Design Principles For Online Learning And Teaching Assignment Sample

Instructional Design Strategies for Effective Online Education

Article 1

Ally, M. (2008). 1. Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning. In Athabasca University Press eBooks (pp. 15–44). https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781897425084.003

• Heuristic Statement: “Effective online learning design requires the integration of instructional strategies that align with diverse learning theories to create a learner-centred environment, where technology is used as a tool to enhance engagement, interactivity, and contextualized learning”

In this article, the author focuses on the strategies and models of educational theories for the provision of successful online learning concerning Mohamed Ally’s “Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning”. Issues regarding online learning are best described in the scholarly work of Clark (1983) who postulated that the delivery technology itself enhances or facilitates learning; it is the instructional procedures that have the potency of enhancing learning that is central to the argument here. Other aspects of technology, for instance, real-life simulations are said by Kozma (2001) to affect learning but the effect is still moderate as far as the design of instruction is concerned. This paper explores Learning theories: behavioural, cognitive, constructivist, and connectivism, and how they apply to online learning. The behaviourist concept follows the stimulus and response systems and the changes that come with them while the Cognitivist concentrates on memory, thinking, and the rate of reflection. According to constructivism, learners should be actively involved in the construction of knowledge in comparison to receiving it from others or finding it already constructed; the context and relevance of the information are central. Connectivism is a theory advanced by Siemens (2004) and is offered as the theory for current times where learning happens in a connected environment where new information has to be anchored by the learner. This heuristic statement is derived from the fact that the article identifies instructional strategies as central to the quality of online learning. It is the skilful application of learning theories of Behavioural, Cognitive, Constructive along Connective learning that shape online education in the presence of flexibility and accessibility offered by technological tools of learning. An example of applying this design principle is the case of developing an online course, entitled ‘Critical Thinking Skills’. By the Cognitivist approach to learning, the course could be developed as an interactive one that expect the students the deep processing, for example, case study solving (Ally, 2008). The content is going to be subdivided into more manageable bits to prevent ‘overloading’ the learner’s memory and to apply advanced organizers to facilitate the use of students’ background knowledge to interpret and organize new content. Based on Constructivist principles, the course itself could include students working in groups on problems and therefore develop strategies and approaches to meaning-making as well as staking claims to what they have learned in authentic settings. One might assign journal or forum-like activities that would make the learning personal and allow the students to reflect on what has been learned and how it can be applied. Last but not least, relying on Connectivism concepts, the course can suggest that students engage in the learning processes with other students and professionals from other contexts, for example, through communities in social networks or other available platforms. Such an approach would not only ensure timely and up-to-date information for the students but also prepare them for learning in a networked society.

In the context of teaching, I might be able to address this design principle in the way I design an online module for my students to undertake. For example, while describing a course on digital marketing, I would incorporate the practical things that are needed to explain the complicated tactical plans typical to this field in the form of the interactive emulation of the existing conditions (Cognitivist). I would then assign group projects that involve having students make marketing campaigns for real business organizations to enable them to practice and relate what they have learned (Constructivist). In addition to I will engage students with the help of discussion boards and industry webinars, so they can see professionals’ case studies and be prepared for the constant shifts within the digital marketing industry (Martin & Bolliger, 2018).

Article 2

Chang, B., & Kang, H. (2016). Challenges facing group work online. Distance Education, 37(1), 73–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2016.1154781

• Heuristic Statement: "Design online group work to prioritize structured communication, clearly defined roles, and equitable contribution to enhance student engagement and mitigate common challenges."

The article by Bo Chang and Haijun Kang is a research article that discusses the various factors that make online group work complicated as well as the advantages of this approach. It points out several factors which affect the applicability of collaborative online learning. These include; asynchronous communication, absence of non-verbal communication, cross-time zone difficulties, problem of free-rider/sucker, variability in commitment and responsibility of members. As well as, based on the findings of this research the positive points of group work in the online environment they are learning while collaborating, exposure to other cultures, and sharing workload. The study also identifies increased structured communication, clear roles allocated, and proper leadership as some of the most important factors that can help to avoid the existing major issues connected to online group work. From the research, a key design principle emerges: online group work should be designed in such a way that there is a well-defined task, responsibility distribution, and equal contribution. This principle provides a solution to some of the problems discussed in the study like; lack of accountability, imbalance in the contribution, and communication breakdown.

To apply this design principle properly, I, as an educator, teaching an online class on digital marketing, would be planning a group project. Here is a personalized example drawing from my teaching experience:

Structured Communication

• Design Feature: The most effective tool is a group working platform like Microsoft Teams or Slack that is connected with the discussion channels, tasks board, and accompanying meetings. Agree on how often I have to contact my partner and how long it should take to respond to each other.
• Personalized Example: Based on the lectures of your digital marketing course, you can design different channels for various aspects of the project such as research, writing, and presentation. Create the expectation that there will be a live virtual meeting at least one time per week and remind students to use the correct platform to submit updates, ask questions, etc. Such a structure prevents confusion and elongation of time that may be a result of poor communication between the two parties (Chang & Kang, 2016).

Clearly Defined Roles

• Design Feature: Clearly define accountability in terms of division of labour at the beginning of a group project. These roles and responsibilities must therefore be clearly stated and put down in a document possibly on a platform visible to the team.
• Personalized Example: In each group, at the start of the digital marketing project, you will have to assign tasks such as project manager, content writer, data analyst, and presenter-designer. An example is the creation of a Google document with the name of each member and their roles and responsibilities and delivery deadlines. This approach makes sure that every learner is fully aware of his / her duties and can in equal measure be called upon to deliver.

Equitable Contribution

• Design Feature: The peer evaluation should aim at evaluating the relative or individual effort in the completion of the assessment tasks, the contribution/effort and the performance in the assessments should form the basis for the grade allocated. In this case, assign criteria that are easy to use in the assessment of the peer's contributions to the work shared.
• Personalized Example: Establish a mid-project and end-of-project self and peer assessment in which students are invited to give their peers scores based on set criteria. This may be linked to a small percentage in the final grade owing to increased motivation a gamble for the desired grade. Further, they required individual students to submit progress reports that explain their work progress and completion, promoting accountability (Mao et al., 2017).

Article 3

Heuristic Statement: "Leverage flexible technologies to adapt pedagogical strategies, ensuring a diverse and accessible learning environment that caters to various learner needs and contexts."

After reading the research article, one is given a well-specified evaluation of the benefits and potentials of technology-enhanced learning. It also brings out how various technologies – Web 2. All Web 2.0 tools: social networking, mobile learning, and virtual worlds can be considered valuable for various intents and can be used to foster different teaching and learning styles. One of the major implications which the author draws together for the article is that it is necessary to apply a more flexible approach to teaching based on the technologies under discussion rather than to be bound by the options in the technologies. This flexibility enables one to adopt constructivism and social constructivism approaches to learning as well as personalise teaching and learning experiences for the students in different settings. The design principle that can be distilled from this article thus is that technology’s flexibility must be embraced to make schooling more adaptable and accessible. That way, educators can better manage the diverse ways of learning and get around to reaching all the students and engaging them while providing learning in connection that can be inaccessible via usual approaches (Bower, 2017).

When using the technologies in my practice, I incorporate all of the above technology types in one learning object for diverse learning approaches and requirements. For instance, when developing a module that focuses on the concept of digital storytelling, I include Web 2. There are 0 tools for creating collective content sources, such as blogs and wikis, mobile applications for content capture in multimedia formats, and virtual space to tell a story. It is also effective at meeting students who are more of one type of media than the other, while at the same time allowing for varied forms of interaction. An example of such a call for pragmatic operation would be a project in which students design a digital portfolio on which they may combine different tools. Perhaps they might use a blog in which they record their thoughts and experiences in progression, or use mobile devices in which they can take and mark fieldwork data, or use a virtual world to portray a storytelling context. This implementation ensures that the factors of learning remain flexible in as much as the learning needs of the students are unique as posited by the research in the design principles (Ibrahim, 2024).