper offers some ideas and justification for a curriculum in international technical communication.

Hoft, Nancy L. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>International

Design Once: Use Again and Again and Again…  

You can either do it over and over again; or, you can design it once and use it again and again. The decision to create reusable learning modules need not be an expensive one. It just requires modular design.

Horton, William K. III. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Designing Accessible Web Based Courseware with Authoring Tools

Creation of Web based courseware has become easier and quicker, particularly, for non-Web experts with the advent of authoring software which allows authors to put together resources without requiring to learn HTML. However, there are problems regarding the accessibility of resources produced by such software, and this article discusses the nature of these problems and how they can be overcome.

Sloan, David. TechDis (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Designing Design Education

Designers today are involved in the development and design of new products and their interactions, software, virtual identities, web sites, strategic plans, wearable computers, digital libraries, games, and interactive exhibitions. The old monikers of graphic and industrial design aren't descriptive of the new fields of practice and research that are being explored today. These disciplines in fact have come to realize that they do not own the word `design.' The activity of design, as described by Simon (1969), is being practiced by a host of disciplines that include engineering, computer science, information systems, professional writing, and business. We encounter job titles such as software design, engineering design, human-computer interaction design, and systems design, to name a few. If design is so pervasive, who, then, is a designer and how is s/he educated?

Boyarski, Daniel. SIGCHI Bulletin (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Assessment

Designing for Motivation and Usability in a Museum-Based Multi-User Virtual Environment  

This National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research project is creating and evaluating graphical multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) that use digitized museum resources to enhance middle school students' motivation and learning about science and its impacts on society. MUVEs enable multiple simultaneous participants to access virtual contexts, to interact with digital artifacts, to represent themselves through “avatars,” to communicate with other participants and with computer-based agents, and to enact collaborative learning activities of various types. Initially, MUVEs were based only on textual descriptions); now, many MUVEs are graphical in nature, or use graphics to enhance textual descriptions. Our project's educational environments are extending current MUVE capabilities in order to study the science learning potential of immersive simulations, interactive virtual museum exhibits, and 'participatory' historical situations (http://www.virtual.gmu.edu/muvees/). To accomplish this, we have built our own MUVE shell based on the Sense8 WorldToolKit (http://www.sense8.com/).

Dede, Chris, Diane Ketelhut and Kevin Ruess. Harvard University (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Usability

Determining Constraints for e-Learning

One of the challenges of starting an e-learning are the constraints. If you don’t uncover them before you begin a project and choose software, the issues can come back to haunt you. Following are questions you can ask to determine the constraints you'll need to address when implementing e-learning in your organization. You might need to ask additional questions, but these should give you a good start.

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online