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Purpose of an Instructional Website
The overall goal of an instructional website is to design an environment that facilitates the best possible educational experience for students. An instructional website is similar to an online lesson plan. It should be "designed with goals and objectives in mind, contain just the information needed to attain them, include active learning experiences, provide for assessment, and so on" (Ingram, 2012). The website should contain information about who the audience is and what specifically they should learn after completing the tasks or steps. A learning environment is created on the website through the use of instructional methods, which specifies the roles and interactions of the students and teacher. The pages on an instructional website include instructions within three main purposes: presenting information, stimulating interaction, and providing access to information and interaction on the web. Instructional websites can be designed for a variety of age-levels, from elementary students to adults. The learning activities and language on the website should be geared towards the particular age group. The design of instructional websites focuses more on student progress and development through evaluation of student performance and feedback rather than on providing just information. It has more than simple reading, finding, or listening to information. Instead, it provides an experience where students construct their own knowledge through interactive material that engages them.
The way that the material engages them can be done in numerous ways. A visit to Learning Technologies at Virginia Tech shows the following ways that an instructional website can help teachers and students fit the website to their purpose. They include the following categories:
A. Conversing, Discussing
B. Mentoring, Questioning, Supporting a Partner
C. Debating
D. Impersonating, Role Playing
E. Sharing Data, Analyzing
F. Developing a New Product or Artifact
G. Traveling Virtually, Situating Curriculum in the Context of Expeditions
H. Seeking, Collecting, Organizing, Synthesizing Online Information (Research)
I. Exploring Real-World Cases or Problems
J. Accessing Tutorials with Exercises, Quizzes, Questions, Online Drill-and-Practice (Learning Technologies at Virginia Tech, 2011)
Reference:
Hamel, C. J. (2001). Web design guidelines for web-based instruction. University of Wisconsin. Retrieved from: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/01_32.pdf
Ingram, A. (2012, June 12). What makes a website instructional? [Online forum comment].
Ingram, A. and Hathorn, L. (2003). Designing your web for instructional effectiveness and completeness: first steps. Tech Trends, 47(2), 50-56.
Saskatoon Public Schools. (2009). Instructional strategies online. Retrieved from: http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/index.html
Learning Technologies at Virginia Tech. (2011, April). Web-Based Instruction. Retrieved June 21, 2012, from designSHOP lessons in effective teaching: http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/wbi/index.html
Comments (14)
Megan said
at 8:16 pm on Jun 18, 2012
Hi Megan- thanks for getting started on this! It is on my to-do list for this week. Do you think our page will be in paragraph format mostly?
Megan Cummins said
at 8:36 pm on Jun 18, 2012
Hey Megan! No worries! I plan to do further research this week as well. I'm thinking paragraph form makes the most sense for our page. I don't know what would be easier: to list the information as first as we find it and then write the paragraph...or write the paragraphs as we go and edit and revise it later. Either or is fine with me. If you have other ideas for our page feel free to suggest them. I am open to other ideas.
Tricia said
at 8:41 pm on Jun 18, 2012
Hi Megan and Megan, If it's okay with both of you, I will join your group. Let me know if you would prefer that I join another group.
Thanks,
Tricia
Megan said
at 6:01 pm on Jun 19, 2012
Yes, Tricia, that will be fine if you join our group!
Question...I've been trying to find some articles/info on instructional websites without much luck. Where did you find that article Megan? Google search?
Megan Cummins said
at 6:14 pm on Jun 19, 2012
Welcome Tricia! Glad to have another group member. I have been having difficulty finding articles as well. The information from the article above is a Google search. I'm going to try OhioLink next in hopes to find something.
Megan Cummins said
at 8:57 pm on Jun 19, 2012
Megan I like how you quoted Dr. Ingram!! :)
Megan said
at 2:45 pm on Jun 21, 2012
Thanks :) I am not sure what else we need to add to this description of the purpose...it seems like it describes the basics. What is missing?
Tricia said
at 4:43 pm on Jun 21, 2012
Megan and Megan, I have to admit, I'm totally lost with this. Are we just adding whatever we can find about the purpose of instructional websites to this page....or do we need to create a "fancy" page somewhere else. Sorry I'm so dense about this right now. It's like my brain is rejecting the new technology :-(
Megan Cummins said
at 7:31 pm on Jun 21, 2012
Megan, I agree that we have the basics for an instructional website. Honestly, I'm not sure what else needs to be added because the details are included on the other Wiki pages. Tricia, we are simply adding what we find from research on the page. The problem has been finding research about instructional websites that discusses the purpose in education. So there is no need to create any pages or do anything somewhere else. The entire class is building on this Wiki site and this is our small group's page. Nothing stands out to as missing or that needs to be added or changed. We might ask others in our class to view our page and make suggestions on things that might need added or changed.
Megan said
at 10:18 am on Jun 22, 2012
Good idea, Megan. Maybe others in the class will have a suggetion for us! Finding research on this topic really has been difficullt!
Tricia said
at 2:24 pm on Jun 24, 2012
Hi Megan and Megan, I added a section about how the purpose of your website can be very specific to your content because everything else I found was just restating what had already been said. Let me know if you think what I added is getting off track and maybe into another category.
Tricia said
at 2:27 pm on Jun 24, 2012
I guess I was thinking if you have a purpose in mind you could just look at the list. I didn't go into detail because I think that falls under Key Features....so my list would be an introduction into their page....does that make sense?
Megan Cummins said
at 3:09 pm on Jun 24, 2012
Tricia, I think what you have added is perfect for our page and a perfect lead into the Key Features page. Thanks!
Megan said
at 4:26 pm on Jun 24, 2012
Yes, I agree with Megan. This makes our page complete! Nice find Tricia!
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