Design for Contextual Learning: Web-based Environments that Engage Diverse Learners

Rod Sims, Instructional Design for Online Learning, Capella University, USA. Email: rod.sims@faculty.capella.edu

Elizabeth Stork, Assistant Professor, School of Adult and Continuing Education, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, USA. Email: stork@rmu.edu

Keywords

Instructional Design, Learner Characteristics, Learner Centered Design

Abstract

With the surge in online learning, educational designers are faced with a range of issues associated with the multiplicity of learner attributes in terms of their learning styles, their culture and their situational/social contexts. In this paper we argue that these factors impact significantly on the ability of learners to productively engage in online teaching and learning environments. Therefore, designers of those environments must not design 'for' those learners, but rather enable those learners to integrate their individuality, experience and culture into the teaching and learning dynamic. Using a case study of a university course to illustrate these alternative approaches, we present a strategy for designing courses that forego assumed learner characteristics and attributes and emphasise the benefits of catering to an 'anyone, anywhere' audience.