Design Principles

Six Design Principles to Guide the Creation of New Online Front-End Web Development Program

As part of the LRNT 524, Design Thinking Project, Michael Whyte and I partnered to identify a feasible solution to a real-world issue using the design thinking process. The goal was to adapt the conventional in-person, lecture-based Front-End Web Development program to an online format while maintaining or improving the learning outcomes. Based on feedback from peers, our design thinking process, the proposed solution, and my personal beliefs and experiences, I have established six design principles to guide the creation of new online Front-End Web Development program. These principles are highly influenced by Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to ensure inclusive and effective learning for all students.

Make it Accessible

Accessible course design minimizes barriers to learning (Rose, 2001) and maximizes learning opportunities for diverse student populations, including those with physical or learning disabilities (Bernacchio & Mullen, 2007). Accessible course design ensures that every learner has an equal opportunity to participate and learn. Course materials and activities should be designed to be accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities (Rose & Meyer, 2002). To ensure that course materials are accessible, instructors should provide multiple ways for students to access and interact with material (Rose & Meyer, 2002), such as through textual, auditory, and visual resources. Making a learning environment accessible for all learners with various abilities and preferences will result in an effective and inclusive learning environment that supports all types of learners.

Provide Adequate Scaffolding

Scaffolding or providing support for learners as they progress through the course is critical for learners’ success, particularly in online learning environments where students often feel isolated (Cho & Cho, 2016; Sharma & Hannafin, 2007). As a result, instructional designers must incorporate various scaffolding strategies into online course design, including technology-based scaffolds such as interactive simulations, video tutorials, and peer-to-peer collaborative learning platforms.
 

Be Flexible and Adaptable

In today’s ever-changing technological landscape, instructional designers must be flexible and adaptable in their approach to design. With new tools and platforms constantly emerging, it is essential to design courses that can adapt and evolve to stay relevant and effective for learners. As Dousay (2017) suggests, instructional designers should be familiar with the various tools, resources, and instructional design models available so they can use, adapt, or innovate based on their specific context. Thus, instructional designers should be agile and flexible in their approach to ensure that their designs remain current and effective.
 

Design for the Real World

Courses should be designed for real-world relevance. Veletsianos (2011) asserts that as learning is an ongoing process both within and outside formal educational settings, instructional designers should create opportunities for learners to engage with course-related material in real-world contexts. One effective strategy for achieving this goal is to integrate communities of practice into higher education curricula (Veletsianos, 2011), as this allows learners to actively participate in and learn from the practices of experienced professionals in their field. In line with this, Lave (1996) argues that contextualized learning that takes place within a real-life setting can be more beneficial for learners (as cited by Veletsianos, 2011), as it allows for a more authentic and meaningful understanding of the material. Therefore, it is vital to include authentic activities and real-world projects in the course design to enhance the learning experience.
 

Keep it Simple

Clear and simple communication is crucial for the success of online learners. Unclear instruction can lead to increased extraneous cognitive load for students, resulting in a limited ability to deeply process and understand the presented material (Bolkan, 2016). Therefore, educators should ensure that instruction and materials are straightforward and easy to follow.
 

Develop Community and a Sense of Belonging

Developing community and a sense of belonging is vital in the design and delivery of online learning environments. Research indicates that online learners often experience feelings of isolation (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004). To address this issue, educators must proactively foster a sense of community among online learners. One effective strategy is to actively promote open dialogue among learners (Weller, 2020). Open dialogue can be achieved through various online tools and platforms such as discussion boards, chat rooms, and virtual office hours. The sense of isolation that often plagues online learners can be diminished by providing opportunities for learners to engage in regular and meaningful conversations with their peers.  

The design principles discussed in this blog can be accessed in a high resolution PDF format by clicking on this link.

References:

Bernacchio, C., & Mullen, M. (2007). Universal design for learning. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 31(2), 167–169. https://doi.org/10.2975/31.2.2007.167.169

Bolkan, S. (2016). The Importance of Instructor Clarity and Its Effect on Student Learning: Facilitating Elaboration by Reducing Cognitive Load. Communication Reports, 29(3), 152-162. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2015.1067708

Cho, M.-H., & Cho, Y. (2016). Online Instructors’ Use of Scaffolding Strategies to Promote Interactions: A Scale Development Study. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(6). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v17i6.2816

Dousay. T. A. (2017). Chapter 22. Instructional Design Models. In R. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology (1st ed.).

McInnerney, J. M., & Roberts, T. S. (2004). Online Learning: Social Interaction and the Creation of a Sense of Community. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 7(3), 73-81.

Rose, D. (2001). Universal Design for Learning. Journal of Special Education Technology, 16(2), 66-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/016264340101600208

Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Sharma, P., & Hannafin, M. (2007). Scaffolding in technology-enhanced learning environments. Interactive Learning Environments, 15(1), 27-46.

Veletsianos, G. (2011). Designing opportunities for transformation with emerging technologies. Published in Educational Technology, 51(2), 41-46. https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/5056/designing-opportunities-transformation-emerging-technologies.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Weller, M. (2020). 25 Years of Ed Tech [Ebook]. AU Press. https://www.aupress.ca/books/120290-25-years-of-ed-tech/