This chapter addresses issues that should be considered when designing instruction at a distance. This chapter starts by discussing the characteristics of the class (i.e., learner analysis) and then explores the learning environment and learner interactivity. While most educators have experience preparing to teach (some refer to as lesson planning, instructional planning, or course design), the distance setting presents some unique challenges that even veteran teachers must confront. This chapter addresses design considerations you must consider when creating an interactive distance learning environment.

Learner Analysis

Conducting a learner analysis is all about better understanding the types of learners you will have in class or who will be completing your instruction (e.g., in self-paced distance learning situations) so that you can design the best type of distance learning experience for your different learners. 

General learner characteristics

When instructors take the time to understand their learners, the learning experience is enhanced. Analysis of general learner characteristics can inform the instructor of the types of students in the class. Among other things, knowledge of these characteristics can aid the instructor in overcoming a sense of separation between the teacher and students. One way to learn this information is by conducting pre-course surveys (see Figure 3.1). Regardless of how an instructor collects the information, instructors should know some essential details about their learners to increase the effectiveness of the instruction. For instance, the instructor should know:

1. Prerequisite knowledge or skills of students
2. Number of students taking the course
3. Demographics of students (e.g., rural vs. urban, age range, education levels)
4. Student backgrounds (e.g., cultural, social, and economic backgrounds)
5. Student expectations (e.g., attitude or interests, intrinsic value of the learning)

As the instructor learns more about their students' diverse nature, the instruction's design can be improved. The more the instructor knows about the students, the better the instructor will be able to prepare an effective learning environment. There are several additional ways in which an instructor can gain information about their students:

1. Contact other instructors who have worked with the group of students involved.
2. Plan some information gathering process (see Figure 3.1).
3. Create opportunities to get to know students at the beginning of the course (e.g., icebreaker).
4. Encourage out-of-class contact with the members of the class (e.g., social media or study groups).
5. Arrange ways to meet the class, whether as an entire class or smaller groups of students, either face-to-face or synchronously online (e.g., Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet).

Getting to know your students is not restricted to “before” the class begins; it is possible to get to know your students and their learning needs as the course progresses and to make shifts and changes where appropriate to meet their needs (see Dobrovolny & Lowenthal, 2011). Additional characteristics to be considered include the students’ general cognitive abilities and needed levels of interactivity.

Figure 3.1

Sample Participant Information Survey

General cognitive abilities

A student’s ability to learn will be impacted by the complexity of the environment in which the learning takes place. Understanding the cognitive abilities of one’s students can aid an instructor in designing quality learning experiences. The instructor can observe students' interactions with the content presentations to determine the best ways to encourage learning. An instructor can observe students by checking the following:

1. Prerequisite knowledge or skills
2. Prior learning experiences
3. Learning preferences
4. Responses to questions or results of pre-tests
5. Review of portfolio information

Once this information is available, the instructor can adjust the learning experience to ensure the student succeeds. Note that this can be done on a case-by-case basis, or there are times when an instructor might realize that changes need to be made to the course for all students to succeed. Sometimes, these changes can be made right away to improve the rest of the course; sometimes, these changes will have to be made once the course is over to enhance the course the next time it is offered.

Complex cognitive content requires that learners be able to interpret the information in a meaningful way. This type of content can be presented to students in various formats and modalities to help students gain understanding. Students can remember complex material better if chunks of information are grouped into meaningful sets. By combining similar knowledge or ideas together, students can improve their understanding and retention.

The distance education environment adds a layer of complexity to learning. To minimize the impact of the complexity of the environment on learning, the instructor may need to develop supportive interventions to facilitate the learning process. Some types of interventions need not be invasive; they can be simply re-writing the directions for the next assignment that students need to complete. By giving the directions using different wording, students might be better able to understand the task. Another way an instructor can help students might be to create supporting materials such as checklists, study guides, and/or rubrics. Also, by varying the presentation of information or by enlisting multiple presentation formats, instruction might be designed to address multiple learner preferences (e.g., some students might prefer text or visuals, while others might prefer audio, video, or animations). See Lowenthal et al. (2020, 2021) for other tips on creating accessible and inclusive distance education environments.

Learner Interactivity

The level of interaction may directly impact student learning. Students who are less social may find it easier to interact with others in a distance education learning environment. Shy students may become more expressive due to the privacy and informative nature of mediated communication. Students may be motivated in a distance learning setting because of increased and varied interactivity and the possibility of immediate feedback. Additionally, all students can benefit from a broader range of cognitive, linguistic, cultural, and affective styles they might not regularly encounter in a traditional self-contained class.

While there is an increased focus on providing regular and substantive interaction in distance education (at least in the United States), it is important to always focus on how interactivity can assist student learning. Students who experience enhanced interactivity within their learning experiences will benefit from expanding their knowledge and relationships with other students, expanding their value systems, and having a shared sense of purpose or goal within the learning context. These are essential elements of a quality learning experience. Distance education can serve as a window to the world by providing experiences that model and project an understanding of the learning process.

Technology-mediated interaction and communication can sometimes feel muted compared to face-to-face; therefore, the instructor must make special efforts to foster learner involvement in classroom interactions. With extraordinary efforts, distance education can enhance learning experiences, expand horizons, and facilitate group collaboration. Learners must have many opportunities to work with their classmates in various ways to provide them with interactivity. What might be deemed interactive in a traditional classroom will need to be improved to foster the types of connectivity necessary to keep communication active in a distance environment. The instructor must create new and innovative ways to keep students “talking with each other” and working together to support students as they learn to communicate and collaborate at a distance effectively.

Once an instructor decides to incorporate an interactive design, the instructor should consider different approaches to creating interactivity. The types of interactive experiences designed will reflect the instructor’s view of when it is essential to provide structured experiences with specific assignments and when less structured experiences can be implemented. The goals and objectives will play a considerable role in the decisions related to the layers of structure incorporated. Several issues need to be addressed when designing interactive instruction at a distance. Meeting the learning needs of individual students is a priority. 

Instructional materials are the primary connection students have with a distance learning experience. They often provide a visual connection to the learning experience. Students need to be able to interface with the information with ease; they need to be able to navigate through the learning experience without frustration or confusion. In addition, timelines and calendars can address the individual needs of students who need more structure or guidance. 

Strategies adopted by the instructor to ensure interactivity need to be familiar to students, or time needs to be devoted to preparing learners for the specific method employed. The instructor is responsible for preparing learners for the types of learning experiences used throughout the entire learning experience. Interactive strategies can provide opportunities for students to collaborate, converse, discuss, exchange information, and communicate. Techniques are employed to assist students in achieving the outcomes identified for the specific learning experience.

Distance Learning Environments

While distance education dates back over 200 years and online learning dates back to the mid-1980s, it was only in the early 1990s that educators started talking about and designing what we think of today as distance learning environments. Early on, Hannafin (1992) explained learning environments as a set of systems that integrate, to varying degrees, tools, resources, and pedagogical features that increase student comprehension. Duchastel (1994) then went on to identify four components needed in learning environments: 

1. Information: access to learning materials and learning resources, both material and human;
2. Interest: sensory effects that attract attention and the structure of the information itself will help keep the learner on task;
3. Structure: cognitive maps such as themes, content lists, goals, problem sets, etc., assist in the building and refinement of cognitive models necessary to the internal understanding of the facets of the world;
4. Regulation: performed internally (through self-monitoring) and externally (through questions and problems), learner control allows the proper level of interplay between information and the learner’s current cognitive structure. Learning environments provide the setting for students to move at their own pace and direction through the knowledge-construction experience.

Attention must be given to each of these areas when designing and implementing learning environments.

Marra and Jonassen (1993) identified the following principles needed to design constructivist-based learning environments:

• focus on knowledge construction, not reconstruction;
• promote context-dependent knowledge construction;
• provide multiple representations of reality;
• provide real-world, case-based settings;
• support for reflexivity;
• provide collaboration, not competition; and
• center locus of control at the learner level.

Note that both Duchastel and Marra’s and Jonassen’s lists are focused on the technology, not the teacher. The separation of student and teacher provides the opportunity for revisioning the learning opportunities. A shift in the locus of educational activity, from teacher-centered to student-centered, is needed to better prepare students for future productivity. A change from a teacher-centered classroom, where knowledge is an external quantity students must learn, to a student-centered classroom, where students learn the knowledge creation and acquisition process in a setting that provides access to multiple resources. The design of learning environments represents a shift in the educational paradigm that parallels societal changes that began over three decades ago, requiring problem solvers and collaborators. Redefining classrooms from centers for knowledge delivery to environments for learning will place the student within the process of learning how to learn rather than learning to reiterate information. The promise of learning environment design, especially with the growth of online learning, has begun to emerge. With a more complete understanding of the unique nature and features of distance learning systems, new teaching, learning, and technology dimensions will continue to grow.

Student-Centered Teaching

Distance education provides instructors with unique opportunities to extend their classrooms beyond the confines of the campus and to extend their perspectives of teaching by providing an environment based on a reexamination of ideas about teaching and learning. This reexamination parallels what is described as a paradigm of teaching that focuses on the learner. The teacher’s job is to get students to interact with each other and the content, to collaborate, and ultimately to help form and get students to participate as a member of a community of learners.

Technological advances enable instructors to move beyond the “talking head” method of delivering instruction (e.g., videotape or one-way television systems) that was once common in distance education. The instructor’s role is to guide and facilitate students by asking questions or providing feedback that assists students in finding solutions to problems or creating representations of their learning.

Bruner (1986) once said, “learning is active, dynamic, and continuous; and, importantly, it is inherently an individual as well as a social experience” (p. 25). Combining this concept with technological advances in the schools envisions a different kind of teaching where active, social learners require inventive and responsive learning environments. Emerging technology is increasing opportunities for learning environments with more diverse classroom populations and settings and multiple ways to incorporate new multimodal learning experiences. These advances also provide opportunities for learners to collaborate on their learning in ways that were not realistically possible from a distance not long ago. Johnson et al. (1991) identified several principles that undergird the student-centered approach:

• Knowledge is constructed, discovered, transformed, and extended by students. Faculty create the conditions so students can make meaning from material by processing it through existing cognitive structures, thereby retaining it in long-term memory.
• Students actively construct their knowledge. Learning is thought of as something a learner does, not something that is done to the student.
• Faculty focus lessons on developing students’ competencies and talents.
• Education is considered a personal transaction among students and between faculty and students as they work together. Learning is a personal but social process that results from the cooperation of individuals in constructing shared understandings and knowledge. As material becomes more complex and pressure to achieve is increased, it becomes essential that social support is provided for the student within the learning situation.
• Teaching is assumed to be a complex application of theory and research. It requires continual instructor training and refinement of skills and procedures.

While almost 30 years old, these principles serve as a foundation for re-examining teaching and learning roles in the distance education environment that is still ongoing today.

The movement from the “traditional” teaching paradigm toward the student-centered approach finds its foundations in research and theory. Support for a student-centered approach is supported by constructivism. Constructivists believe that learning occurs when new meanings are constructed by the learner within the context of current knowledge. As Poplin (1988) explained, “Learning is not simply the taking in of new information as it exists externally (in adult minds, in the curriculum or text), it is the natural, continuous construction and reconstruction of new, richer, and more complex and connected meaning by the learner” (p. 404). Constructivist-based learning environments incorporate the autonomy of the learners in the educational process. The separation of teacher and student in distance education can be lessened by creating environments that build on the constructivist theory of student activity and interaction.

Chapter Summary

Now that you better understand how important it is to know your learners and the environment in which your course needs to occur, we will move on to the details you need to plan the distance learning experience.