E-Learning by Design

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From William Horton -- a world renowned expert with more than thirty-five years of hands-on experience creating networked-based educational systems -- comes the next-step resource for e-learning training professionals. Like his best-selling book Designing Web-Based Training , this book is a comprehensive resource that provides practical guidance for making the thousand and one decisions needed to design effective e-learning.

e-Learning by Design includes a systematic, flexible, and rapid design process covering every phase of designing e-learning. Free of academic jargon and confusing theory, this down-to-earth, hands-on book is filled with hundreds of real-world examples and case studies from dozens of fields.

"Like the book's predecessor ( Designing Web-based Training ), it deserves four stars and is a must read for anyone not selling an expensive solution. -- From Training Media Review, by Jon Aleckson, www.tmreview.com, 2007

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 Designing e-learning (p. 1)
• What is e-learning? (p. 1)
• Definition of e-learning (p. 1)
• Varieties of e-learning (p. 2)
• What is e-learning design? (p. 3)
• Start with good instructional design (p. 3)
• Consider multiple perspectives (p. 4)
• Design all units of e-learning (p. 6)
• Design quickly and reliably (p. 7)
• Identify your underlying goal (p. 9)
• Set learning objectives (p. 12)
• Identify prerequisites (p. 22)
• Decide the teaching sequence of your objectives (p. 27)
• Create objects to accomplish objectives (p. 32)
• Create tests (p. 36)
• Select learning activities (p. 37)
• Then redesign again and again (p. 44)
• Re-design but do not repeat (p. 45)
• Not your sequential ADDIE process (p. 45)
• Make steady progress (p. 45)
• In closing ... (p. 46)
• Summary (p. 46)
• For more ... (p. 46)
• 2 Absorb-type activities (p. 47)
• About absorb activities (p. 47)
• Common types of absorb activities (p. 47)
• When to feature absorb activities (p. 48)
• Presentations (p. 49)
• About presentations (p. 49)
• Types of presentations (p. 50)
• Best practices for presentations (p. 63)
• Sharing stories (p. 70)
• About sharing stories (p. 70)
• Tell stories to learners (p. 72)
• Have learners tell stories (p. 75)
• Best practices for story-sharing activities (p. 76)
• Readings (p. 78)
• About reading activities (p. 78)
• Assign individual documents (p. 79)
• Create an online library (p. 83)
• Rely on Internet resources (p. 85)
• Best practices for reading activities (p. 87)
• Field trips (p. 89)
• About field trips (p. 90)
• Guided tours (p. 91)
• Virtual museums (p. 96)
• Best practices for field trips (p. 101)
• In closing ... (p. 103)
• Summary (p. 103)
• For more ... (p. 104)
• 3 Do-type activities (p. 105)
• About do activities (p. 105)
• Common types of do activities (p. 105)
• When to feature do activities (p. 106)
• Practice activities (p. 106)
• About practice activities (p. 106)
• Drill-and-practice activities (p. 108)
• Hands-on activities (p. 110)
• Guided-analysis activities (p. 113)
• Teamwork activities (p. 120)
• Best practices for practice activities (p. 123)
• Discovery activities (p. 125)
• About discovery activities (p. 125)
• Virtual-laboratory activities (p. 127)
• Case studies (p. 131)
• Role-playing scenarios (p. 135)
• Best practices for discovery activities (p. 140)
• Games and simulations (p. 141)
• About games and simulations (p. 141)
• Types of learning games (p. 146)
• Design games for learning (p. 155)
• Best practices for games (p. 160)
• Use games as e-learning courses (p. 164)
• In closing ... (p. 165)
• Summary (p. 165)
• For more ... (p. 166)
• 4 Connect-type activities (p. 167)
• About connect activities (p. 167)
• Common types of connect activities (p. 168)
• When to feature connect activities (p. 168)
• Ponder activities (p. 169)
• About ponder activities (p. 170)
• Rhetorical questions (p. 171)
• Meditation activities (p. 172)
• Cite-example activities (p. 176)
• Evaluation activities (p. 177)
• Summary activities (p. 179)
• Brainstorming activities (p. 181)
• Combine ponder activities with other activities (p. 183)
• Job aids (p. 183)
• About job aids (p. 184)
• Glossaries (p. 185)
• Calculators (p. 189)
• E-consultants (p. 192)
• Best practices for job aids (p. 193)
• Research activities (p. 194)
• About research activities (p. 195)
• Scavenger hunts (p. 196)
• Guided research (p. 199)
• Best practices for research activities (p. 202)
• Original-work activities (p. 206)
• About original-work activities (p. 206)
• Decision activities (p. 207)
• Work-document activities (p. 208)
• Journal activities (p. 209)
• Comparison activities (p. 210)
• Group-critique activities (p. 210)
• Best practices for original-work activities (p. 212)
• In closing (p. 213)
• Summary (p. 213)
• For more ... (p. 214)
• 5 Tests (p. 215)
• Decide why you are testing (p. 215)
• When are formal tests needed? (p. 215)
• Why are you testing? (p. 216)
• What do you hope to accomplish? (p. 217)
• What do you want to measure? (p. 218)
• Select the right type of question (p. 218)
• Consider the type question you need (p. 219)
• Common types of test questions (p. 220)
• True/False questions (p. 221)
• Pick-one questions (p. 224)
• Pick-multiple questions (p. 228)
• Fill-in-the-blanks questions (p. 231)
• Matching-list questions (p. 234)
• Sequence-type questions (p. 236)
• Composition questions (p. 238)
• Performance questions (p. 242)
• Write effective questions (p. 244)
• Follow the standard question format (p. 244)
• Ask questions simply and directly (p. 246)
• Make answering straightforward (p. 254)
• Challenge test-takers (p. 258)
• Combine questions effectively (p. 260)
• Ask enough questions (p. 260)
• Make sure one question does not answer another (p. 260)
• Sequence test questions effectively (p. 261)
• Vary the form of questions and answers (p. 262)
• Give meaningful feedback (p. 262)
• Report test scores simply (p. 262)
• Provide complete information (p. 263)
• Gently correct wrong answers (p. 264)
• Avoid wimpy feedback (p. 266)
• Give feedback at the right time (p. 266)
• Perfect your testing (p. 268)
• Hint first (p. 268)
• Use advanced testing capabilities (p. 269)
• Monitor results (p. 272)
• Make tests fair to all learners (p. 273)
• Test early and often (p. 275)
• Set the right passing score (p. 276)
• Define a scale of grades (p. 278)
• Pre-test to propel learners (p. 279)
• Explain the test (p. 280)
• Prepare learners to take the test (p. 280)
• Keep learners in control (p. 281)
• Consider alternatives to formal tests (p. 282)
• Use more than formal, graded tests (p. 282)
• Help learners build portfolios (p. 283)
• Have learners collect tokens (p. 283)
• Gauge performance in live online meetings (p. 283)
• And in discussion-forum activities (p. 283)
• In closing ... (p. 284)
• Summary (p. 284)
• For more ... (p. 284)
• 6 Topics (p. 285)
• What are topics? (p. 285)
• Examples of topics (p. 285)
• Anatomy of a topic (p. 292)
• Design the components of the topic (p. 293)
• Title the topic (p. 293)
• Introduce the topic (p. 296)
• Test learning for the topic (p. 299)
• Specify learning activities for the topic (p. 301)
• Summarize the topic (p. 304)
• Link to related material (p. 305)
• Write metadata (p. 308)
• Design reusable topics (p. 312)
• Craft recombinant building blocks (p. 312)
• Design consistent topics (p. 313)
• Avoid the "as-shown-above" syndrome (p. 313)
• Integrate foreign modules (p. 314)
• Example of a docking module (p. 315)
• What to include in a docking module (p. 316)
• In closing ... (p. 317)
• Summary (p. 317)
• For more ... (p. 318)
• 7 Lessons (p. 319)
• Combine learning activities (p. 320)
• Ways of organizing lessons (p. 321)
• Common kinds of lessons (p. 322)
• Classic tutorials (p. 323)
• Book-like structures (p. 329)
• Scenario-centered lessons (p. 333)
• Essential-learning tutorials (p. 340)
• Exploratory tutorials (p. 345)
• Subject-specific structures (p. 351)
• Designing lessons as learning objects (p. 354)
• Lessons as objects (p. 354)
• When to divide a lesson into objects (p. 355)
• Composing lessons of objects (p. 355)
• In closing ... (p. 355)
• Summary (p. 355)
• For more ... (p. 356)
• 8 Strategic decisions (p. 357)
• What is a course? (p. 358)
• Framework and content (p. 358)
• A hierarchy of learning objects (p. 360)
• Choose the kind of e-learning (p. 361)
• Instructor-led or learner-led? (p. 361)
• Synchronous or asynchronous? (p. 363)
• What size class? (p. 365)
• What devices will learners use to take e-learning? (p. 366)
• Where will learners take e-learning? (p. 370)
• Consider alternatives to pure e-learning (p. 381)
• Blended learning (p. 381)
• Embedded e-learning (p. 387)
• Plan for reuse (p. 392)
• Build from reusable parts (p. 392)
• Reuse in different ways (p. 394)
• Follow standards for reuse (p. 395)
• Avoid a naive view of reuse (p. 403)
• Follow quality standards (p. 403)
• Standards for quality of design (p. 404)
• Standards for accessibility (p. 405)
• Set your own technology standards (p. 410)
• Designate target browsers (p. 410)
• Specify file formats for materials (p. 411)
• Limit file sizes (p. 412)
• Title courses carefully (p. 413)
• In closing ... (p. 414)
• Summary (p. 414)
• For more ... (p. 414)
• 9 Design for the virtual classroom (p. 415)
• Create a virtual classroom (p. 416)
• Why create a virtual classroom? (p. 416)
• Courses, meetings, presentations (p. 416)
• Select and use collaboration tools (p. 417)
• Select your collaboration tools (p. 417)
• Slide shows (p. 422)
• E-mail (p. 424)
• Discussion forums (p. 427)
• Chat and instant messaging (p. 429)
• Whiteboards (p. 431)
• Web tours (p. 435)
• Application sharing (p. 436)
• Polls (p. 439)
• Audio-conferencing (p. 442)
• Video-conferencing (p. 444)
• Breakout rooms (p. 447)
• Conduct online meetings (p. 448)
• Plan the meeting (p. 449)
• Prepare for the meeting (p. 453)
• Announce the meeting (p. 457)
• Manage the live portion (p. 458)
• Activate meetings (p. 460)
• Include make-up activities for missed meetings (p. 462)
• Guide discussion activities (p. 463)
• Design meaningful discussion activities (p. 464)
• Ensure learners have necessary skills (p. 466)
• Moderate discussion activities (p. 467)
• Perform message maintenance (p. 470)
• Manage virtual courses (p. 471)
• Select a qualified instructor (p. 471)
• Teach the class, don't just let it happen (p. 473)
• Plan predictable learning cycles (p. 474)
• Provide complete instructions (p. 476)
• Simplify tasks for learners (p. 484)
• Manage teams (p. 486)
• Deal with problem learners (p. 488)
• Adapt collaboration for small and asynchronous classes (p. 491)
• Follow up after the course (p. 492)
• In closing (p. 493)
• Summary (p. 493)
• For more (p. 494)
• 10 Visual display (p. 495)
• Fundamental design decisions (p. 495)
• Whole screen or window? (p. 496)
• Full-screen course (p. 496)
• Course in a window (p. 497)
• Consider related decisions (p. 498)
• Number of windows (p. 498)
• Use separate windows sparingly (p. 498)
• When to display in the same window (p. 499)
• When to display a new window (p. 499)
• Window characteristics (p. 500)
• Window size (p. 500)
• Window shape (p. 503)
• Scrolling or non-scrolling display (p. 507)
• Fixed or variable-sized display (p. 512)
• Legibility (p. 515)
• Keep text legible (p. 515)
• Ensure foreground-background contrast (p. 517)
• Layout (p. 520)
• Zone the display (p. 520)
• Define a flexible scheme (p. 521)
• Focus attention on content (p. 523)
• Unity (p. 526)
• Case study in unity (p. 527)
• Design emblems and theme graphics (p. 529)
• In closing (p. 530)
• Summary (p. 530)
• For more (p. 530)
• 11 Navigation (p. 531)
• How should learners navigate? (p. 531)
• Overcome the one-path-for-all syndrome (p. 532)
• Sparse or rich navigation? (p. 532)
• Navigation mechanisms (p. 534)
• Paging (p. 535)
• Menus (p. 537)
• Indexes (p. 549)
• Maps (p. 550)
• Search facilities (p. 555)
• Hypertext links (p. 557)
• Autoscanning (p. 561)
• Location indicators (p. 563)
• Bookmarks (p. 565)
• Balance navigation mechanisms (p. 567)
• Implement navigation mechanisms (p. 568)
• Let your LMS/LCMS provide a framework (p. 569)
• Use your authoring tool for standard features (p. 570)
• Hand-build custom navigation (p. 571)
• Best practices for navigation (p. 572)
• Make navigation predictable (p. 572)
• Provide intra-topic navigation (p. 572)
• Design pathways for efficient learning (p. 573)
• Shorten pathways (p. 574)
• In closing (p. 574)
• Summary (p. 574)
• For more (p. 576)
• 12 Conclusion (p. 577)
• The new model of learning (p. 577)
• The publishing model is our past (p. 577)
• The catalyst model is our future (p. 578)
• How we will learn (p. 579)
• Just the beginning (p. 580)
• Index (p. 581)

Author notes provided by Syndetics