Instructional design: A critical ingredient in the distance education soup

Instructional design is a critical factor in a successful distance education environment. An efficient design analyzes audience and needs, creates learning goals/objectives, develops materials, methods and media for content delivery, and plans for evaluation and feedback. Design implementation requires certain instructional criteria: (1) competent, skilled faculty; (2) meaningful interaction among instructors, staff, and students; (3) well-organized and accessible support materials; (4) effective collaboration among instructors, program planners, and instructional designers; (5) multimedia integration with lessons; and (6) instructor responsiveness to student needs. Through question/answer strategies, group work, familiarity with the technological environment, and portfolio assessment, a design can combine content, interaction, and student evaluation, effectively achieving the educational goals of distance learning. (Contains 24 references.) (YKH) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document