Design, Design, Design

Bates said that similar to real estate, where the important element in home selection is location, location, location. In online courses, the important element is design, design, design. Bates states that design drives "costs and effectiveness in a course." Logically, this would be a person's first thought that a well desinged course would have greater benefits in the overall success of a course in regards to quality and cost matters. However, many institutions are not willing to put forth the effort upfront to focus on the desing of a course prior to its go live period. There is still an underlying belief that if the course is already developed, then transferring this information to an online system is essentially easy.

In reviewing the information from module 5, there are many different factors to consider in the design of of an online course. One must decide if it will be delivered synchronously or asynchronously; if the course will use internet technologies, or another method to relay course information; also the type of interactivity used in the course makes a difference. In the design of a course, I believe that these components will have an effect on the overall outcome of the course.

An area that Bates touched on in chapter 8 of the text was the cycle of development in web-based learning. I found this argument interesting because it shows how elearning progresses through a university. First, there is an instructor/professor/lecturer, that looks to incorporate newer technologies in the course. Although this may not be the best solution, it is a step towards change which may not cost the institution much, but will open the door to the potential expansion of education. From this section, which Bates terms the 'lone ranger, the technology is slowly moved through the ranks of the university until it gets to the point that the univeristy decides to invest in the new learning venture and backs the technology. This appears to be a natural progression of growth for elearning, but Bates, then mentions another facotr. He states, "if teachers can learn all the skills needed to design, develop, deliver and maintain Web-based materials in such a way that the technology is fully exploited...then there is no need for the support of other professionals such as instructional designers, project managers and Web developers" (p. 173). Although this statement not only puts myself, and many others out of a job, it appears that this would be contradictory to the Lone Ranger idea. This idea would mean that the instructor would encompass all of these additional tasks, in addition to the normal teaching and research loads. I am not saying that this is not possible, however, it is burdensome on the instructor. The team effort I believe is necessary, to ensure that the overall design is benefical for all parties involved.

At this time, i think that i am talking in circles. for this reason, i am going to stop posting this message, return in the morning to clarify and move on to module 6 and the group project. Good Night.