Developing Web‐based Instruction: Planning, Designing, Managing, and Evaluating for Results

Citation

Weir, G.R.S. (2005), "Developing Web‐based Instruction: Planning, Designing, Managing, and Evaluating for Results", Library Review, Vol. 54 No. 3, pp. 202-203. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530510588971

This text has three parts: Part I: Planning and Management; Part II: Evaluation and Assessment; Part III: Design and Development. Each part has multiple chapters, each with different authors. The editor provides the book's preface and an overview for each section. Appendices provide recommendations for preparing project proposals and a reading list. The book is written for “students, librarians and other educators who are creating, revising, or studying online instructional models from stand‐alone, short tutorials to full online courses” (p. xiii). For the most part, this text aims to be a practical guide but does not consider specific technologies or software tools.

The first part of the text contains chapters that address project management, planning, resourcing and a discussion of “audience and stakeholders”. These contributions sensitise the reader to relevant considerations, in the form of recommendations and checklists. The highlights lie in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 (by Nancy H. Dewald) provides an overview of educational theory with specific reference to Malcolm Knowles views on Andragogy (theory of adult learning). Advice on application of learning models to instructional design takes the form of questions to consider, such as “is there an activity the student could be asked to perform in relation to the information?” and “would students benefit from discussing the information with others or with each other?” (p. 62). In Chapter 5 (Educational Technology), Scott Macklin provides an interesting medley of advice, recommendation and anecdote.

Part II of the book focuses on evaluation and assessment. Here, four chapters cover the gathering of data and statistics, use of focus groups, usability testing and assessment of learning. The rationale for this selection is that each of these aspects affords insights on the scope and likely success of the proposed web‐based instruction. Thereby, these issues should be considered prior to system implementation. Although assessment of student learning is not an activity that can be engaged before completion of the instructional system, plans should be in place to accommodate the desired assessment within the remit of the online system. This may affect the information to be elicited from students and may determine the character of any online testing facility.

The final part of the text contains five chapters on design and implementation issues. This spans the definition of project goals and objectives, via the use of interactivity through to content organisation and site design. These chapters contain a potted summary of good web practice but stop short of three additional ingredients that I consider essential. First, some guidance on technical means of composing web‐based instruction would be a natural companion to the earlier information on design and content management. Secondly, advice on the testing of such systems could usefully be spelled out. While the “iterative design process” is advocated earlier in the text, there is also scope for detailed component testing as well as the use of end‐user testing on preliminary versions of the software system. Thirdly, we must not neglect the importance of maintenance and must anticipate the need for on‐going management and refinement during the lifespan of our instructional system.

In conclusion, this text has a worthy objective. Potential readers, intent upon building web‐based instructional systems, will find much useful advice and many relevant considerations within these chapters. Such readers must have prior commitment to software tools and techniques or seek inspiration elsewhere.