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Overview Instructional design (ID) has gained prominence in elearning due to its systemized approach to creating and evaluating the student learning experience. While the term itself might sound complex, in reality, all teachers follow some process of designing instruction already. Often, when a teacher first encounters ID, the response is "Oh, I already do that...". So, for many ID is just naming an existing process. Why is ID so important online? In a classroom, challenges and concerns can be addressed in "real time". If some component of a course or lesson is unclear, students can get immediate clarification. Online, however, this is not possible. In order to eliminate student frustrations, potential ambiguities and concerns need to be addressed before the course goes live. ID is the process that enables and verifies quality. Instructional design anticipates and plans for student experiences in a static environment where teacher feedback and clarification may be delayed.

Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, Canada Abstract This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social constructivist, and connectivist pedagogy are examined, using the familiar community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) with its focus on social, cognitive, and teaching presences. Although this typology of pedagogies could also be usefully applied to campus-based education, the need for and practice of openness and explicitness in distance education content and process makes the work especially relevant to distance education designers, teachers, and developers. The article concludes that high-quality distance education exploits all three generations as determined by the learning content, context, and learning expectations.

Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism - The Basics

My name is Joyce Seitzinger. I'm an educational technologist working in higher education, committed to improving student learning experiences through emerging technologies and innovative teaching strategies. My special interests are Moodle, personal learning networks and networked learning, instructional design, and staff development for e-learning. I'm best known in the Moodle community for developing the Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers.