Commentary on Kearsley (Chapter 7)
Readings

In Chapter 7, Kearsley addresses the complex structure of designing an interface on an online course.  He discusses two different structures:  The ISD model (Instructional Systems Development) and the Minimalism model.  The ISD model applies five concepts that I learned during my undergraduate years of analysis and design.  The process begins with an “outline” of what the project will accomplish and the specific products that need to be developed to have a final successful project.  This approach is used so that there is not wasted time and resources, a big mainstay of corporate business.  The Minimalism approach builds a prototype of the specific product and makes revisions as necessary to keep the product up and running.  In my own experience, the ISD model is far superior because of its structured approach.  If you have a good game plan in place, you can adapt it to fit the changing needs of your project.  Whereas, the minimalist approach can result in going back to square one.  The one possible advantage to minimalism is the time factor saved if the development has to be done quickly.

When describing the forms and functions of the user interface for online education, the examples in the text follow the guidelines for good web page design, such as plenty of white space, subheadings, hyperlinks, and logical organization.  When I was working with students in a web design class, Dreamweaver was the program in place.  The textbook was very comprehensive, and the students learned proper web design etiquette.  Here is a link that thoroughly describes good web design qualities (and good online education page design):  http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/dwmx_design_tips.html

A vital point made in this chapter was the use of teamwork in online education design.  There are so many tools out there, many ways of presenting information, that it is a monumental task for one person to come up with a site design.  One strong point of all business endeavors is being able to work as a team.  The whole premise of online education is to develop a community of learners.  The strongest statement made by Kearsley is that quality is directly proportional to a good learning experience.  One vital accomplishment of the way that this course is taught is that we, as students, are responsible for the quality of the education we are receiving.  Our professor gives us good guiding points to work with, and we are then given the chance to explore as in depth as we choose and given the opportunity to share on our blogs the insights we gain.  I like the blogs much better than the discussion boards because the boards tend to limit the topic of conversation to a given thread, whereas the blogs inspire me to write multiple entries on different topics.  I don’t feel like such a passive learner in this class as I have in other graduate courses.  I hope that as I continue to be a teacher in the public school system, I can break that pattern of passive learning with my own students and use the techniques and skills learned in this class to make better learners for tomorrow.