Chapter 5: Designing Effective Online Instruction

Designing instruction for distance education presents a unique environment for the instructional designer. During classroom instruction, whether K-12, higher education, or a training classroom; the teacher or instructor can make immediate adaptations to the instruction to correct misunderstandings and problems in the materials. Similarly, the instructor can read body language to identify when students are having difficulty during a lecture, and then make corrections or add additional examples to improve comprehension. In a distance education environment where the instructor and students are separated in time and place, the instructor may not receive feedback in terms of body language or real-time verbal feedback from students that allow him or her to make immediate adjustments to the instruction. While good instructional design is important in both classroom and distance delivery, the inability to obtain immediate verbal and nonverbal feedback implies a greater need for well-designed instruction.