Instructional Design: Three Key Elements of Design in the Online Environment

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Instructional design is an important aspect of education. Due to the rapid growth of online instruction, understanding effective design approaches is essential to meeting student needs. To effectively meet student needs, a design that allows students to learn through carefully planned instruction must be developed.

In comes the instructional designer.

The instructional designer, who is a bit like an engineer, designs solutions to instructional problems in the classroom. An instructional designer can be the instructor of the class that is being designed,  a full-time instructional designer, or even a team hired by the educational institution. Each designer, regardless of his or her background, must design courses and course content that best benefits the students in the courses.

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While this may sound easy, it is a very complex task. In the college and university settings there are sometimes hundreds of different majors, each with different goals and learning outcomes. Each academic division is different from each other. The instructional design that is best utilized in one department may not work in another. While this creates a challenge on how to best educate each and every student, there are many different instructional design approaches that can be utilized by instructional designers.

Many times, the question that is asked is, "Which instructional design approach is best?". I feel like we miss the mark when we are searching for the best design method. I personally believe all instructional design approaches have merit. In fact, many of the design approaches are building blocks of others. Think ADDIE and SAM.

So... how do we chose? Do we choose a method that is the fastest? The easiest? The newest?

While different design models will work for different people / divisions / students, I maintain that no matter the design process, if certain elements are incorporated in the design process, an instructor will have an effective online course for students. Through researching the literature on instructional design, I uncovered three big ideas that were needed, regardless of instructional design method, in order to design effective instruction for online students: 1) Individualization, 2) Community, and 3) Social Presence.

I know what you are asking... "How can those elements be designed in a course?" and "I thought instructional design was about content and set-up?". Well yes, those are perfectly valid questions. After careful review of the literature, many design process worked in different situations with similar results. The one commonality in many of the research approaches was that, regardless of approach, each designer incorporated individualization, community, and social presence in their design process.

Individualization

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Individualization was a huge aspect incorporated into the instructional design process of much of the research I reviewed.  In order for a student to learn in an environment, the course must have aspects that each student can relate to. According to Ausburn (2004), there is a growing need for students to have have choices and personalization.  This aspect must be carefully considered when designing a course. If the instructor does not think about this aspect until after the instruction has been designed, then an important student need has been ignored. According to Ausburn (2004), when students in an online course were surveyed on what they perceived as important to design, the students reported individualization as their number one need. This means that students understand that faculty and instructional designers have the ability to design courses that allow them a personal experience. This research was supported by other researchers. According to Moallem (2007), individual differences play an important role in learning. Moallem (2007), further suggests that when students are given options that appeal to their preferences (whether different ways to assess outcomes, or different tasks to demonstrate proficiency) students reported not only higher satisfaction in the learning experience, but also greater retention in the information. This data suggests that designers and instructors should incorporate various aspects of individualization within their design, regardless of design approach. 

Further research supported individualization, even with technology and assignment choices in the online environment. According to Tobin (2014), instructors should design and create the objectives, but let the students define the "method and medium" (p. 16). In essence, during the instructional design process, the instructor should design the learning experience based on the objectives, but in the design process, allow the students options on how they respond to the assignment or the activity. This allows the student freedom to chose what they need to get out of the assignment while still learning the information. While Tobin's research was making the case for Universal Design for Learning (UDL), this aspect was used in much of the research I uncovered on instructional design, regardless of the approach. 

How Can This be Achieved? 

While there are many ways to design individualization into courses, one easy way is to provide choice. Providing choice allows the designer to still control the content and guide the student through the learning outcome that is required, but still give the student control over how they want to learn it. I would call it "controlled individualization".  According to Tobin (2014), course designers should allow students flexibility in how to complete the assignments so long as the product produced by the student still meets the objective. This, however, must be incorporated of during the design phase to create consistency and understanding for each student. To add options after design of the instruction would create confusion and lack of flow for the material. Individualization is, therefore,  a key element in the instructional design process.

Community

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A second essential element that emerged from the review of the literature is creating a community of learners. Many times, instructors and designers believe this can be achieved post-design. This, however, is not the case. Instructors and designers need to design their course with community as part of the design process. According to Ausburn (2004), students perceived community and interaction with other learners essential in the learning process. In the same study, Ausburn (2004) suggests that students understand the need for collaborative efforts as part of the design of an effective course. This means that faculty and designers need to incorporate community activities and collaborative efforts into the design process. Moallem (2007) came to similar conclusions. In his research, 79% of students chose assignments that had a community-based design (such as a collaborative based activity or assignment). This suggests that creating community is an essential part of the instructional design process.

This research was supported by Snyder (2009). According to the researcher, when designing instruction for students, especially in the online environment, students must have experiences that facilitate communication, collaboration, and interaction. During the design process, it is essential to provide tools and facilitation to allow for community to be established and used as part of the learning process.

How Can This Be Achieved?

So, how can we build community in the design process? It is easier than it seems. While we cannot see the community at work until the course is in session, we can design processes that allow students to easily connect and interact. The designer must include technology and opportunities where students can "get together". According to Sndyer (2009), utilizing reflective course blogsand discussion boards where students can freely ask each other questions, and using team or group assignments that are built in during the design process helps open the door to a classroom where communities can be fostered. The key is to design places where communities can form as part of the instructional design methodology. This will make it easy for students to create a community. According to Brown and Green (2015), community can only created if tools are designed and provided during the instructional design process.

Social Presence

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Social presence is another key element of design. This may be the hardest to understand with regard to instructional design. How can being present in a class relate to instructional design? Simple, in order to have social presence in a course, it must first be a part of the design and the plan. According to Ausburn (2004), students need to feel a social presence in the classroom, with other students and with the instructor. While this may seem obvious, Ausburn (2004) points out that this must be carefully incorporated during the instructional design process. There must be areas of the course where the instructor knows when and where communication is going to take place. The student must also be aware of when and where this can take place. It is as fundamental to the design as any other aspect of creating a course.

This research is supported by others. Lowenthal (2015), suggests that social presence extends beyond feedback and reflection. It involved carefully planned interactions through video conferencing, activities, announcements, and assessments. Each of these aspects needs to be addressed during the design process of the course, not after the course has already started.

How Can This Be Achieved?

Like the other elements in this blog, social presence can be designed early on in the process. It is not something that must be implemented after the course if started. No matter the instructional design method, social presence is essential and must be carefully thought through during the design process. Lowethal (2015) suggests that carefully planned discussions, carefully selected announcements, and planned interactions must be incorporated into design. It is essential that the type of social presence should be thought through during the development of course objectives and assignments. While you can never plan for all the social interactions that will occur within the course, planning out aspects of when and where social presence will occur at points in the course will help students feel connected to the instructor. Designing places where the student can sense the instructors involvement will create a space where students can thrive and feel supported.

Wrap-Up

While no particular instructional design approach is discussed in this review, it is essential to remember the value of all instructional design methods and approaches in various settings. The key idea to instructional design is to remember the needs of the students and design the learning so that the student can have the best possible learning experience. The key in instructional design is to remember that no matter the method of design, there are keys elements that need to be included. The literature reviewed here suggests that individualization, community, and presence are key elements to incorporate and consider when designing instruction. I will note that these are not the only elements that must be considered and that different situations may call other elements. These three elements, however, are great elements to consider during the design process. Sometimes, things that do not seem needed during the design process turn out to be the foundation to a great design and a great course.

Are there other key elements that need to be considered that I did not cover? Looking forward to thoughts on this topic. :D

Resources: 

Ausburn, L. J. (2004). Course design elements most valued by adult learners in blended online education environments: An American perspective. Educational Media International, 41(4), 327-337.

 

Brown, A. H., & Green, T. D. (2015). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental principles with process and practice. Routledge. 

 

Lowenthal, P. R. (2015). A mixed methods examination of instructor social presence in accelerated online courses. Handbook of Research on Strategic Management of Interaction, Presence, and Participation in Online Courses, 147.

 

Moallem, M. (2007). Accommodating individual differences in the design of online learning environments: A comparative study. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 40(2), 217-245. 

Snyder, M. M. (2009). Instructional-design theory to guide the creation of online learning communities for adults. TechTrends, 53(1), 48. 

 

Tobin, T. J. (2014). Increase online student retention with universal design for learning. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 15(3), 13.