Badrul H. Khan

Exploring What We Know Exploring What We Know About the Capacity of About the Capacity of Educational Tools to Educational Tools to Improve Education QualityImprove Education Quality

toto Promote LearningPromote Learning

National Instructional Design Workshop: Improving the Quality of Education through Good Instructional Design

November 2-4, 2006, Bangalore, India

““India has the capacity India has the capacity to become a major to become a major e-Learning hub with its e-Learning hub with its IT prowess and strong IT prowess and strong education system”education system”

(Badrul Khan, 18 Nov, 2003, (Badrul Khan, 18 Nov, 2003, Times of India).).

If we can meaningfully If we can meaningfully integrateintegrate TechnologyTechnology withwith PedagogyPedagogy, then , then India will be a world India will be a world

leader inleader in ee--learninglearning..TechnologyTechnology

PedagogyPedagogy((IInstructional nstructional DDesign)esign)

Designing and delivering e-learning requires Designing and delivering e-learning requires thoughtful analysis and investigation, combined thoughtful analysis and investigation, combined with an understanding of both the Internet and with an understanding of both the Internet and digital technologies’ capabilities and resources digital technologies’ capabilities and resources and the ways in which and the ways in which instructional designinstructional design principles can be applied to tap the Internet principles can be applied to tap the Internet and digital technology potential (Khan, 1997).and digital technology potential (Khan, 1997).

E-Learning E-Learning deals with deals with openopen and and distributeddistributed learning environment, different than our learning environment, different than our traditional traditional closedclosed system of Instructor-led system of Instructor-led classroomclassroom-based instruction.-based instruction.

Digitizing instructor-led classroom Digitizing instructor-led classroom content does not necessarily mean that content does not necessarily mean that you are creating meaningful e-learning you are creating meaningful e-learning materials. materials.

E-learning materials must be designed E-learning materials must be designed with proper instructional design with proper instructional design principles and learning theories by principles and learning theories by addressing critical issues encompassing addressing critical issues encompassing various dimensions of open and various dimensions of open and distributed learning environment.distributed learning environment.

To develop quality e-learning, we need policies and standards to participate in virtual education (e-learning) in India.

The government must to play an important role in developing policies for e-learning design and implementation by following international instructional & technical standards.

To explore the Capacity of Educational Tools to Improve Education Quality to Promote Learning, I would like to introduce

A Framework for A Framework for Meaningful LearningMeaningful Learning

ByBy

Eth

ical

Eth

ical

Inst

itutio

nal

Inst

itutio

nal

Resource

Resource

Support

Support

On-line and off-line resources & support

ManagementManagement

Meaningful

PedagogicalPedagogical

Evalu

atio

n

Evalu

atio

n

Technological

TechnologicalIn

terfaceIn

terfaceD

esign

Desig

n

Learning and teaching issuesInfrastructure, hardware and software Physical layout and navigation Content development and maintenanceAcademic, administrative & student services Ethical considerations in e-learningAssessment of learner, evaluation of learning environment

Learning

5. MANAGEMENT5.1 E‑Learning Content Development5.2 E-Learning Maintenance

6. RESOURCE SUPPORT6.1 Online support6.2 Resources

7. ETHICAL7.1 Social and Political Influence7.2 Cultural Diversity7.3 Bias7.4 Geographical diversity7.5 Learner diversity7.6 Digital Divide7.7 Etiquette7.8 Legal issues

8. INSTITUTIONAL8.1 Administrative Affairs8.2 Academic affairs8.2 Student services

1. PEDAGOGICAL1.1 Content Analysis1.2 Audience Analysis1.3 Goal Analysis 1.4 Medium Analysis1.5 Design approach1.6 Organization1.7 Methods and Strategies

2. TECHNOLOGICAL2.1 Infrastructure planning2.2 Hardware2.3 Software

3. INTERFACE DESIGN3.1 Page and site design3.2 Content design3.3 Navigation3.4 Accessibility 3.5 Usability testing

4. EVALUATION4.1 Assessment of learners 4.2 Evaluation of the

instruction & learning environmenthttp://BooksToRead.com/framework/dimensions.htm

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

How often is dynamic course content updated?

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

• Who are the learners?

Does the institution have adequate information about the learners at a distance?

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

Does the course provide clear expectations of what the student is required to do?

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

Does the course utilize multimedia attributes of the Internet and digital technologies? - text

- audio

- video

- graphics

- other (specify)

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

• What is the instructor’s role?

- more facilitative than

didactic

- more didactic than facilitative

- a combination of both

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

• Does the course provide a sense of continuity? (e.g., each unit of the lesson builds on the previous unit, etc.)

Pedagogical Content

Audience

Goals

Medium Medium

Design

Organization

Methods

• Does the course promote Inside Collaboration by providing a supportive environment for asking questions, clarifying directions, suggesting or contributing resources and working on joint projects with class members?

Technological

Infrastructure Planning

Hardware

Software

Does the course have personnel who can assist learners to set up for starting the course?

Technological

Infrastructure Planning

Hardware

Software

Are the hardware requirements for the course clearly stated?

Technological

Infrastructure Planning

Hardware

Software

Does the course provide links to resources where all necessary software can be downloaded?

Interface DesignPage and Site

Design

Content Design

Navigation

Accessibility

Usability Testing

Do Web pages look good in a variety of Web browsers and devices--in text-based browsers, all recent versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape, and so on.?

Interface DesignPage and Site

Design

Content Design

Navigation

Accessibility

Usability Testing

Does the course follow “one idea per paragraph” rule?

Interface DesignPage and Site

Design

Content Design

Navigation

Accessibility

Usability Testing

Does the course provide structural aids or site map to guide learner’s navigation?

Interface DesignPage and Site

Design

Content Design

Navigation

Accessibility

Usability Testing

Is the course Website designed to be accessible by a wider user population?

(Is the course 508 compliant?)

Interface DesignPage and Site

Design

Content Design

Navigation

Accessibility

Usability Testing

How quickly users find answers to the most frequently asked questions on the course site?

Evaluation

Assessment of Learners

Evaluation of

Instruction & Learning Environment

Does the course have a mechanism in which a learner can be truly measured and not cheat?

Evaluation

Assessment of Learners

Evaluation of

Instruction & Learning Environment

Does the course have a system to accept students’ online evaluation of the following? - content

- instructor

- learning environment

- learning resources

- course design

- technical support

Management Content

Development

Maintenance

Is there a project support site for e‑learning production team?

Management Content

Development

Maintenance

Does the course notify students about any changes in due dates or other course relevant matters (e.g., server down) via following means?- e-mail

- announcement page

- alert boxes

- running footer added to a page

- phone call

- mail

Resource Support

Online Support

Resources

Does the course provide

troubleshooting (or expert technical support from specialized staff) assistance or a help line?

Resource Support

Online Support

Resources

Does the course provide examples of previous student's work on the Web?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

Does the institution have to get approval from any external entities (who can serve as political barriers) to implement e-learning?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

To improve cross-cultural verbal communication and avoid misunderstanding, does the course make an effort to reduce or avoid the use of jargon, idioms, ambiguous or cute humor, and acronyms?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

Does the course present more than one viewpoint on controversial issues?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

Is the course offered to geographically diverse population? If yes ...

Is the course sensitive about students from different time-zones (e.g. synchronous communications are scheduled at reasonable times for all time zones represented)?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

Is the course designed to have patience for learners who adapt to individualized distributed learning environment slower than others?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

Information accessibility issue must be expressed in terms of digital “haves” and “have nots,” a gap expressed in the term “digital divide.”

Is the digital divide issue considered in designing the e‑learning content?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

• Does the course provide any guidance to learners on how to behave and post messages in online discussions so that their postings do not hurt others’ feelings?

EthicalSocial/Political

Influence

Cultural Diversity

Bias

Geographical Diversity

Learner Diversity

Digital Divide

Etiquette

Legal Issues

Does the course get students’ permission to post any of the following on the Web?

- students’ photographs

- students’ projects

(An excerpt from a listserv posting by Kathy Murrell of South Africa):

“In multiple choice questions the selected option was marked by a "tick" symbol (as apposed to a "cross" sorry no ascii equivelent). I presume the American equivelent to be a check mark, but for most South Africans' this represents the mark next to a correct answer, - it was most disconcerting to get an error or wrong message next to the mark and many students may not even bother to read the message as they would presume it to be the correct answer. “

Institutional

Administrative Affairs

Academic Affairs

Student Services

Is the institution ready to offer online courses?

Institutional

Administrative Affairs

Academic Affairs

Student Services

Does the course provide academic quality such as one would expect in a traditional course?

Institutional

Are instructor/tutor and technical staff available during online orientation?

Administrative Affairs

Academic Affairs

Student Services

Within the scope of today’s presentation, I have presented few learning issues in the form of questions that you can ask yourself when planning, designing, evaluating or implementing meaningful e‑learning.

As the scope of e‑learning design expands, design projects change from one-person operations to complex team efforts. The Meaningful Lerning Framework can be used to ensure that no important essential factor is omitted from the design of e‑learning, whatever its scope or complexity.

India has the greatest potential for e-learning.

Eth

ical

Eth

ical

Inst

itutio

nal

Inst

itutio

nal

Resource

Resource

Support

Support

ManagementManagement

Meaningful

PedagogicalPedagogical

Evalu

atio

n

Evalu

atio

n

Technological

TechnologicalIn

terfaceIn

terfaceD

esign

Desig

n

Learning

I strongly believe that the Meaningful Learning Framework can provide guidance in the design, development, evaluation and implementation of:

- Online Courses - e-Learning Environments- Distance Education Programs- Virtual Universities- Learning Management Systems

Furthermore, the Framework can be used by the Ministry of Higher Education to formulate and evaluate:

• - Virtual Education Policies for Education• - Accreditation Criteria for eLearning Programs

• - Technology Infrastructure for eLearning Programs

• - Research Funding Criteria for eLearning Projects

• - National Orientation Plan for eLearners

• - Online Faculty and Staff Training

Ideas for preparing e-learning Ideas for preparing e-learning professionals in India …professionals in India …

There is a tremendous There is a tremendous needneed for educational and training for educational and training professionals in the Indian professionals in the Indian sub-continent to have sound sub-continent to have sound

Instructional DesignInstructional Design skills to create meaningful skills to create meaningful learning materials.learning materials.

It is my personal interest to see more and more professionals in the Indian sub-continent trained

in Instructional Design and e-Learning to improve education quality using locally available technology tools.

I have been exploring the possibility of I have been exploring the possibility of launching a Virtual University to provide most launching a Virtual University to provide most flexible Instructional Design and e-Learning flexible Instructional Design and e-Learning

training to professionals in the sub-continent.training to professionals in the sub-continent.

REFERENCESREFERENCES

My Websitehttp://BadrulKhan.com/khan

I welcome questions and comments, and we look forward to the bright futureof e-learning in India.