Distance education course designers working alone often do not have the luxury of fully developing their instruction before releasing their courses to students. The Individual Iterative Instructional Design (I3D) model is useful for educators who both develop and present their distance learning instructional units in areas ranging from higher…

Managing the design and production of online courses is challenging. Insufficient instructional design and inefficient management often lead to issues such as poor course quality and course delivery delays. In an effort to facilitate, streamline, and improve the overall design and production of online courses, this article discusses how we…

Describes an evaluation of Web-based instruction at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (Texas) that showed that the design team had been distracted from many first principles of instructional design by the creative chaos on the Web and discusses how self-reflection and role definitions allowed the team to overcome these disappointments and…

Provides an introduction to this special issue on distance education and e-learning. Several questions related to these topics are presented, and the articles contained in the issue are summarized. (MES)

Describes the process of design and development of two Web-based training templates (i.e., a newspaper metaphor and a theater metaphor) to prompt rapid development of active learning environments. Findings suggest that design elements to support limitations of short-term memory are important considerations in template design. (MES)

Reports on the 11th Annual E-Learning Conference and Expo (Washington, DC, April 17-20, 2001). Papers presented in panel sessions included (but were not limited to) these themes: transforming traditional courses into e-learning; cost and benefits analysis; instructional design; technical issues; health hazards of wireless technologies; developing…

Provides an overview of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. A case study is then presented that explains how the use of the taxonomy was instrumental in the development of graduate-level online instruction and how the taxonomy helped to maintain the congruence among the components of online instruction. (MES)

Describes the adaptation of "Instructional Design and Development" from a residential course to a World Wide Web-based course offered in the distance Masters' degree program in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. A description of the Web-based course, findings regarding the adaptation process, and implications for…

The articles in this special issue illustrate research in the fields of instructional design and distance education that share the common goal of using the findings to improve practice. Through case studies, the authors contribute ideas, examples, and research data related to the design, development, implementation, evaluation, and continuous…

This discussion of blended learning environments covers: (1) background; (2) why the term "blended" is used, and what can be blended; (3) goals of blended learning environments, including pedagogical richness, access to knowledge, social interaction, personal agency, cost effectiveness, and ease of revision; and (4) characteristics of…

Presents a critique of the five case studies of blended learning environments in this issue. Comments are organized around the following four frameworks: (1) the J-curve of implementation; (2) the theory of Engaged Collaborative Discourse; (3) adaptation to individual differences; and (4) Validity-Centered Design. (MES)

Examines major trends for changes related to e-learning in several sectors (i.e., corporate training, postsecondary education, K-12 education, and non-traditional K-12 settings) and describes how these trends are affecting the development and dissemination of instructional design theory and methodology. (MES)

This purpose of this study was to assist an instructor in facilitating an online course while the class was being offered, and to provide timely interventions for improving the course during the semester. Instructional interventions were suggested and an overall evaluation was conducted. The approach, findings, and recommendations have…

Describes a blended introductory instructional design course at Brigham Young University (Utah) that was evaluated, revised, and re-evaluated. The case is an example of how a faculty member teaching a blended course must constantly determine the balance between face-to-face and online components. (Author/MES)

Using collaborative critical reflection as an index, this study examines the asynchronous and face-to-face discourse of 28 suburban Chicago elementary teachers developing problem based learning (PBL) curriculum. Statistical analysis of the corpus produced by the 2 mediums shows that the asynchronous online network emerges as the medium of choice…