A Framework for Web-Based Learning

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Exploring What We Know About the Capacity of
Educational Tools to Improve Education Quality
to Promote Learning
Badrul H. Khan
National Instructional Design Workshop Improving
the Quality of Education through Good
Instructional Design November 2-4, 2006,
Bangalore, India
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India has the capacity to become a major
e-Learning hub with its IT prowess and strong
education system
(Badrul Khan, 18 Nov, 2003, Times of India).
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If we can meaningfully integrate Technology with
Pedagogy, then India will be a world leader in
e-learning.
Technology
Pedagogy (Instructional Design)
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E-Learning deals with open and distributed
learning environment, different than our
traditional closed system of Instructor-led
classroom-based instruction.
Designing and delivering e-learning requires
thoughtful analysis and investigation, combined
with an understanding of both the Internet and
digital technologies capabilities and resources
and the ways in which instructional design
principles can be applied to tap the Internet and
digital technology potential (Khan, 1997).
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Digitizing instructor-led classroom content does
not necessarily mean that you are creating
meaningful e-learning materials. E-learning
materials must be designed with proper
instructional design principles and learning
theories by addressing critical issues
encompassing various dimensions of open and
distributed learning environment.
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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.
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To explore the Capacity of Educational Tools to
Improve Education Quality to Promote Learning, I
would like to introduce A Framework for
Meaningful Learning
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Academic, administrative student services
On-line and off-line resources support
Learning and teaching issues
Infrastructure, hardware and software
Physical layout and navigation
Content development and maintenance
Ethical considerations in e-learning
Assessment of learner, evaluation of learning
environment
Pedagogical
Institutional
Technological
Meaningful
Interface Design
Ethical
Learning
Resource Support
Evaluation
Management
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5. MANAGEMENT 5.1 E-Learning Content
Development 5.2 E-Learning Maintenance 6.
RESOURCE SUPPORT 6.1 Online support 6.2
Resources 7. ETHICAL 7.1 Social and Political
Influence 7.2 Cultural Diversity 7.3 Bias 7.4
Geographical diversity 7.5 Learner diversity 7.6
Digital Divide 7.7 Etiquette 7.8 Legal issues 8.
INSTITUTIONAL 8.1 Administrative Affairs 8.2
Academic affairs 8.2 Student services
1. PEDAGOGICAL 1.1 Content Analysis 1.2 Audience
Analysis 1.3 Goal Analysis 1.4 Medium
Analysis 1.5 Design approach 1.6 Organization 1.7
Methods and Strategies 2. TECHNOLOGICAL 2.1
Infrastructure planning 2.2 Hardware 2.3
Software 3. INTERFACE DESIGN 3.1 Page and site
design 3.2 Content design 3.3 Navigation 3.4
Accessibility 3.5 Usability testing 4.
EVALUATION 4.1 Assessment of learners
4.2 Evaluation of the instruction
learning environment
http//BooksToRead.com/framework/dimensions.htm
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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• Medium
• Design
• Organization
• Methods

How often is dynamic course content updated?
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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• Medium
• Design
• Organization
• Methods

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

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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• Medium
• Design
• Organization
• Methods

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

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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• Medium
• Design
• Organization
• Methods

Does the course utilize multimedia attributes
of the Internet and digital technologies? -
text - audio - video - graphics -
other (specify)
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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• Medium
• Design
• Organization
• Methods

• What is the instructors role?
• - more facilitative than
• didactic
• - more didactic than facilitative
• - a combination of both

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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• 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.)

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Pedagogical

• Content
• Audience
• Goals
• 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?

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Technological

• Infrastructure Planning
• Hardware
• Software

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

• Infrastructure Planning
• Hardware
• Software

Are the hardware requirements for the course
clearly stated?
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Technological

• Infrastructure Planning
• Hardware
• Software

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

• Page 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.?
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Interface Design

• Page and Site Design
• Content Design
• Navigation
• Accessibility
• Usability Testing

Does the course follow one idea per paragraph
rule?
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Interface Design

• Page and Site Design
• Content Design
• Navigation
• Accessibility
• Usability Testing

Does the course provide structural aids or site
map to guide learners navigation?
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Interface Design

• Page 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?)
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Interface Design

• Page and Site Design
• Content Design
• Navigation
• Accessibility
• Usability Testing

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

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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

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Management

• Content Development
• Maintenance

Is there a project support site for e-learning
production team?
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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
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Resource Support

• Online Support
• Resources

Does the course provide troubleshooting (or
expert technical support from specialized staff)
assistance or a help line?
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Resource Support

• Online Support
• Resources

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

• Social/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?
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Ethical

• Social/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?
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Ethical

• Social/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?
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Ethical

• Social/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)?
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Ethical

• Social/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?
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Ethical

• Social/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?
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Ethical

• Social/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?

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Ethical

• Social/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
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(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.
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Institutional

• Administrative Affairs
• Academic Affairs
• Student Services

• Is the institution ready to offer online courses?

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Institutional

• Administrative Affairs
• Academic Affairs
• Student Services

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

• Administrative Affairs
• Academic Affairs
• Student Services

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

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Within the scope of todays 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.
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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.
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India has the greatest potential for e-learning.


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Pedagogical
Institutional
Technological
Meaningful
Interface Design
Ethical
Learning
Resource Support
Evaluation
Management
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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
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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

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Ideas for preparing e-learning professionals in
India
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There is a tremendous need for educational and
training professionals in the Indian
sub-continent to have sound Instructional Design
skills to create meaningful learning materials.
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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.
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I have been exploring the possibility of
launching a Virtual University to provide most
flexible Instructional Design and e-Learning
training to professionals in the sub-continent.
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REFERENCES
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My Website http//BadrulKhan.com/khan
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I welcome questions and comments, and we look
forward to the bright future of e-learning in
India.
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