Instructional+Design+Issues-Culture

=Moving Away from the Standard Instructional Design Methodology =  Historically Instructional Designers were used to designing according to how they thought the class materials should be presented. But how many actually too the time out to think of the end user and the technology tools they would be using. Today with more and more classes being offered online, the cultural that the user resides in must be considered. This is not only for higher education but must be considered for secondary education also.

Online classes are now being offered for the k-12 level. School reviewed with an online curriculum include:
 * Eldorado Academy,
 * Texas Tech University Independent School District,
 * Agora Cyber Charter School (part of a PA pubic school district),
 * Laurel Springs (A college preparatory private school)
 * Plano Home School Academy / North Texas Academy, and the
 * Internet Home School

The most interesting school was the Agora Cyber Charter School. This school is known for exceeding the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. The students must pass eligibility requirements in order to be accepted. Parents and students are assigned their own state-certified teacher to help guide and track their progress through the curriculum. However, not much is said about the curriculum design and how the culture of the students is considered when developing the courses. As a matter of fact, none of the schools mentioned that they take this into consideration. Even though Agora did not advertise having a cultural sensitive curriculum, they offer class materials both online and text based. This in itself would address the different needs of the students.

None of the schools reviewed addressed how they provide services to the Learning disabled student. One would think that accommodations for this population would need to be addressed especially for online institutions. In addition to this, other factors that should be included are:
 * The technical skill set of the students
 * Leading the students to a higher order of thinking
 * Creating learning communities
 * Creating an environment that encourages participation and collaboration - this helps those students who definitely need more stimulation and interaction than the average techy student.
 * Consistent and frequent feedback
 * Providing supplemental materials that address the different learning styles of the students
 * Language barriers/vocabulary
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Clear and concise instructions that could be considered universal and understood by all
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Course format (Synchronous vs. Asynchronous) or in other words real time participation vs. convenience participation

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">An example of asynchronous technology would be email, email discussion groups, and web pages. Synchronous technology would be chat, muds, or webcasting.

Other issues around instructional design and online education is assessment. These would include 1) How the class will be assessed is critical. Not just speaking from a student perspective but also from an instructor perspective. 2) How the teacher is interacting with the students is critical. 3) Is the instructor providing feedback, are they delivering content in a usable format. 4) Did the instructor follow up with the students to make sure that they had the proper hardware and software in order to participate effectively in the course. These are something of the factors that are not always thought of. Even if posted for the students to review, how many instructors think to make sure they over communicate what is required for the course? Not many.

So what happens to the student who does not have the right software or is technologically challenged? Is support given by the institution? In designing a course it is important to remember things such as this. Why not make sure that the content of the course can be viewed access on multiple operating systems, multiple browses, etc?

In my past experience, I have found that students do not read what is required for the course. They find out as they go along. If this happens at a post secondary education level, I can imagine what happens at the secondary level.

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