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ISU LEADS DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Faculty seeking ways to offer quality instruction via the World Wide Web or other distance technologies may soon be able to turn to a "virtual" instructor that can be accessed -- where else -- but through the Internet.
The Virtual Instructional Designer (VID) is an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) being developed in a project led by Indiana State University in partnership with Vincennes University and Ivy Tech State College.
"Our goal is to develop a system which will provide comprehensive, cost-effective, quality faculty training and development for distance education that can be offered to faculty anywhere, anytime via the Internet," said Project Director Nancy Franklin, who serves as director of planning and faculty development in continuing education at Indiana State.
The project is one of 29 recently awarded grants by the U.S. Department of Education's "Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships" designed to expand access to high-quality learning opportunities students can access from a distance. ISU and its partner institutions will receive $1,152,788 over the next three years including $252,800 for the first year.
One of the most important aspects of the virtual instructional designer is that it will customize a learning program based on the faculty member's needs and knowledge, Franklin indicated.
"Many faculty lack the level of technology expertise demanded by teaching on-line while others are technologically literate but do not have experience in the kinds of pedagogy necessary to take full advantage of this dynamic, flexible learning environment," she said.
Faculty can complete an on-line analysis to determine their technology expertise, pedagogy preferences, type and subject of courses to be redesigned and instructor concerns about designing an on-line course. The VID will then customize the learning program based on this information. For example, instructors with low-level computer skills would be given a series of tutorials, assignments and job aides until they display the minimum technology skills needed to proceed to another section of the VID.
Faculty also will be able to access just-in-time directions and answers to specific questions by utilizing the search engine for the site. They also may explore the site's four main sections -- technology, pedagogy, instructional design and project management -- for models, information, tutorials and case studies.
The Virtual Instructional Designer should itself be a model for the kind of asynchronous, interactive, user-defined and flexible courses faculty utilizing it may design, Franklin noted.
"Through the Virtual Instructional Designer, faculty will not only learn about developing courses for distance education, they will actually experience asynchronous, on-line learning from a student's perspective," she added.
The initiative grew out of Indiana State's DegreeLink program which offers the upper two years of a baccalaureate program via distance education to Vincennes University and Ivy Tech associate degree holders in their local communities. The DegreeLink program has resulted in a demand for more on-line and distance education courses, Franklin said.
"While we offer a 12-week Course Transformation Academy to assist faculty in redesigning curriculum for distance education, many cannot participate due to time and place constraints. Our faculty are facing the same obstacles many adult learners encounter -- they can't get to the classes when and where they are offered," she said.
In addition, institutions across the country are struggling to find sufficient instructional design resources to assist faculty members on an individual basis in transforming their courses for effective web-based delivery.
Franklin and her colleagues plan to offer the Virtual Instructional Designer first on a statewide basis and eventually to faculty across the nation. The first version of the VID will be developed for testing within the next year.
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SIDEBAR ON HOW THE VID WORKS:
Here's an example of how the Virtual Instructional Designer might work:
Some instructors who have adequate computer skills may have concerns about how their teaching styles, pedagogies and courses will translate to the Web. They worry about the ability to replicate testing, labs, fieldwork or other activities on the Internet without watering down the course.
These instructors will be given a learning plan that will start them in the instructional design portion of the VID where they will follow case studies utilizing problem-solving techniques actually employed by other instructors in similar situations. Models of the kind of thinking that occurs when looking at instructional problems and designing media-based solutions will be offered.
The instructors will be presented with examples of ways to "solve" their concerns and will be assigned sections in the pedagogy portion of the VID to broaden their knowledge of distance learning pedagogies and the adult learner. They will then be directed to other sections of the VID according to the type of course they plan to develop.
The Virtual Instructional Designer provides a variety of interactive tutorials, simulations, information and models for the development of an asynchronous on-line course. It also will help instructors establish project goals, milestones and timelines.
The VID acts as the instructor's guide and facilitator to find, choose and use resources to solve his or her individual problems or concerns.
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