Reflection on developing a website using PHP (5)—Instructional Design

Developing instructional multimedia website is seldom an individual effort. Typically, several people work together to create projects that involve more than just text and graphics but instead involve a pedagogically sound design with interactive exercises and activities as well as assessments and communication approaches that facilitate teaching and learning.

So usually there will be a development team, in this team, different people are in charge of different aspects of the website. That is necessary that we have: Producer/Project Manager, Art Director/Visual Designer, Script Writer, Instructional Designer/Training Specialist, HTML Coder… but for a small project, maybe one person could be responsible for many parts.

Instructional Design is the systematic process of translating general principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials and learning. It includes development of instructional materials and activities; and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner activities.

Examples of ID model:

􀂙 ADDIE Model

􀂙 ASSURE Model

􀂙 Dick & Carey Model

􀂙 Hannafin & Peck Model

􀂙 Waterfall Model

􀂙 Rapid Prototyping Model

􀂙 etc…..

For our website, we choose ADDIE model for Instructional Design.

Phase 1: Planning/Analysis

􀂙 needs/requirements ?

􀂙 “brainstorming”: b a s o g : who, what, why, where, when & how?

􀂙 Audience analysis: Who is it for?

􀂙 Needs analysis: Why develop it?

􀂙 Content analysis: What will it cover?

􀂙 Resource analysis: How and how much?

􀂙 Estimate: When will it get done?

􀂙 Where: platform, marketing and distribution?

We discussed these questions before we started to create this website and summarized it in the proposal report (the objectives, target users…).

Phase 2: Design

􀂙 What’s the difference between analysis and design?

􀂙 Storyboards: design content as sequence of scenes or screens.

􀂙 Scripts: design content in textual form.

􀂙 Flowcharts: show navigational structure.

􀂙 Design in detail before programming/authoring!!

For design part, we first choose a temple, but after the first 40% presentation, our “target users” and the “experts” in this field suggest us to consider our visual design. Considering the suggestions from them, we changed our design. Actually, it is a process of creatàchangeàrecreatàchange…

Phase 3: Development

􀂙 Who will be involved in this project and what responsibilities will each person have?

􀂙 Authoring or programming of the project.

For our own website, we choose Dreamweaver PHP to develop our website. Even though most parts of the job could be finished by using the edit panel, but sometimes we really need to know some basic coding to solve some of problems, especially when you choose a temple instead of creating your own layout.

Phase 4: Implementation

􀂙 How is multimedia development different from systems programming?

􀂙 Why is prototyping a good idea?

􀂙 Programming uses authoring tools

􀂙 Media development involves special tools for graphics, sound, video, etc.

􀂙 User testing, user observations and focus groups

For this part, we use self-check and group check about the content, navigation, interface .

Phase 5: Testing & Evaluation

􀂙 How will you know if the instructional objectives have been achieved?

􀂙 What method will you use for collecting feedback from the users of the software regarding the interface, sequencing of information, and its content?

􀂙 Formative & Summative

For the Formative Evaluation, during the developing process, we got some kindly opinions from students from other departments and our friends. And after finish this big project, we create a questionnaire to do the Summative Evaluation from field experts and peers.

For more information, you can follow the following link to see a useful website about instructional design.

http://www.instructionaldesign.org/

or watch the following video: