Gonzalez
Gonzalez
Abstract
Online education is becoming more and more valid, but as a different modality from the face-to-face teaching-
learning process, it has special characteristics that must be considered. Online education is much more than
uploading material to a repository and using it in a linear manner. Electronic online education platforms, seen
as an integral system, offer a large number of technological resources that must be used according to the
educational model that is being applied. To achieve good performance, an online education model must be
based on a harmonious architecture of the educational, administrative, legal and infrastructure aspects of ICT,
that is, an integral model. The educational models created based on the prevailing pedagogical models -
behavioral, constructivist, cognitive and connectivist - must be implemented through an instructional design,
aligned with the pedagogical objectives and learning strategies, based on the proper use of the technological
resources of The electronic platform. Instructional design models, such as ADDIE, ASSURE, Dick and Carey,
and others, applied to online education, should take advantage of the resources of the technology platforms and
the characteristics of each. These models, as a guide to instructional design processes, can also be enriched
with other methodological processes, such as DevOps, which through continuous deliveries enrich and keep
the educational content updated. This article proposes strategies for applying the technological resources of
online learning platforms, aligned with the instructional design corresponding to the different pedagogical
models.
Keywords: Online. education, models, virtual learning environments, electronic platforms, instructional design models,
instructional design processes.
1. Introduction.
The creation of knowledge and education are the most important activities of the human being. Without being new, because
they have always existed, although empirically in their principles, they have now become scientific and highly technical.
Many theories, models, processes and technologies have been generated with the same purpose, to improve student
learning, which is now not only expected to have the appropriate response to the stimulus, but also to be able to create
their own solutions to real world problems.
With technological development, new possibilities have been opened for the teaching-learning process, which is no longer
limited to face-to-face learning, but can also be online (e-learning), or combined (b-learning), but these technological
resources have to be used in congruence with the instructional design that is being applied, in order to achieve the learning
objectives set.
In this work, a structured and systemic route is used as a methodology, from a general model for e-learning to an
instructional model for e-learning and the use of electronic platform resources in line with it, visiting the most important
elements between both extremes through bibliographic review and own contributions resulting from the experience and
other works of the authors.
2. A systemic approach to online education.
Whether a student takes a lesson or an activity and does an online evaluation are the final actions of the online teaching-
learning process, but in turn they are the result of multiple previous and simultaneous processes put into operation.
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The virtual learning environment (AVA in spanish), the environment in which online education is carried out, is a system
composed of educational, technological, human, legal and administrative subsystems, which must be adequate and
harmonized with the institution's expectations regarding the use, scope and amount of student population that you want to
attend.
Thus, we must think about online education with a systemic approach that considers all the elements at stake, the function
and capacity of each of them, their interrelations, and the expected performance of each and the system in general.
Integral model.
Online education is more than the repository where instructional material is stored and accessed, it requires an integral
model in which educational, human, technological, legal and administrative resources are considered. The basis on which
all these elements are supported is intellectual capital, the capital of knowledge, in a clear case that knowledge is required
to create and give access to knowledge.
A comprehensive online learning model based on intellectual capital is proposed by Quiroz and Muñoz (2018a), which in
turn follows the intellectual capital model proposed by Hubert Saint-Onge (1996), which considers intellectual capital as
integration of human capital, intellectual capital and client capital. The Hubert-Saint Onge model, although it is a business
model, conforms to the educational environment under the consideration that the client receives the services of the online
learning system.
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The technological infrastructure, part of the structural capital, is the platform in which the teaching-learning processes are
carried out, they are the information and communications technologies used for the interaction between teachers and
students and for the creation, storage and access to educational content.
Integrated platform.
In many papers - papers, articles and books - there is talk of incorporating multimedia resources into educational processes,
but this is very general and incomplete, the current online education (e-learning) and mixed education (b-learning) models
require of complete ICT platforms, that is, they provide both information and communications technologies, but in the form
of an integrated platform.
An integrated platform is in which computer products and communications services are complemented for the achievement
of learning objectives, and although an LMS (Learning Management System) or an LCMS (Learning Content Management
System) is the central application of the platform, modern online education systems require other products and services for
the full development of the teaching-learning process.
Quiroz and Muñoz (2018b) propose an integrated platform model of information and communication technologies for online
learning, which considers the educational application products as the core of the model, but also includes those necessary
to ensure operational continuity, such as Cybersecurity and backup and recovery systems, as in any ICT platform that
requires high availability and security. All this in a framework of governance and risk management that gives certainty and
credibility, which, as will be seen, is one of the challenges of online education models.
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3. Educational contents.
Online learning is a system that brings together many elements for the fulfillment of the final objective, effective student
learning. It requires a comprehensive system for its development and operation, and within it a platform with which the
teaching-learning process is carried out, but also and more importantly, of the educational content, instructional materials,
that the student You must assimilate to increase your knowledge and skills.
The delivery of instructional materials as the teaching part of the teaching-learning process begins with the determination
of the learning theory or the mixture of them that the institution will use, and through various stages (see Figure 3) in which
the entrance of one is the exit of the previous one, the instructional material aligned to the educational strategy and
objectives established in the preceding stages is reached.
Current instruments of these theories are, for example, competency-based education and the flipped classroom
pedagogical model that are constructivist and the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) which and smart books that are
connectivist, being the latter a true virtual learning environment of a particular subject.
The change from behaviorism to constructivism as a theory of applied knowledge as the basis for new pedagogical models
seeks not only a behavioral change, but the person, in this case the student builds a new meaningful knowledge generating
their own solutions to real-world problems to be presented in your area of knowledge.
Educational model
Carlos Tünnermann (2008) says that “an educational model is the creation, in pedagogical terms, of the educational
paradigms that an institution professes and that serves as a reference for all the functions it fulfills (teaching, research,
extension, linking and services), in order to realize his educational project.”
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An educational model is constructed by choosing an educational theory or a mixture of them, and establishing the
pedagogical approaches necessary to guide the development of study plans and programs and the formulation of strategies
and dynamics of the teaching-learning process.
In online learning, educational models developed specifically for this modality will have to face three main challenges
according to Bhavik K. Pathak (2016): improve learning effectiveness, offer personalized learning experiences and
establish credibility. All this can be achieved with the appropriate use of the available technological resources so that the
contents are adapted to the personal style and abilities of the students, and as long as their use is aligned with the
educational model developed and the educational strategies constructed.
Instructional design
Instructional design is a systematic, planned and strategic process to achieve the effectiveness of learning, through relevant
technologies and means, which is particularly applicable to online education, due to the use of electronic platforms and the
resources with which they are integrated for the creation, storage and delivery of educational content.
The various models of instructional design applied to online education should consider electronic resources in their design
stages and their particularities in determining strategies for delivering educational content.
Curriculum design.
Karen Schweitzer (2019) points out that the design of the curriculum is the instructional plan of the teachers, it is the way
they structure the instructional blocks with the purpose of improving student learning, for which, in addition, this plan must
be aligned and be complementary with the following instructional blocks. In turn, the curriculum design must be aligned
with the instructional design that gave rise to it.
There are four modalities of curriculum design, the summary of what Scheweitzer mentioned in his article is shown in Table
2.
Table 2. Types of curriculum design.
Type of curriculum design Pros Cons
Focused on the topic. This type of curriculum focuses more on That is not student centered. It is
the subject than on the student. The designed without taking into account the
advantage would be the depth and extent student's learning style.
with which the subject is treated.
Student-centered. Take into account the goals, needs and It is labor intensive for the teacher or for
interests of the students. The instructional those who prepare the instructional
plan is differentiated, giving you the material, since they must prepare
opportunity to select subjects, learning appropriate material for each type of
experiences or activities. student.
Focused on the problem. It focuses on the student to identify a It does not always take into account the
problem and propose ways of solution. student's learning style.
The advantage is that it exposes the
student with real problems and that helps
him develop skills that he can put into
practice in the real world.
Instructional material
Instructional material, educational material, are the lessons, activities and tests developed as a result of instructional design
and curriculum design. It is the content that will be delivered to students enrolled in the programs, or to those who participate
without being enrolled, and therefore without the possibility of receiving records, in the MOOCs.
In online education this material must be in electronic format for loading and access on the platform, but the resource that
best suits the type, structure and dynamics of the material should be used.
Instruction
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The development of the learning session, either face-to-face or online, requires the deployment of the planned strategy for
the delivery of educational material to students. The effective development of the class requires that the planned conditions
be met, either for the lesson or the planned activity. A simple example, in a case of online education, the prerequisites are
that the class is prepared and set up in the repository and that the system is accessed from the date and time announced.
The learning sessions must have clearly defined their purpose and objectives, scope, development and closing activities.
In this regard, there are also models that support the effective development of the sessions, one of them is proposed by
Gagné, Briggs and Wager (1992), which provide an instructional model for the development of learning sessions that in
turn They require procedures to achieve the objectives of each stage and the general objective, which is student learning.
The Gagné, Briggs and Wager model consists of nine instructional events: obtaining the attention of students, informing
students of the objectives, stimulating a reminder of previous learning, presenting content, providing guidance in learning,
achieving performance through practices, provide feedback, evaluate performance and improve retention and transfer. This
instructional model offers a dynamic that aims to achieve student interest, while bridging the sessions and using the various
levels of learning in the Dale pyramid.
There are other models of instruction, or the teacher himself creates his own dynamics, but in any case the important thing
is to propose a strategy of effectiveness of the instruction, apply it, evaluate it and adjust it until obtaining the best
performance in a dynamic of continuous improvement.
Instructional design.
Instructional design is key in the teaching-learning process to achieve pedagogical and performance objectives. The history
and evolution of instructional design is long, even before it was called by this name, but with pedagogical and technological
advances it has to be kept updated for the full use of them.
Instructional Design Concepts.
There are many concepts of instructional design, among the most important are the following:
For Smith and Reagan (2005), instructional design is "the systematic and reflective process of translating principles of
learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials, activities, information resources and evaluation."
Reiser & Dempsey (2007) say that "instructional design is a systematic procedure in which educational and training
programs are developed and constructed with the intention of achieving a substantial improvement in learning."
Branch & Kopcha (2014) say “instructional design is intended to be an iterative process of planning outcomes, selecting
effective strategies for teaching and learning, choosing relevant technologies, identifying educational media and measuring
performance.”
It is to be considered that all concepts agree that instructional design is a process, and as such concepts and methodologies
such as process architecture, process engineering and process optimization are applicable, all of which result in its
effectiveness.
Models of instructional design.
A model in instructional development is a guide for its planning, execution and evaluation. Serhat Kurt (2015) said: “An
instructional design model provides guidelines to organizing appropriate pedagogical scenarios to achieve educational
goals. Instructional design can be defined as the practice of creating instructional experiences to help facilitate learning
most effectively.”
There are many models of instructional development, but ADDIE, ASSURE and Dick and Carey stand out.
ADDIE is the most widely used model and from which others are derived. The name of this model is composed of the initial
letters of the name of each stage. ADDIE is the acronym for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate. Robert
Maribe (2009) describes this model as a product development concept, in this case instructional material. The terms
correspond to the stages of the process of generating effective instructional material. It is a reflective, planned, strategic,
operational and evaluated process to ensure the effectiveness of the development of instructional material. ADDIE is an
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iterative model, which means that from one stage you can return to any other, and the result will be the input of the next
stage.
Table 3. Stages of the ADDIE model.
Stage Description
A (Analyze). It consists primarily of identifying the target student, determining instructional goals, determining
human and technological requirements, and creating the project management plan.
D (To design). Based on the elements obtained in the design stage, the strategies for the other stages are
determined, instructional objectives, performance objectives, test instruments and performance
metrics are generated.
D (Develop). Generate learning resources and validate their performance.
I (Implement). Prepare teachers, students, and in the case of electronic learning prepare electronic platforms to
ensure their continuity and performance.
E (Evaluate). Rate the quality and performance of instructional products based on the criteria and metrics that
have been established in the design stage.
In ADDIE each stage is developed through specific procedures, how many and which depends on the complexity of the
environment and the resources that the organization can put into practice. The model is also applicable to online learning,
but it requires that in each of its stages the resources and strategies be considered to achieve the proper use of electronic
platforms in the creation and delivery of instructional resources.
Heinich, Molenda, Rusell and Smaldino (1999) proposed the ASSURE model, similar to ADDIE but with the fundamental
purpose it ensures the effective use of the means in the instruction. The ASSURE model is based on the constructivism
and part of the characteristics of the student, whose identification is made in the first stage of the process.
Table 4. Stages of the ASSURE model.
Stage Description
A (Analyze student characteristics). It is the identification of the characteristics of the students to guide the development of
instructional material according to those characteristics.
S (Set standards and objectives). It is the specification of what students should be able to do as a result of instruction.
S (Select strategies, technology, media It is the ideal selection of these elements to achieve the learning objectives.
and materials).
U (Use technology, media and materials). It is the planning and use of resources to engage the student with the material that is
being delivered.
R (Require student response). It consists of planning how to achieve student and group participation in the learning
process, given all the previous stages.
E (Evaluation and Review). The impact of teaching on students is assessed, determining whether the learning
objectives were achieved. The results are used to review all the elements involved,
strategies, technology, media and materials.
The model of Dick, Carey and Carey (2015) opens the process to ten stages. The essence of this model is the relationship
that is built between the stimulus and the response, the stimulus being the didactic materials and the response the learning
of these materials by the student, and the stages create the conditions for that relationship to be established.
Table 5. Dick, Carey and Carey model.
Stage Description
Instructional goals. Determination of instructional goals, what the student is expected to learn.
Instructional analysis. It is the identification of the skills and abilities that the student must have to learn what
they want to teach.
Initial behaviors and student It is the determination of which of the skills that were determined as necessary really
characteristics. possesses.
Performance objectives. The goals and objectives of the lesson become explicit through statements of what the
student should achieve.
Elements of evidence crossed against It is the construction of tests according to the performance objectives that the students
criteria. reach.
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Instructional strategy. It is the determination of the strategy of the development of the materialized class
through a plan to achieve the performance objectives.
Instructional materials. Development and selection of instructional materials.
Design and development of the formative It is the evaluation of the development of the lesson and if the objectives of the lesson
evaluation. were achieved.
Design and development of summative It is the overall evaluation of the execution of the model, determining what worked,
evaluation. what did not and what can be improved.
Review of the instruction. At this stage the data of the formative evaluation are used to reexamine the validity of
the instructional analysis and the assumptions about the initial skills and
characteristics of the students. These results are used to make revisions to the
process.
Thus, although all models of instructional design are processes that have the same purpose, they differ in the emphasis
they make on some of the stages and in the theory they use as a basis. The instructional designer must select the most
appropriate model according to the selected educational theory and the educational model built on it.
4. Instructional design in online learning.
Eliana Patricia Londoño (2019) makes a bibliographic review of the instructional design in virtual education, in which she
points out that according to Luzardo (2004), cognitivism and constructivism are the learning theories that best accommodate
the educational models of online education, to from this and given that connectivism makes use of the two, it can be affirmed
that both cognitivism, as well as constructivism and connectivism are ideally applicable in electronic learning.
Instructional design as a process should not only consider the use of electronic platforms, but the use of the resources of
those platforms that are appropriate for the educational model in accordance with its principles of operation and
functionality. Thus, for example, the use of the hypertext feature of web pages makes web education a suitable medium for
models based on constructivist theory, while blogs and wikis are suitable for collaborative learning, also used in
constructivist models. In the connectivist models all technological resources are adequate, guiding the development of the
material with an instructional design that takes advantage of those resources.
As already mentioned, MOOCs and smart books, but especially the latter, make use of the flexibility and interactivity of
resources. There are other resources that do not have flexibility or interactivity, such as videos, but the lessons,
demonstrations and tutorials that can be developed with them can have a high impact on learning. Otherwise they are the
simulators, that just what they offer is the interactivity, so that the student simulates actions that in the real world can be
expensive, dilated, insecure or that cannot be returned to initial conditions again and again to test the model With different
strategies and scenarios.
Thus, each resource of the platforms of the virtual learning environments has characteristics that must be known to take
full advantage of the teaching-learning processes.
It should also be considered that new technologies such as artificial intelligence are already present in several educational
products, for example, in some LMS, and in others that may be part of the integrated platforms, such as business
intelligence applications that allow voice consultations, that is, the recognition of natural language, which is one of the
branches of artificial intelligence. The knowledge and use of new incoming technologies, will allow things such as
personalization of content according to the diagnoses made by the system about student performance and the type of
difficulties encountered.
The potential that new technologies open in education only has as a limit the vision and knowledge that they have of them
for their use in current pedagogical models and those that are explicitly constructed for them. Instructional design will also
have to quickly and effectively incorporate these technologies into their process, because they will surely have a high impact
on students' educational performance.
5. Final thoughts and recommendations.
Instructional design should not be considered as an isolated entity, as the last link in the chain or just as a resource for
planning classes, it is part of a teaching-learning system that must be comprehensive, integrated and harmonized. Integral
because it must have subsystems for all aspects involved, integrated because all subsystems must be articulated and
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harmonized because each subsystem must have the necessary scope, capacity and performance to provide the
appropriate resources that the other subsystems require in order to operate at full capacity and achieve maximum
performance.
The instructional design for online education currently employs models developed for face-to-face education, but they are
applicable to it as long as electronic resources and their characteristics are taken into account at all stages of the model.
However, specific instructional models for online education are being developed based on the characteristics of electronic
resources, that is, their flexibility, impact on different levels of learning and their access to vast available information and
knowledge resources on the internet, such as electronic libraries, databases and databases in the form of open data and
online simulators. These new models of instructional design will make more effective use of electronic resources and
therefore achieve the optimum performance of their use in the teaching-learning processes.
The use of technological resources with full knowledge of their characteristics and capabilities, allows their adaptation to
the educational models derived from the different learning theories. The architecture of the academic content must be
aligned with the strategy of its delivery to the student, an example could be to structure the material in a linear, tree-like or
network way, possible modalities with the combination of the characteristics of the repositories and the websites.
Technological platforms incorporate recent technologies, some that have not yet been extended, such as virtual reality and
augmented reality, and despite this there are already products that use others, even more modern, for example, some LMS
already incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning, and soon we will see deep learning based on neural
networks as a support tool for both the teacher and the student.
Online education systems due to their systemic characteristics can incorporate not only technologies, but also
methodologies for system development in general, agile methodologies such as Scrum are already in practice to respond
quickly to the new requirements for the creation of careers and courses in line, DevOps is also applicable, the methodology
of continuous deliveries, to enrich and update the academic content continuously, without causing interruptions, taking
advantage of the characteristics of electronic platforms.
The future is in the personalization of the content according to the interests, abilities, capacities and learning style of the
student. This imposes an important challenge for instructional designers as well as for instructional material developers,
but it opens a very encouraging perspective for the future of online education given the levels of effectiveness that can be
achieved.
Due to its dual, pedagogical and technological nature, the development of instructional material for online education is
multidisciplinary, so educators and computer and design professionals must work in a coordinated manner to generate
quality products, which will be the end result of the collaborative, reflective and aligned work of this variety of specialists.
Being information systems, and information and communication technologies, a very dynamic world, it is necessary to keep
up to date to quickly and effectively incorporate new resources into online education systems. The instructional design must
take full advantage of the technological resources and methodologies of available and upcoming systems, which requires
that they be known, used and used properly to achieve the central objective of education, student learning.
References
[1] Branch, R. M., & Kopcha, T. J. (2014). Instructional design models. In Handbook of research on educational
communications and technology (pp. 77-87). New York: Springer.
[2] Dick, W., Carey, L. & Carey, J. (2015). The systematic design of instruction, (8th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.
[3] Gagné, R.M., Briggs, L. J., Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th ed.) Fort Worth, Tx:
Harcourt Brace College Publishing.
[4] Heinich, R., Molenda, M., Rusell, J., Smaldino, S. (1999). Instructional Media and Technologies por learning
(6th ed.) Columbus, OH: Prentice-Hall, Chapter 3, Visual Principles.
[5] Kurt, S. "Instructional Design Models and Theories" in Educational Technology, December 9, 2015. Retrieved
from https://educationaltechnology.net/instructional-design-models-and-theories/
[6] Londoño, E. P. (2011). El diseño instruccional en la educación virtual: más allá de la presentación de los
contenidos. Revista Educación y Desarrollo Social. Vol. 5. No. 2. Pages 112-127. Colombia: Editorial
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