This article describes an action research in a graduate educational technology class. The study employed the Online Top-Down Modeling Model (Li & Liu, 2005) as a case in which the students used the learning resources from the course website to perform various learning activities. The findings of this research identify the students' eight…

Despite the ever-increasing number of higher education institutions offering online courses, there are still a lot of controversial debates and a strong sense of confusion about how well the concept of Web-based distance learning is being implemented. This paper summarizes the 10 primary steps toward the assessment, planning, design,…

This paper describes how student reactions shaped the design of a WWW (World Wide Web)-based course environment at the University of Twente (Netherlands), using the example of a first year course. The first section discusses the importance of user interface (re)design for WWW-based courses. The University's focus on student evaluations of…