With that said, it does make sense to be more explicit talking about some of the ideas and how they’re implemented.

As always, all the information, fantastic. But, I have yet to see an example, perhaps step by step, of how an online course followed sound instructional design principles. For example, how ADDIE, principes of instruction by Gagne or Meryll and aplication of objectives were the foundations of the interaction on line and how they did it.

Astrid Case

I just discovered your blog about a week ago and I have already been applying many of the great tips and tricks that you write about. I think all teachers would benefit form some of these ideas and that there should be more emphasis on them in teacher prep courses.

I think two of the points that you made in this post are crucial to anybody designing applications. First of all you stated that “many elearning courses do two things that are contrary to what’s best for learning: force learners on a linear path and lock navigation that doesn’t allow for exploration.” I could not agree more and I find few things as frustrating and non-interactive as an application where you are locked into doing something in a set order. An earlier response cited a book as the ultimate example of this but I disagree. When reading a book you still have a great deal of control over your destiny and can do things like reread sections, refer to pictures or diagrams, or skip boring passages. Locking the navigation on applications robs you of the ability to control your own destiny and it feels like you are under the spell of the computer.

The second point that I thought was critical was that “the more relevant the content is, the less you have to rely on interactivity because you’re better able to tap into the learner’s motivation.” I think many people skip the step of considering the relevance to the audience. Especially with adult education programs I think there is a tendency to assume the learners will be motivated.

I am graduate student working on my masters degree in Instructional Design and Technology. Your blog was recommended by another student in my class. She was right! This great place to learn about Instructional Design in action.

Currently, I teach middle school and have a classroom blog where I post announcements, homework assignments, and links to other blogs. I would like to add an interactive quality to my blog but as several of the others have commented I would like to be sure it is meaningful.

In the past I have posted story starters and had students add to the story through one line comments. The students enjoyed this activity, but I am not sure how much they got out of it besides learning how to post to a blog. Another time, I integrated our global studies program into my blog. Students had to pick a point of interest in the country we were studying and without naming it post a description of that place on my blog. Other students were then invited to post guesses as to the name of the place. My students enjoyed this very much and when we reviewed the responses laughed at some of the crazy guesses.

Do you have any suggestions of where I can go to find more ideas on how to make my blog more interactive and meaningful?

Anita