TOPIC 4: 

Course Planning and Development

 

Overview
  • Source materials for this topic

Curriculum design
  • Stakeholder analysis
  • Identifying learning and training needs
  • Deciding on a programme structure

Course blueprinting

Instructional design
  • What is instructional design?
  • Why use instructional design?
  • What do instructional designers do?
  • Tasks of the instructional designer
  • Constructivist approaches to instructional design
  • Should you use existing materials?

Media choice
  • Technologies used in open and distance learning
  • A model for choosing media
  • Media choice checklist

Assessing learner performance
  • Why assess?
  • Who should assess?
  • How can formative assessment help learners?
  • When to assess
  • How to assess
  • External requirements

Course production and delivery
  • Terminology
  • The course production process
  • Managing production
  • Managing materials distribution
  • Technological innovations

Practice exercises
  • How do you design instruction?
  • Producing course material

 Overview 

The materials support a discussion on the topic of planning and developing learning materials for distance delivery.

1.1 Source materials for this topic

Bates, T. Technology in open learning and distance education: a guide for decision-makers. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning and the Open Learning Agency, 1991.

Jackling, N. Weaving my own design. In M. Parer (ed.), Development, design, and distance education. Churchill, Australia: Centre for Distance Learning, Monash University, 1989.

Lockwood, F. (ed.) Materials production in open and distance learning. London: Paul Chapman, 1994.

Parer, M. (ed.) Development, design, and distance education. Churchill, Australia: Centre for Distance Learning, Monash University, 1989.Rowntree, D. Developing courses for students. London: Paul Chapman, 1985.

Rowntree, D. Preparing materials for open, distance, and flexible learning: an action guide for teachers and trainers. London: Kogan Page, 1994.

 

 2. Curriculm Design 

In any educational or training setting, whether or not distance delivery is involved, a set of initial decisions need to be made when designing programmes and curricula. These include:

  • conducting a stakeholder analysis;
  • identifying learning and training needs; and
  • deciding on programme content and structure.

2.1 Stakeholder analysis

A curriculum or programme needs to ensure as far as possible that the range of topics covered, the structure of the courses, and their length, level, workload, teaching approach, and format are what is needed and wanted by the potential learners and other stakeholders. These stakeholders can include:

  • the providing institution;
  • the funding agency;
  • employers;
  • course developers;
  • tutors and course support staff;
  • existing learners or trainees; and
  • potential learners.

Discussion: You will want to add other stakeholders to this list in relation to the programmes offered in your own and your participants’ contexts.

2.2 Identifying learning and training needs

The methods that are available for identifying learning and training needs include organising a task group or working party that represents the spectrum of interests;

Example: A small group of key people are typically charged with developing a plan. In the case of the development of a primary teacher upgrading programme, for example, the group is likely to involve Ministry of Education officials and district supervisors, teacher training colleges, teachers, and community representatives.

consulting experts, clients, and target audiences;

Example: This approach generates high quality and quantity of information, but those consulted may not be typical of the people whose views and opinions you seek. For example, an expert in teaching at the tertiary level may not be an appropriate expert to consult even though he is readily accessible.

accurately measuring knowledge and skill shortage areas;

Example: A researcher may be contracted to conduct a desk study of national trends, other training opportunities, and related developments, using documents that are available from government ministries, think tanks, research institutes, and libraries.

monitoring and analysis of demand for existing courses;

Example: You may have data on trends in registration and learner profiles over time available in your own records.

studying employers to identify current and anticipated training needs; and

Example: Existing case studies may be available, or you can conduct your own focus group discussions or surveys, depending on the resources and time you have available.

studying existing and potential learners to identify their current and anticipated needs.

Example: Again, depending on the time and resources you have available you can collect case studies, or conduct focus group discussions or surveys.

Discussion: How have your participants conducted stakeholder analyses in their own contexts? What examples can you provide from your own experience of curriculum development?

2.3 Deciding on a programme structure - On-campus or at a distance?

Distance-delivered courses mean that

  • learners do the bulk of their learning through pre-prepared learning materials; and

  • learners have little face-to-face contact with tutors or other learners.

On-campus courses mean that

  • learners (in theory) meet regularly with their teacher; and

  • learners have the advantage (in principle) of being able to learn from each other.

On-campus programmes are increasingly incorporating distance modes.

Discussion: Remembering the earlier discussion of problems that open and distance learning programmes can solve, discuss whether face-to-face or distance modes are more appropriate for a particular curriculum.

2.3.1 What will be taught?

 

 

Useful distinctions can be made between:

 

  • knowledge-oriented courses;

  • methodological courses; and

  • mixed courses that are

  • issue-based or problem-based or

  • interdisciplinary.

Examples: A course on the history of open and distance learning is primarily knowledge-oriented, whereas a course on how to design effective instruction is primarily methodological.

A course on instructional design may be mixed, however, combining learning theory with application.

Such a course may also be problem-based (for example, where the outcome of the coursework is a design for an actual course), or interdisciplinary (drawing on principles from psychology, sociology, and anthropology for course design).

2.3.2 Adopt or adapt existing course materials?

Out of your needs assessment may emerge the existence of an established curriculum that you could adopt or adapt. Rather than give into the ‘not-invented-here’ syndrome, ask the questions from the following checklist about this curriculum.

Checklist for Choosing an Existing Curriculum

q How suitable is it? Are its objectives, methods, and outcomes appropriate to your learners?

q How effective is it? Does it achieve satisfactory results?

q How big is it? How much time, staff, and resources does it need? How many subjects? What range of learners?

q How complete is it? Does it need extra supporting material?

q How flexible is it? Is there room for innovation and adaptation by teachers and learners?

q How different is it? Is it sufficiently distinct from other approaches in outcome, method, and cost?

q How repeatable is it? Do any special factors such as unusual teachers or local resources hinder repetition elsewhere?

q How compatible is it? Would it interfere or fit in with the rest of the existing system?

q How ready is it? Can it be started this week, term, or year?

q Can it be sampled? Could you give it a trial run and abandon it if unsuccessful? Or would the decision have to be all-or-nothing as with a computer system?

q How expensive is it? What are the initial costs, installation costs, and running costs?

 3. Course blueprinting 

The development of a course represents a major commitment of financial and human resources. Because of this, it is useful to ensure that the full extent of the commitment required is determined before the development project begins.

A typical procedure for this planning exercise is the development of a course planning document, sometimes called a course blueprint.

The course blueprint is circulated for comment to all units that are concerned with course production and delivery, including registration, tutorial services, academic departments, media and production, warehousing, and dispatch. The academic content may also be sent to other content experts, and to partner organisations and agencies, for review and comment.

Depending on the comments received, the blueprint authors may be asked to revise their proposal. Approval usually rests with someone in the organisation who has budgetary authority to commit the resources involved, such as the dean of a faculty.

Course Blueprint Outline

A. Programme-related details

 

1. Course Title

2  Programme

a. programme or programmes in which the couse is intended as a component.

b. Compulsory or elective

3. Level

a. introductory or foundation

b.intermediate

c. advanced

d. pos-graduate

4. Credit Weighting

a. number of credit hours assigned to it

5. Semester

a. semested in which it is to be offered

6. Prerequisites

 

7. Anticipated annual enrolment

a. supporting data, including market survey, government statistics, experience from other programmes and courses.

A. Course package components

 

1. Course components to be produced in-house

a. study guide or guides

b. reader

c. learner handbook

d. assignment manual

e. media handbook

f. tutor manual

g. radio and television broadcasts

h. audio and video cassettes

i. computer software

2. Course components to be purchased or leased textbook or books, software, audio, video rights to broadcast a radio or video series.

 

3. entire course package

 

C. Development and production schedule

 

1. Development personnel involved

a. course team manager

b. course writer or writers

c. instructional designer

d. editor

e. illustrator or media producer

f. internal and external reviewers

2. Projected on-the-shelf date

 

3. Course development schedule, including all components and all media

 

4. Course production or reproduction schedule, including all components and all media

 

5. Anticipated ‘’—course revision schedule

 

D. Content and pedagogy

 

1. Course aims

 

2. Course structure

a. block and unit titles

b. unit-by-unit objectives

c. readings

d. types of activities

e. role of audio, video, and television components

f. sample unit

3. Practical work

a. Laboratories

b. teaching practice

c. fieldwork

4. Assessment scheme

a. assignments, including their number, timing, format, and markers (number, internal or contracted)

b. examination(s), including—their number, timing, format, and markers (number, internal or contracted)

5. Evaluation scheme

a. developmental testing schedule

b. monitoring or formative evaluation scheme, instruments

c. end-of-course or summative evaluation scheme, instruments

E. Delivery plan

 

1. Tutorial centres

a. number required

b. suggested locations

c. proposed schedule of tutorials

2. Tutors

a. number required

b. qualifications

c. training workshops, including—number, duration, and location

3. Residential schools

a. number

b. location

c. schedule

4. Practical work

a. laboratories

b. teaching practice

c. fieldwork

F. Course budget

 

1. Revenue

a. course fees

b. other sources

2. Costs

a. course components production

b. produced in-house

c. purchased

d. leased

             

3. Copyright clearance, with—estimates based on

a. number of articles to be reproduced

b. sources

c. total number of pages

d. print run

e. course shelf life

4. Development personnel

a. person-days for in-house staff

b. fees for contracted external staff

5. Delivery and evaluation

a. tutorial wages

b. marker fees

c. purchased

 4. Instructional design 

4.1 What is instructional design?

Instructional design is a systematic approach to developing materials that facilitate learning by

  • identifying the purposes of the learning, especially learning objectives;

  • developing the learning experiences necessary to achieve those purposes of learning;

  • evaluating the effectiveness of learning experiences in achieving the purposes of learning; and

  • improving the learning experiences, in the light of evaluation, to better achieve the purposes of learning.

4.2  Why use instructional design?

4.2.1 In conventional face-to-face settings,  teachers have the ability to

  • decide which methods and media to use; and

  • vary the methods and strategies depending upon the learners’ needs.

4.2.2 In open and distance learning, thorough preplanning is essential because

  • ‘how to teach’ becomes crucial to the success of the entire system;

  • learning materials are prepared in advance;

  • media to support those materials are pre-selected; and

  • changes to materials cannot be conveniently incorporated mid-session.

4.2.3 Instructional design is precisely the necessary preplanning activity.

Discussion: This is an opportune moment for an initial discussion of the differences between learning primarily face-to-face and learning primarily at a distance.

4.3 What do instructional designers do?

The instructional designer works in collaboration with the subject specialist to design materials that facilitate learning of the subject matter. (This material is based on Noel Jackling’s article, ‘Weaving my own design’, in M. Parer, ed., Development, design and distance education (1989).)

4.4 Roles of the instructional designer

An instructional designer is advised to approach the subject specialist in the following ways:

  • regard the subject specialist an expert in the subject matter;

  • listen to what the subject specialist has to say

  • provide feedback to the subject specialist (for example, ‘If I were a student my response would be...’);

  • seek clarification;

  • encourage new ideas (for example, ‘Have you considered...?’);

  • ask the subject specialist, ‘What are your desired outcomes?’;

  • draw out the traditional teaching wisdom from a specific discipline and respect it; and

  • keep as a paramount concern what is best for the learner.

Approaches an instructional designer is not advised to take with the subject specialist:

  • outside consultant;

  • process expert;

  • paternalist (spoon-feeding the subject specialist);

  • colonialist (encouraging the subject specialist but never giving her independence);

  • proselytiser (preaching values to the subject specialist);

  • instructor (regarding the subject specialist as a pupil);

  • remedier of subject specialist defects;

  • prescriber of learning methods for particular subject areas; and

  • client-centred counsellor.

4.5  Tasks of the instructional designer

The instructional designer works as a ‘surrogate learner’, asking the subject matter expert the kinds of questions a learner would ask:

  • Do I understand or am I confused?
  • Is there an ambiguity?
  • Is there a clear learning path?
  • Where have I come from?
  • Where might I be going to?
  • Am I being transformed from naïve learner to expert?
  • Would an example help me understand?
  • Would an exercise help me learn by doing?
  • Do I consider that the writer is writing for me personally, or is the writer being impersonal and needlessly ‘academic’?
  • Am I put off the whole subject by the difficulty of the first item of assessment?
  • Am I put off by the style of writing or by the use of uncommon words or unduly long sentences? Can what is being said be said more simply?
  • Am I getting cues as to what the really important parts are?
  • Is the structure apparent? Have advance organisers been sign-posted?

4.6 Constructivist approaches to instructional design

Constructivist approaches position learners and the knowledge they bring to the learning situation at the centre of instructional design. Constructivist approaches are based on the following principles:

  • Learners are a legitimate source of knowledge. Learners are encouraged to learn to trust themselves and their knowledge.
  • Learning is not a passive exercise of absorbing knowledge (information) developed and transmitted by ‘experts’. Learners are encouraged to take control of and initiate their own learning.
  • Ambiguity and contradiction are not problematic. They can be helpful in pushing us toward a problem-solving, or problem-posing, approach to learning.
  • Systematic reflection is an essential activity if personal experience is to facilitate a deeper understanding.

Discuss: examples of effective collaboration between instructional designers and subject specialists from your own experience and that of your participants.

4.7  Should you use existing materials?

4.7.1 Strategies for materials production

Course materials in open and distance learning programmes can be provided in three ways:

  • adopt existing materials;
  • adapt existing materials; or
  • create original materials.

These strategies are set out in the tables on the following pages, together with the benefits they offer, their limitations, and other factors that might affect decision-making. These strategies form a continuum, with adoption at one end, creation at the other, and adaptation somewhere in the middle.

Example: Most courses that are created from the ‘ground up’ make use of some existing materials, such as textbooks or video cassettes. And almost all courses that are ‘adopted’ undergo some degree of adaptation.

4.7.2 Adoption Strategies for Providing Course Materials in Distance Education

Strategy

Benefits

Challenges

Other factors

adopting existing materials

· may be less costly

· less time consuming

· can provide model

· no need to pre-test

· errors already eliminated

· labour saving, less stressful for staff

· reduces lead-in time

· source of new ideas

· opportunities for collaboration

· can provide a quality not otherwise possible

· may not be relevant to needs

· may not be suitable culturally, contextually

· testing for fit may be needed

· may kill creativity at local level

· deprives local staff of ownership

· may omit crucial content areas

· may go out of print while you still need copies

· may have hidden costs, for example, support structure

· may promote dependency

· may push planners into premature start

· status and prestige

· ‘not invented here’ syndrome

· cost to purchase or lease compared with ‘ground-up’ production

 

4.7.3 Adaptation Strategies for Providing Course Materials in Distance Education

Strategy

Benefits

Challenges

Other factors

adapting existing materials

· gives a headstart, reduces lead time

· gives models and ideas

· may be easy to convert

· can select from available materials

· cost-saving

· can improve by adding components

· can increase appropriateness

· can update

· can improve writers’ skills without having to produce whole course

· expert knowledge still needed

· may reduce quality by altering

· may be self-defeating because of costs and time

· does less for developing local capacity

· may not assist in developing coherent programme

· levels may not match

·accreditation issues

· control and ownership of course

· issues of copyright

· credibility of provider

4.7.4 Creation Strategies for Providing Course Materials in Distance Education

Strategy

Benefits

Challenges

Other factors

creating original materials

· likely to fit target audience more closely

· more likely to be culturally relevant

· will be up-to-date

· will be unique

· will build local capacity and self-confidence

· will be easier to modify if necessary

· the most expensive option

· lead-in time is longer

· may put high stress on developers

· amount of work may be underestimated

· needs trained and skilled staff

· need to build up capacity and expertise

· need to persuade people it is worth doing

· needs adequate resources

· start-up costs

· status of enterprise, political agenda

 5. Media choice 

5.1 Technologies used in open and distance learning

The number of new technologies introduced into open and distance learning over the last ten years has expanded rapidly. These technologies now include:

  • print (mechanical and electronic publishing);
  • radio (one-way, interactive, and two-way);
  • audio cassettes;
  • telephone teaching, including audio conferencing;
  • television (broadcast, satellite, and cable);
  • video cassettes;
  • video conferencing;
  • computer-mediated communication;
  • computer-based learning; and
  • multimedia.

5.2 A model for choosing media

The factors that need to be taken into account when deciding on the use of technology for learning have been summed up in the action acronym (Bates 1991):

The actions Model for Choosing Media

A

Access

Where will learners learn, at home, at work, or at local centres?

C

Costs

What are the capital and recurrent costs? Which costs are fixed and which costs are variable?

T

Teaching functions

What are the presentational requirements of the subject? What teaching is required? What are the best learning approaches?

I

Interaction and user-friendliness

Do learners and teachers require a great deal of training to use this technology?

O

Organisation

What changes in organisation will be required to facilitate the use of a particular technology?

N

Novelty

To what extent will the ‘trendiness’ of this technology stimulate funding and innovation?

S

Speed

How quickly and easily can material be up-dated and changed? How quickly can new courses be produced using this technology?

5.3 Media choice checklist

Once you have provisionally selected the media you wish to use, ask yourself the questions

 in the following checklist.

Media Choice Checklist

q Have you been able to argue a convincing case for your choice of media?

q Have you considered how media might be combined? For example, print plus audio or class sessions with pre-read material.

q Do you have the expertise to make worthwhile use of your chosen media? If not, how soon can you get it?

q Will you have enough personal control over your media? Or will you have to depend on media professionals?

q Will your learners be able to use your chosen media conveniently and without undue cost to themselves?

q Will your learners have positive feelings about your chosen media, and do they have the learning skills to use them?

q If you plan to use non-print media, have you considered how print material might be used in support?

q If your plan to use tutors, mentors, or other human resources are you confident that suitable people will be available and willing to help?

q If you plan to have your learners do practical work, carry out workplace activities, or pursue projects, can you ensure that they do so safely, conveniently, and effectively?

q Will your choice of media not require you to cut back on some other, more desirable, aspect of what you might provide for learners?

q Have you managed to avoid the following downfalls:

- deciding on a medium before you have thought through your learners’ needs and the content of the teaching?

- Using a medium because it is available or urged upon you by someone else?

- Choosing a high-tech medium in the belief that it will automatically be more effective than a simpler one?

 6. Assessing learner performance 

6.1 Why assess?

Assessment in open and distance learning may have any of three main purposes:

  • formative assessment: to give learners feedback on their progress so that they know how well they are doing and can, if necessary, change the way they are tackling the course;
  • summative assessment: to provide the basis for marks that may contribute to the learner’s eventual certification ; and
  • as part of the overall evaluation process: to help the open and distance learning institution to monitor the effectiveness of its courses.

6.2 Who should assess?

Assessment may be carried out by any of a number of people, including:

  • self-assessment: the learner him or herself evaluates personal performance;
  • peer assessment: other learners assess the learner’s performance;
  • the learner’s tutor: often through tutor-marked assignments that are built into the course;
  • examinations: an examiner or assessor, as may sometimes be the case with summative assessment; and
  • course evaluations: someone else, perhaps a researcher evaluating the course.

6.3 How can formative assessment help learners?

Formative assessment can help learners learn in a number of ways:

  • diagnosing learning needs: early on in a course, assessment can help learners decide which parts of the course they need most, and may form the basis of a learning contract;
  • checking progress: self-assessment questions during or at the end of study units enable learners to check how they are getting on and provide immediate reinforcement of learning;
  • increasing motivation: reinforcement helps to keep learners going;
  • providing feedback: tutor comments on tutor-marked assignments ensure the learner knows what to do next;
  • encouraging a deep approach to learning: particular types of assessment such as questions that call for reflection, analysis, or application, projects, and practical assignments can help learners improve their approach to learning;
  • facilitating contact between learner and tutor: tutor-marked assignments are often the main point of contact between a learner and his or her tutor, and are therefore an invaluable way of reducing learner isolation; and
  • increasing learner control: giving learners the means to assess their own progress can increase their control over their own learning.

6.4 When to assess

In deciding at which times during your course assessment is appropriate, here are some points to bear in mind.

  • Early in the course learners may not have learnt anything significant enough for testing.
  • On the other hand, an early assignment provides an opportunity for early interaction and feedback and thereby builds the relationship between learner and tutor.
  • Relate assessment to major sections of content.
  • Spread assessment evenly to distribute the load and generate regular feedback.
  • Keep in mind the turnaround time and capacity of your tutors.
  • If an assignment is prescribed very late in the course, learners are unlikely to receive feedback before any end-of-course examinations.

6.5 How to assess

A number of assessment methods are possible, each appropriate for testing certain kinds of aims and objectives:

  • traditional essay questions in exams;
  • pre-set essay exams;
  • open-book essay exams;
  • essay in mid-course;
  • short answer, written questions;
  • multiple-choice questions;
  • oral assessment in tutorials;
  • practical exams;
  • field work;
  • projects; and
  • dissertations.

Discussion: Assuming your participants are experienced educators, use this opportunity to engage them in a discussion of which methods are appropriate for which contexts and purposes, and the challenges some of them might present for distance delivery.

6.6 External requirements

As a learning materials designer, decisions in assessment are frequently not in your hands alone. You may also have to take into account:

  • institutional policies and procedures on assessment; for example, the requirement that every course have an invigilated examination;
  • requirements of employers; for example, a requirement for demonstration of competence in some particular skill;
  • policies and other requirements of accrediting agencies or associations; for example, accountancy designations, nursing registration, or teachers’ certification; and
  • examination boards; for example, in the British context, ‘O’ levels and ‘A’ levels, as well as National Qualifications Standards.

Discussion: Ask your participants for examples of external requirements that they may have to meet in assessing their learners’ performance.

 7. Course production and delivery 

7.1 Terminology

The term production is used here to describe the overall process of taking a manuscript and managing it through to printed, finished copies.

  • It involves drawing up a specification and production schedule, obtaining and comparing prices from different suppliers, placing orders, and supervising manufacture and delivery.
  • It involves understanding the needs of course planners, developers, authors, illustrators, and editors as well as those of learners.

The term printing is used to describe the actual manufacture of printed distance learning materials. Printing is the industrial process or processes required to put the production manager’s requirements into their final physical form.

7.2 The course production process

The course production process involves a number of stages.

7.2.1 Generating text and illustrations

Most text is now word processed. Desktop publishing makes it possible to:

  • integrate text and illustrations;
  • prepare text in a wide variety of typefaces; and
  • see the completed pages on the computer screen in exactly their printed form.

Writers typically submit discs, prepared in accordance with the house style. Editors work with these discs and submit the entire edited text to the desktop publishing specialist, who produces the specified design.

7.2.2 Designing the materials

Design involves a number of decisions, particularly about:

  • page size;
  • layout and house style; and
  • cover design.

7.2.3 Preparing materials for the printer

Course materials can be assembled in their final form and sent for printing in various ways, including:

  • camera-ready copy, as complete pages, with final text and illustrations in place;
  • outputting text directly on to film, or into the printer; and
  • paste-up, which is necessary if illustrations and text are prepared separately.

7.2.4 Printing the materials

The choice of printing processes includes:

  • photocopying;
  • laser printing;
  • stencil duplicating;
  • small offset printing;
  • sheet-fed offset printing; and
  • web-fed offset printing.

7.2.5 The decision will depend on

  • the equipment available;
  • the number of copies of the text required; and
  • the prices submitted by the printers who are asked to give quotations.

7.3 Finishing the materials

The term used to describe the various processes involved in turning the printed sheets into a finished text is finishing. These processes include:

  • binding: saddle-stitched, side stabbed, perfect binding, loose-leaf, wire, or comb;
  • cover: board, either laminated or varnished; and
  • packing: bulk packing up to 15 kg maximum for easy handling.

7.3.1 Managing production

The management issues involved in managing the production process include the following.

7.3.2 Estimating, costing, and financial control

Increasing the size of print runs is tempting because of the lower unit costs that result. Other factors to be kept in mind, however, include:

  • warehousing costs;
  • the cost of money;
  • the sales pattern for each title; and
  • the timetable for updating each title.

7.3.3 Scheduling and controlling production

When a new course is planned, a rough schedule should be drawn up, with dates

  • by which authors should submit manuscripts;
  • for the completion of each round of proofs; and
  • for trial testing, among other tasks.

It is wise to build in a substantial contingency allowance, as emphasised earlier.

7.3.4 Warehousing and stock control

Holding stock leads to a number of costs:

  • the storage space itself;
  • wastage through deterioration or loss;
  • over-producing stock that is not actually needed;
  • money tied up in stock; and
  • staffing to monitor and control stock.

7.4 Managing materials distribution

Compared to conventional institutions, open and distance learning programmes present some unique challenges in providing learners with instructional materials. When learners attend face-to-face classes, the normal method of distribution is for them to purchase or borrow books and other equipment from a bookstore or other centralised distribution system.For distance learners, other methods of distribution need to be set up.

The three most common methods of distribution are:

  • having learners collect materials using local centres: Are learners close enough? Do you have enough staff?
  • using the postal system: How reliable is the postal system? How long will materials take to reach learners by post? Will learners be at home to receive them? Do they need to be registered or insured?
  • using courier services: Couriers provide faster delivery and door-to-door service but cost substantially more than the post.

If media other than print are included in the course, other issues arise:

  • Are there deadlines by which learners must receive materials (for example, broadcast schedule start dates)?
  • Are you loaning equipment (for example, computers, video cassette players, video cassettes) to learners so they can complete the course successfully?

Finally, questions arise from enrolment and assessment policies:

  • Do you have fixed enrolment dates? If so, shipping materials in bulk at specific times of the year may reduce your costs.
  • Do you have continuous enrolment? If so, you will be striving toward continuous distribution.
  • Do you intend to send all materials at one time or will you stagger delivery according to a schedule? How will that affect learner motivation? your resources? your materials inventory? What is your refund and returns policy?
  • Are your learners required to complete assignments by specific dates? Are examinations scheduled at specific times or locations? If so, you may need to use a distribution system with a high reliability rating and guaranteed delivery, even though the cost may be higher.

Discussion: Build on your participants’ own context and experience for examples of actual production and distribution problems.

7.5 Technological innovations

For open and distance learning programmes that use computer-mediated communication extensively in their delivery system, it is possible to forego the production of ‘hard copy’ materials altogether, whether in print, cassette, or other forms, and rely exclusively on electronic delivery for materials dispatch.

For example, course materials can be supplied to learners on a compact disc, from which learners can print out hard (paper) copy if they wish or they can work entirely from their computer screens.

Another possibility is for learners to download course materials directly from e-mail or the World Wide Web, again to paper or an electronic file. These ‘paperless’ modes of materials dispatch offer a number of advantages:

  • decreased need for warehousing space and warehousing and dispatch staff;
  • reduced postage or transport costs;
  • flexibility for the learner in terms of which portions to print off and which to leave in electronic form;
  • ‘just-in-time’ delivery to the learner, since learners can access the learning materials they need just as and where they need them;
  • integration of a variety of media — text, graphics, pictures, video, or audio — on cd-rom and World Wide Web courseware;
  • in the case of the World Wide Web, access to material from hundreds of thousands of other sites, some of which can be linked directly to the original access site; and
  • integration of communication links to tutors and other learners via the Web site.

As with every choice of medium in open and distance learning, there are also constraints. These include:

  • the need to train staff in developing materials appropriate for these media;
  • the need to train staff to use the technologies effectively to support learners;
  • the need to train learners in using the media effectively or, alternatively, to designate this expertise as a prerequisite for entry into the programme;
  • reliable and affordable access by staff and learners to the technologies required; and
  • the need to continue to support staff, and perhaps learners, in the use of these technologies (although a programme may also make clear to learners that they are expected to solve their own technical problems in using the hardware and software).

 8. Practice exercises 

8.1 How do you design instruction?

Instructions: Ask participants to think of a recent instance in which their day-to-day work has involved a piece of instruction to anyone about anything. Ask them to reflect on this experience, using the following questions as prompts to thought:

  • What steps did you follow in designing this instruction?
  • What would you have had to do in order to do this instructing at a distance from your ‘learner’?

Have participants pair up for this exercise and tell each other their examples, and then report findings back to the group at large.

Timeframe: Half an hour to an hour, depending on size of group.

Materials required: None.

8.2 Producing course material

Instructions: Two sets of issues typically arise in the organisation and management of materials production:

  • Should the production of materials be done in-house or jobbed out to some external firm?
  • Should there be a centralised production unit, or is production better decentralised to each academic unit in the institution?

Divide participants into four groups. Assign one ‘side’ of each of these issues to each of the groups and ask them to produce a list of reasons why, for example, the production of materials is best done in-house. Give the groups about 20 minutes for this exercise, and then ask them to present their lists to the group as a whole. During whole-group discussion, draw out the difficulties of making blanket statements about which system is best, since there are so many variables affecting this decision such as the size of the organisation.

Timeframe: In total no more than an hour.

Materials required: Flip chart paper or overhead transparencies and marker pens.