Designing a Courseware Lesson

Solution Preview

Please refer to response file attached (some of which is presented below). I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE

1. What are some considerations used in determining whether to design a courseware lesson and activity versus a traditional classroom lesson and activity?

Instructional design ("ID", also known as instructional systems design or "ISD") is a tested and proven methodology for developing instruction. It first gained popularity in World War II, where the Instructional design approach fared so well that it was quickly co-opted into corporate training. In the fifty years that followed, ID has become the standard for producing excellent training in both the military and corporate realms, as well as textbook authoring and development of computer-based learning materials. Instructional design is interdisciplinary and reflects a synthesis of work from a wide range of fields, including education theory:

Behavioral objectives: pioneers such as Tyler, Robert Mager, & Ivaar Davies stressed the importance of deciding exactly what should be taught early in the instructional process and letting subsequent steps in the instructional process emanate from those objectives (i.e., you will need to ask yourself if the learning objectives can be better met through courseware or classroom delivery)

Bloom's Taxonomy: a committee appointed to create taxonomies in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor realms tackled the breakdown of cognitive skills first, in 1956 (and Ben Bloom was lucky enough to be first author on the first publication, thereby forever linking the committee's work to his name in the public mind).

What are the steps in Instructional Design?

The name "ADDIE" is a common mnemonic (memory aid) for the five major steps in the instructional design process.
? A = Analysis
? D = Design
? D = Development
? I = Implementation
? E = Evaluation

The Design phase is a major phase in the training development process. Determines how to train (i.e., courseware lesson and activity versus a traditional classroom lesson and activity). In other words, in this phase you would be translating analysis data into a blueprint for training. Analysis is the process used to determine if training is required; determine who needs training; identify the critical tasks they must be able to perform; and identify the standards, conditions, performance measures, and other criteria needed to perform each task. Considerations would be given to the following:

a. All resource requirements,
b. Training structure,
c. Learning objectives,
d. Training sequence,
e. Student evaluation/graduation requirements,
f. and program of instruction.

Thus, you would use these considerations in deciding whether to design a courseware lesson and activity versus a traditional lesson and activity [i.e., resources available?time, money, instructors, training structure?classroom or courseware, learning objectives?can they be better met with a classroom or courseware, training sequence?does this lend better to classroom or courseware, etc.]
Development phase converts the design into resident and nonresident training materials, e.g., lesson plans, student handouts, media, etc. This phase elaborates and builds on the Learning Objectives that were produced in the design phase. Development is simply diagramming or outlining the necessary activities that will assist the learners in reaching the course goals. The end result is the completed instructional courseware.

2. Should performance objective measurements be designed separately for each target audience, thus accommodating their prior knowledge and skills?

Performance objective measurements are based on the course content, but accommodate the knowledge and skills target audience, which have been determined through front-end analysis (prior to the design stage and the setting of the performance objective based on course content). Before any instruction is designed or delivered, a good instructional designer does a lot of analysis (note that the front-end analysis assesses the skills, knowledge and attitudes of the target audience, so the final product will accommodate these needs). Let's take a more detailed look at the analysis stage. There ...