Adapting a Master’s Degree Course to the Web: A Case Analysis

In Fall 2000, the Instructional Systems Technology (IST) department at Indiana University in Bloomington began offering its 36-hour master’s degree program at a distance. Half of the 17 students who enrolled in the program are from Indiana; the rest were from out of state, spanning three time zones. Just over half of the students were women. The group was evenly split among those who work in K-12, higher education, and the corporate field. The projected time to complete the program is three years. During the first semester of the program, the students enrolled in four hours of course work: R521, a one-hour orientation to the field, and R522, a three-hour course about basic instructional design and development.

R522, “Instructional Design and Development,” is the first course of the core set in the IST department. Students in the regular residential program come in as a group and go through a core set of courses, two in the fall semester and two in the spring. Typically, the other fall course is R511, “Instructional Technology Foundations I,” an introduction to and history of the field. Students tend to take the core set together throughout the first year of the program, after which they have a more traditional, individual choice of courses for the rest of the program.

The IST program is project-based and group-based; students enter the program and immediately begin working very intensively with teams on project-based lessons. This approach was to be maintained in the online master’s program; the ideas of intensive group work and materials production at a distance were the first few challenges of designing this course. The program also emphasizes reflective practice; students not only critique their own finished products, they are also required to reflect and write about group dynamics and the instructional design process. Finally, the IST program strives to maintain a feeling of community among the students. The 50 students, both master’s- and doctoral-level, who enter the program every fall go through core together and start to develop a sense of community; they feel like they’re all going through boot camp together. It was important to replicate this feeling of community and interdependence in the Distance Masters’ program.

In the residential program, incoming students have a one-day orientation session the week before school starts. They meet each other and the faculty, have tours of the department and the School of Education, and have a general introduction to the program. They spend the first weeks of their first semester getting to know each other in classes and in the social spaces in the building. The Distance Master’s students would not have this latter opportunity, so a four-day on-site orientation program was created for them. The week before the beginning of the semester, all of the distance students came to Bloomington to engage in a variety of content-based, groupbuilding, and administrative tasks. The goal was to instill a “boot camp” feel in the orientation to replicate what the residential students go through in their first few weeks of core. If there was going to be a community focus to the distance program, it would need to be emphasized from the beginning, and that would include bringing students and faculty together face-to-face.

As the first course in the distance masters’ program, R522 is an in-depth exploration of instructional design; the students are introduced to the ADDIE model and instructional design theories, and also learn about visual design, usability testing, and formative evaluation. The deliverables for the course include two projects; students develop materials for one concept lesson and one procedure lesson. Students engage in weekly group dynamics reflections, provide periodic e-mail updates throughout the semester, as well as a report at the end of each project that discusses the design process; there is as much emphasis on process as on product.

Given the program emphasis described above, the problem that the R522 distance master’s design team faced was how to create an online R522 course that matched the residential R522 course experience in terms of assignments, criteria, the problem- and project-based nature of the program, the emphasis on teamwork and group-based inter-activity, the implementation of reflective practice at several levels, and maintenance of a community of learners and cohort support. The design team for the R522 course included the instructor of the course and five advanced doctoral students in the IST program.

The remainder of this paper will describe the literature base that informed the efforts of the R522 distance design team, the activities of adaptation and design, the final product that was designed and developed, the findings of the design team regarding the design and adaptation processes, and implications for the adaptation and design of other residential courses to online environments.

The R522 distance design team was informed by three distinct literature bases as they engaged in the work of adapting, designing, and developing the R522 on-line course.

When considering the unique attributes of the World Wide Web environment and proposals for the R522 Website, the design team considered lessons from literature that specified appropriate features for Web-based instructional products. When considering the instructional nature of the R522 Website, the design team considered the literature of instructional design processes. Additionally, the design team considered lessons from literature about the development processes that are generally used for the creation of multimedia and Web interfaces. Lessons from these three literature bases were synthesized to inform the overall processes of adaptation, design, and development that were used by the design team to create the R522 distance learning experience.

From Relan and Gillani (1997), the design team learned that the asynchronous, virtual, and network features of the Web facilitate constructivist learning approaches such as the problem-based, group-based approach that was planned for the R522 course. Hedberg, Brown, and Arrighi (1997) asserted that the Web environment facilitates instructional experiences in which the learner acts as a producer through the knowledge construction process; this view supported the assumption that the project-based nature of the residential R522 course could be readily adapted to an online environment. From Hill (1997), the design team learned that the Web is an appropriate medium for creating learner-centered environments, and support was provided by Bonk and Reynolds (1997) for the design team’s plan to use the Web to facilitate higher-order thinking among learners.

Additionally, the design team learned about the importance of community building as a strategy to reduce attrition in online learning environments, because the more that learners need each other, the better the chance of keeping them in the program (Palloff & Pratt, 1999). The design team also found that learners in an online format need a great deal of curricular, instructional, and technological support (Morgan & Tam, 1999;,Sewart, 1993), and that learners need frequent and meaningful interaction with the instructor because, in a distance format where students don’t have the luxury of coming to class every week to see the instructor, they have to fulfill their interaction needs in other ways (Crouch & Montecino, 1997; Kirby, 1999).

Given the instructional nature of the Web-based environment that the design team was working to create, the instructional design literature was considered in order to inform the team as they engaged in the processes of confirming goals and objectives for the course (Mager, 1997), understanding the needs of learners who would be engaging in the course experience (Dick & Carey, 1996), and designing instructional experiences that the learners would access through the course Website (Gagne, Briggs, & Wager, 1988).

The R522 design team was also informed by the experiences of professional designers of commercial Websites regarding the use of storyboarding and paper design, template creation, interface design, and the development of navigation structures, html editing and division of labor for the creation of the R522 course website (Kristof & Satran, 1995;,Lopuck, 1996;,Mok, 1996). Finally, for guidance on usability testing and formative evaluation of the R522 Website, the design team followed processes outlined by Boling and Frick (1997), which call for usability testing with representatives of the target audience early in the design process and throughout the design and development activities.

The course instructor provided both subject matter and technical expertise regarding the course design, and created the overall framework for the course Website. The course designers, a team of five advanced IST students, worked either as instructional or interface designers for this project. These students were either enrolled in advanced design and development courses, or submitted the design of this course as a development project, which is required for completion of an IST degree.

The design team engaged in 13 activities throughout the process of adapting, designing and developing the R522 distance course. These activities were not discrete, and in many cases, the various activities were iterative and informed by other activities so that a decision made during one activity was changed based on work that occurred during another activity that occurred later in the design process. A list of the various activities of adaptation, design, and development, with brief descriptions, is provided below.

• Activity 1: The design team met with the instructor to confirm the goals and objectives of the course, and to make sure that the goals and objectives were similar to the residential course.

• Activity 2: The instructor identified the major content components of the course and considered how these components would best fit in the Web-based instructional environment (the major components of the course were the instructional design process, instructional theories, and group dynamics and critical reflection regarding instructional design and teamwork).

• Activity 3: The design team established an overall technology strategy for the course (at this point, the instructor and designers agreed to use Web pages to provide instructional materials, Site-Scape Forum to foster group interaction and team interaction, and the listserv to communicate time-sensitive messages to the entire class).

• Activity 4: The design team worked with the instructor to design an interface that would best reflect the priorities of the course and emphasize the major course components; the interface design process involved the identification of specific Web pages and forum links that would be needed, as well as deciding which elements would be needed on each type of page.

• Activity 5: Templates were designed for each element of instruction (templates for the schedule page, presentation pages, assignment pages, resource pages, etc.).

• Activity 6: The instructor and the interface design team engaged in discussions regarding the relationships between the various Web pages and forum spaces in order to determine the most appropriate navigation paths and navigation structure for the course Website.

• Activity 7: The design team turned to the task of gathering the instructional materials from various subject-matter experts, textbooks, journals, Websites, and personal experience in order to write the content for the presentations pages and to develop the other content materials that were needed for the Web-based course. These content documents were produced in Microsoft Word 98 and saved in rich text format.

• Activity 8: The content materials for the Website were imported from rich text files to html editors and coded as html files.

• Activity 9: The files were usability tested with several representatives of the target audience and, based on these tests, the html files were changed and updated.

• Activity 10: The Website was uploaded to the university file server where it was tested for functionality and compatibility. At this point, the design team learned that there were some compatibility issues between the Unix commands used by the university servers and the programming code used when creating html files with Microsoft’s Frontpage Web editor software, which resulted in the need to recode a number of html files.

• Activity 11: Once the html files were debugged and on the university servers, the students were given an introduction to the Website and trained in its use during the onsite orientation for the distance master’s program. During the orientation, students also received training on basic features of the SiteScape Forum, group editing features available in Microsoft Word, as well as basic skills of teamwork and group dynamics. It was assumed that the course design would not work if students were not given some training regarding their roles and responsibilities for implementing the course design.

• Activity 12: Based on their orientation experience, students began immediately to provide comments and recommendations for improving the Web design, so a mechanism was created to gather their input, and these inputs were used for periodic maintenance and upgrading of the course Website.

• Activity 13: The instructor and two members of the original design team engaged in ongoing monitoring of the university’s technological capacity to ensure that the goals of instruction are met and that students’ needs are addressed given the technological capacities of the university.

There are three major components to the R522 distance course. First is a Website which is a one-way communication vehicle in which the professor provides the students with a great deal of information about logistics, topics, and requirements of the course. All of the instructor-produced content resides on the Website, including links to other resources and information about books and other references. The second component is an asynchronous discussion forum in which students engage in online synchronous and asynchronous conversation. Students can work at a class level, posting messages of interest to all the students; they also have private team areas that are open only to team members, and to which other students and the instructor do not have access. In addition to posting and replying to messages, in any of these areas students can post URLs for others’ reference and can upload documents, such as project reports or team deliverables. The final element in the course is an e-mail listserv through which all members of the course can communicate immediately. Because e-mail is a “push” medium (the message arrives in an inbox), it offers more immediacy than a “pull” option like the forum (where students have to go to a particular URL to read a message).

The Website offers one-way information from instructor to students. A “home” link introduces the IST program and the course, with each student’s digital picture there to give a feeling of community, so that the first thing students see is their classmates as a reminder that they are part of the larger community. This function is helpful not only for the students, but also for the instructors and staff to remember the students they met at the orientation and to put a face to a name.

Also on the index page, “contact information” lists how to get in touch with the instructor, the two graduate assistants who deal primarily with technological support, the program coordinator, and department offices for program and future course questions.

The “syllabus” link provides students with everything they need to know about how the course is run, including the course philosophy and approach, objectives for the course, assignments, evaluation, and grading. The demographic information provided includes class meeting times and e-mail office hours. Office hours have been set so that students know that, no matter when they send e-mails to the instructor, there are two times during the week when e-mails will be answered. Class meeting times (live chats) were established as a metaphor for a class meeting: getting to “see” everyone at the same time and having the instructor there in real time to answer questions in front of everyone and “asking in front of the whole class” rather than replicating private e-mail conversations with the professor. In sum, the syllabus is the contract with the students for what they will complete in the course.

The “schedule” is the driving page of the Website. This is where students go in order to manage and work through the course. The schedule provides a weekly calendar of presentations, discussion topics, and the deliverables due for the week. Each “presentation” includes detailed information such as the objectives of the discussion, an overview of the key points of the discussion, additional resources they should read to become more familiar with the topic, and questions for reflection. The “deliverables” links take students to assignment pages that specify due dates, point values and percentage of grade, any instructions for completing an assignment, and evaluation criteria so that students know how the assignment will be graded.

Also on the index page, students find links to a “resources” page that provides a list of all materials students need to complete the course. The “turn in your work” link takes the students to a password-protected fileserver where they upload their completed assignments to the instructor, so that the instructor does not have to search through the forum or deal with e-mail attachments every time the students hand in assignments. The “gradebook” link is a feature provided through the University Information Technology Services and Bureau of Evaluative Studies and Testing (BEST). Here, the instructor can create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with students’ grades and narrative comments, and then post those to a password-protected fileserver from which students can access all their grades and comments. The index page also features links to an “evaluation” Website which is also administered by BEST and where students complete midterm and final course evaluations. The index page also includes links to a site map, a “frequently asked questions” page, and the class SiteScape Forum.

The second technological element of the R522 course is the asynchronous discussion forum. The university has a SiteScape Forum license, and this software is used to create a virtual meeting space for the course, where learners can discuss issues related to the class with each other in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. The R522 class forum includes four distinct spaces: first, there is a weekly discussion topics space where students go to interact with the instructor and other students regarding topics such as analysis, design, development, usability testing, creating instructor materials, implementation, evaluation, visual design, Web authoring, concept learning, procedure learning, group skills for instructional design, and being a reflective practitioner. A second space in the class forum is devoted to group dynamics. This space has been provided for students to discuss the readings about group dynamics that are required for the course. The third space is a general discussion area where students can talk about any topics or issues related to the course, but not specifically focused on weekly discussions or group dynamics. Finally, each student team has a private space which is password-protected and where they can go to communicate, share documents, and work on project deliverables. There is one other SSF space that is, strictly speaking, at the program level rather than the course level.

The third technological element of the course is the class listserv, which is used primarily by the instructor to communicate public information that needs to go to all students at the same time. Because of the immediate nature of e-mail, the listserv is used for announcements that require a timeliness and priority that would be ill-served by posting in the SiteScape Forum. The listserv is used by the instructor to provide reminders of deliverables due, to make changes in weekly plans, and to send out clarifications regarding criteria for assignments.

Given the design process that has been outlined above, the purpose of this section is to discuss some of the key findings of the design team regarding the adaptation, design, and development processes.

For the IST department at Indiana University, the creation of the Web-based program not only allows the department to reach students who cannot come to Bloomington, it also allows faculty to practice what they preach. In the tradition of the lab schools, it gives faculty an opportunity to implement their ideas—to see if what they are reading, teaching, and proposing for others really does work, and to identify the real issues of Web-based instruction. It gives IST students an opportunity to be involved in the design, development, and maintenance of a distance program before they go out into the world to create their own. The reasoning behind the creation of Web-based instruction has likely impacted the quality of the design, the time dedicated to the adaptation process, as well as the opportunities for studying and improving the R522 distance course.

During the development of the R522 distance course, there was a struggle to reconcile competing concerns regarding what technologies would be supported by the university, the greatest level of technological sophistication that could be integrated into the course, the lowest common denominator of technology that would be used by students, and the technologies that would be most easily accessible and cost-efficient for students.

These concerns were weighed by the design team as they considered the fit between course goals and technological capacity. The project focus, readings focus, team-based focus, and individual focus of the course environment determined what type of Web-based design was needed for the R522 distance course. For example, all of the instruction and interaction in R522 was text-based. In spring 2001, the IST department will offer R541, a production course in which students do individual projects in Director, as well as a Web page, an audio presentation, and a video presentation. The content of that course will greatly increase the technological needs and will require different tools and different ways of working.

The instructor of this course could not have created the course materials alone. Fortunately, graduate students who needed and wanted this experience and who were willing to work for course credit or to complete a required development project were willing to provide the majority of the more than 400 hours of labor it took to complete the initial course Website. If that labor force had not been available, it would have been all but impossible to adapt, design, and develop course materials in the six-week time-frame during which it was completed. The make-up of the labor force and the time available will affect the course adaptation process, and therefore the quality of adapted course materials.

The IST distance master's program development team created a set of minimum technology standards for the students and told prospective students that they could not enroll in the program if they did not have technology that met these basic specifications (such as processor speed, modem speed, number of phone lines). The design team worked with a certain expectation in mind, and even then, changes were made to course materials to ensure that the lowest common denominator of technology sophistication would be able to engage in all course activities so that no students would be left behind. The setting of minimum technology standards for students allowed for the development of a more tightly focused R522 distance course than would have been possible had there been no clear understanding of the students’ basic technological capabilities.

There is an outstanding question as to whether the return on investment will outweigh the costs of creating and implementing the R522 Web-based course. The need to generate revenue from a distance master’s program, at some point, will become a factor that impacts the design and adaptation of residential courses to the Web environment. The fact that a distance master’s program provides instructional design, development and research opportunities for IST students means that the R522 distance course and the distance master’s program as a whole have an entirely different impact on the IST department than would be the case if the primary concern were to generate revenue from this program.

Based on the lessons cited above, the R522 distance course design team identified several implications regarding the adaptation of a residential course to the Web; these implications should be taken into account by others who are planning to adapt a residential course to the Web environment.

The initial development of the course described in this paper occurred over a sixweek period from July to August 2000, and required approximately 400 hours of labor from a development team of five individuals and the instructor of the course. Obviously, the more human resources available and the more time with which to work, the more opportunity there is to create a quality instructional product.

Does the university provide the technological tools, software programs, and administrative support that will be needed to create a successful distance learning experience? Make sure that the programs and software chosen are appropriate to convey the content of the instruction to the students. At the same time, faculty should be provided with the best equipment and connection possible, both from the office and from home.

Learning at a distance requires certain tools that are different from those a residential student may need. Stating explicitly what technologies students will need is useful in that it sets a standard of technological sophistication so that students who don’t meet that standard do not eat away course time with hardware and software problems. Particularly in a team-based program such as the IST distance master’s, if one student cannot connect or complete the work because he or she doesn’t have the software, it is not just his or her problem, it is his or her team’s problem, and therefore the instructor’s problem.

It is highly unlikely that the first version of the course Website will be the best or most effective one, so there should be plans for engaging in at least several iterations of usability testing with representatives of the target audience. The results of those tests should be used to adapt the course Website in order to improve the educational experience for the learners.

Residential students and faculty have enough problems getting their technology to work smoothly. Students learning at a distance are exponentially challenged in the trouble-shooting of their technology problems. Distance learners may have no one within 500 miles to solve their technology problems. In order to support these students, it is helpful to provide a crash course on the software and tools they will use, and to teach them how to troubleshoot and where to go for help. Additionally, it may be helpful to offer students guidelines as to when to use e-mail, listservs, asynchronous discussions and synchronous communication, so that they can take advantage of the best technologies for the various types of interactions they will be required to engage in as they complete the course requirements.

One faculty member in isolation will not be able to design, develop, or implement a Web-based course. It takes the support of an entire faculty to complete this process. Additionally, the department as a whole needs to buy-in to the process and the product. Chances are good that during the development and first implementation of online courses, the lead faculty member will have to lessen his or her other departmental responsibilities, and other faculty members have to be willing and able to pick up that slack. Although some faculty may never teach in the online format, their lives and jobs will be affected by the distance program, and therefore they are important stakeholders in the process.

Last and certainly not least, there is much discussion regarding ownership of online course materials. Each university has its own policy. Any faculty member who is considering the design and development of a Web-based course should take the time to become familiar with the policies that will affect the adaptation, design, and development of Web-based instructional products in order to ensure that stated policies are as good for the developers as they are for the university.

The process of adapting a residential course to a Web-based environment requires that the instructor and the instructional design team grapple with issues of technology support, software capabilities, the collection and dissemination of course resources, the technological skills of learners and faculty, and the motivation of learners and faculty to create and sustain community. It requires that the instructor move out of the comfort zone of familiarity with the residential learning environment to consider what aspects of that environment are most appropriate and can best be replicated in an online environment, and what unique features of the online environment can facilitate learning.

Each adaptation of a residential course to a Web-based environment will be in many ways unique and nongeneralizable, as is the case with the adaptation of the R522 course described in this paper. Yet, consideration of the experiences of this instructor and instructional design team may offer some insight to those who are in the process of adapting other courses to Web environments—a challenge which is being taken on by thousands of university faculty across the United States and throughout the world.