|
|
|
As the instructional designer
developing a
distance education course, it's a good idea to think like a
distance
education student. Think about what they want to know and how they
learn.
How do you find out who the distance
learners
will be? As has already been described, you
may want
to do an audience analysis. You also may wish to
contact the dean
or registrar's office – whoever handles registration – to
get some insight on student characteristics. Another source of
information on
learner characteristics is learners themselves. Contact students who
have taken
other distance education courses to find out what they and their fellow
students are like. Getting as much information about the learners early
on will
help you as you design the entire course. The graphic on the right
details some of the characteristics that should be considered when
identifying
the possible distance education student.
What are the learners' ages,
cultural
backgrounds, interests, and educational levels? What is their
familiarity with
distance education technology and delivery systems? The audience for
each
course most likely will be somewhat different.
|
|
|
Graphic courtesy of International Rice Research Institute |
You may
conduct learning
styles inventories for yourself and your students to assist
determine what
your and your students' learning styles are. One such inventory is the Group
Embedded Figures Test, discussed in Destination 2:
Adult Learning. Faculty members in colleges of education or
in departments of agricultural
education may be able to provide more information about the GEFT or
similar
learning style inventories.
Please remember that we recommend using RealPlayer to open the video files.
To find the
RealPlayer Web site, click here.
We will
go into more details about learner
characteristics and how to help learners succeed in a distance
environment in Destination
4: Distance Education Learners.
Let's continue with the instructional
design
process by looking at course content.
Destination 3: 6 of 11
