A Summary of Converting Existing Instructional Material to an Online Environment

In brief, there are necessary steps an Instructional Designer (ID) needs to take in order to successfully apply existing material to an online environment. This process is spelled out in more detail in a text created by me in a PDF file following this brief summary However, first an ID should conduct pre-planning, in order to determine the best path or method of converting these materials, beginning with research on potential learners and establishing objectives for the course. Then an ID should develop a road map consisting of a storyboard, syllabus, site map, content that aligns with the goals, chosen delivery method, and the layout of the delivery method. Next, the ID should engage in implementation of the design by expressing the roles of the instructor/facilitator and the student. In all, typically transferring existing “classroom” material to an online environment takes additional work to create an interactive and engaging learning environment devoid of the traditional classroom mechanisms, including physical interaction between students and instructor or student to student interaction.

Guide to Converting Existing Instructional Materials to an Online Environment
By Mark Zatalava
What should you do as the designer?
Preplanning
1. Avoid the craft approach to designing an online learning module.
 In this instance, “ an individual teacher designs and develops the course and the related material based on what has worked for him or her in the traditional classroom and puts it on the web” (as cited in Moller, Forshay, & Huett, 2008, p. 67).
2. Do some research on the potential learners.
 The research should be done either through a Human Resources Department or through a brief survey (preferably both) to determine accessibility, abilities, prior knowledge, and learning styles (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
 Designers should “keep in mind that your audience may be diverse in terms of age, language skills, learning styles, physical abilities, and sensory abilities (AccessIt, 2010).
3. Establish goals and objectives for the course
 “Objectives should state the conditions under which learning should occur, the performance expected of the learner, and the standard to which the performance will be matched” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 132).
 “Good instructional goals should form the basis for instruction, regardless of the medium used” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 132).
 “Goals and objectives will influence the selection of media” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 133).
Planning and Development
1. Develop a Storyboard
 The storyboard needs to break the course down in a flow from content, resources, learning objectives, assignments, and the plotting of the evaluations (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
2. Compose a syllabus
 The syllabus will act as an instructional plan for the course and provide the learner with the learning objectives (clearly linked to assignments and
assessments) and provide a preview of the content to be covered (Piskurich & Chaucer, 2010b).
 “An instructor needs to provide enough information within the syllabus that students are able to understand the structure of the course, expectations and assignments, and the assessment process” Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 191).
3. Develop a site map
 This step will illustrate how the learner is intended to navigate the online course environment (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
4. Determine the content and assets that are essential and align with the chosen objectives
5. Determine the delivery method and technology to be used
 Examples could include: Course Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), Wikis, Podcasts, or HTML‟s (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
 Analysis should be done to ensure your chosen delivery method will meet all of the constraints of your course design project (Piskurich & Chaucer, 2010a).
6. Design the layout of the chosen delivery method
 Content and assets should be designed according to the developed site map and storyboard in an intuitive and easily navigated form (Laureate Education Inc., n. d.).
 In an online environment “the instructor may need to de-emphasize the „informative‟ part of the instruction for more „discovery‟ of information” (Simonson et al., 2009).
Implementation
1. Role of the Instructor/Facilitator
 Provide the learners with a syllabus
 Provide learners with necessary technology needs, like URL‟s, sign on instructions and even guide novices through technology issues
 Provide learners with rubrics, guides, timelines, and so on, because “the more information students have about completing assignments, the fewer problems the students and the instructor will experience during the course” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 138).
 On site facilitators “can help distribute materials, maintain organization, and keep order, as well as proctor” (Simonson, et al., 209, p. 141).
 The Instructor should (by design) act as a facilitator in discussion groups as a means of ensuring better communication within the course delivery methods.
o In synchronous and asynchronous discussions the instructor must be an architect of a collaborative learning community that stays on track and keeps the learning goals and objectives in mind. This could be best served by requiring the learners to participate in an online discussion where the instructor would pose a problem to the current group that would engage then in some form of discussion to solve the problem, via Wiki, e-mail, or threaded discussion (set-up in a CMS).
o The instructor should facilitate in “enough interaction to keep them on task while encouraging them to explore their learning experiences” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 189).
o “Learner-focused systems would enable a person to not only work at his/her own pace, but to also work on authentic, real-world tasks” (Beldarrain, 2006, p. 147).
2. Role of the student/trainee
 Learners are obligated to participate throughout the course in order to have “a classroom culture that promotes shared learning experiences and teamwork” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 165).
 In fact, “by collaborating, all students expand their knowledge, skills, and ability to self-assess their own progress” (Simonson, et al., 2009, p. 165).
 “Collaboration and contribution further prepare students to become part of a more expert community, a community of practice” (Beldarrain, 2006, p. 148).

References:

AccessIT. (2010). University of Washington. Retrieved September 29, 2010, from
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1173

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance Education Trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student
interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139-153.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Planning and designing online courses
[Multimedia]. Distance Learning. Retrieved on October 5, 2010 from
http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4442081&Survey=1&47=6064455&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education:
Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher
education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.

Piskurich, G. & Chauser, J (2010) Delivery Analysis, Laureate Education, Inc. Video
Production. Extracted from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4442081&Survey=1&47=6263153&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Piskurich, G., & Chaucer, J. (2010) “Planning and Designing Online Courses”, Laureate
Education, Inc. Video Production. Extracted from:
http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4442081&Survey=1&47=6263153&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at
a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.