Runninghead: WRITING FOR THE WEB

Writing for the Web: A Proposed Application of Learning Theories

Amanda Umphrey
California State University Monterrey Bay
IST 520, Spring 2016

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California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) has a unique problem with its web
content quality for the published web. According to web industry best practices, all content
published should be aesthetically pleasing, easy to read, follow federal, state, and system-wide
mandated accessibility lays, and contain factual and up-to-date information (Morkes & Nielsen,
1998). Unfortunately however, there is a disconnect between web-focused writing (concise) and
academic/scholarly writing. Many of the CSUSM campus web pages are written too formally,
contain too much information which makes finding information difficult, and are not optimized
for reader habits.
Project Background
CSUSM currently has over 500 content authors publishing content to make up the
campus web footprint, which is roughly 10,000 web pages. These web pages are created through
Cascade, a Hanon Hill product for website creation. Among these 500 web authors, there is an
extremely wide range of comfort level with general web skills. Unfortunately, beginner users
often times publish incorrectly formatted content that is not aesthetically pleasing and/or
accessible to readers.
In an attempt to combat this problem, workshop trainings are offered to authors.
However, these trainings are several hours long and focus mostly on the mechanics of how to
build and edit web pages, rather than tackling content quality issues. Since the training is too
long, the majority of participants have difficulty focusing throughout the training and do not
retain valuable information on how to how to create appropriate web content towards the end of
the lesson. Further problems are created by the high rate of turnover among web content authors,
which makes it difficult to address web content quality issues. Many departments do not have a

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dedicated person for site updates and will delegate the task to whomever is newest to the
department - usually falling to temporary employees or administrative assistants.
Target Audience
CSUSM website authors are adult learners with varying technical backgrounds who
generally do not have prior web experience. These authors are lower level-employees who are
tasked with web publishing by a higher-level staff member.
Having multiple authors within a department also creates issues. Some departments have
over thirty different authors publishing at a time which leads to an overabundance of content and
also creates a unique situation where authors do not feel they are allowed to clean up content that
was not personally generated by themselves. In turn these circumstances promote old, out of date
content to populate the campus web search and makes page skimming difficult. The insufficient
archiving process is additionally detrimental for user experience, especially when on a mobile
device. Page lengths are stretched longer than needed due to old content that could be
streamlined or removed completely.
Proposed Solution
To help battle these unique issues within the CSUSM web space, a Writing for the Web
online training will be constructed. The Writing for the Web training will be an online training
that is taken outside of the classroom setting, does not require a live proctor to guide the lesson,
and should take roughly 15-20 minutes to completion. This new training is intended to educate
web authors on proper web publishing habits and hopefully begin the catalyst of change for web
authoring habits. Within the online training several learning theories, Knowles andragogy and
Gagnes learning theories will be implemented over five modules followed by assessments to

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ensure content author learning. Knowles and Gagnes theories will set the stage for constructing
the online lesson.
Learning Theories - Gagne
Gagnes naturalistic approach to learning focuses on building upon already established
learner capabilities to change behavior and modify performance through a process called
scaffolding. Gagne encourages the use of scaffolding to build upon prior learning in order to
maximize the effectiveness of the lesson (Gagne, 1970). Gagnes work is based on the cognitive
information-processing models of learning
Influential Factors
Gagnes work pinpoints five major learning categories: verbal, intellectual skills,
cognitive strategies, motor skills, and general attitudes that has an effect on learned materials
(Gagne, 1970). Gagne also identifies nine instructional events which will be taken into account
when creating the Writing for the Web lesson. While not all of the five major learning categories
are featured in an online training, it is important to pay careful attention to the learners unique
characteristics, experiences, and skills when creating materials.
In order for self-regulated learning to come to fruition, students need not only to be able
to choose and personalize what tools and content are available, but also to have access to the
necessary scaffolding to support their learning (Gagne & Medsker, 1996). Scaffolding concepts
relates new topics to previously learned experiences in order to develop new skills (Gagne,
1970).
Gagnes learning hierarchy principles in relation to the Writing for Web training is
another useful tactic to implement. Gagnes learning hierarchies helps learners organize sets of
intellectual skills in relation to a job or task. Adult learners tend to organize intellectual skills in a

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logical sense and in a psychological sense when relatable to previously learned topics. Learning
hierarchies provide instructors with a framework in which to guide training and ensures complete
instruction. This framework provides prerequisite skills and proper sequencing to help scaffold
the learner to the new topic(s) (Gagne & Medsker, 1996).
Role of Instructor
While Gagne believed it was the instructors role in the classroom to help scaffold
students to new learning, this particular training will be given outside of the classroom setting.
There are too many content authors to realistically conduct in person training. Instead an online
training is to be developed which will scaffold upon the already learned technical skills of web
publishing (e.g., how to create a link and other mechanics) and lead learners to appropriate web
authoring habits.
Application of Theory and Learning Principles
Gagnes nine instructional events gives a helpful outline for how to construct the lesson,
beginning with gaining attention (reception) of the learner(s). This goal could be accomplished
through a sound clip built into an eLearning product which will additionally help create an
immersive environment for the learner. The second goal is to inform learners of the objectives of
the lesson (expectancy). Outlining the to-be learned objective sections from Writing for the Web
lesson would accomplish this goal and the retrieval phase will be accomplished by relating each
introduced topic to a previously known one, such as the original Cascade training. When
presenting the lesson stimuli (selective perception) careful attention will be given when selecting
images to be shown in the lesson. Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding) will
additionally be built in quiz/activity to give feedback. Eliciting performance (responding) will be
accomplished by asking users to create an example of a correctly formatted demo page within

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the lesson through a drag and drop assessment where users drag parts of a pages content to a
dummy page. Providing meaningful feedback (reinforcement) will be in response to assessment
choices and will be pre-coded into the lesson for instant feedback. Gagne also stressed the
importance of assessing performance (retrieval). To accomplish this goal, a grade is given at the
end of the feedback session. Enhancing retention and transfer of learned topics to long term
memory (generalization) will be incorporated throughout the lesson and will be done by showing
screenshots of properly formatted page content. Before and after pages will also be incorporated
to maximize visual understanding of the importance of writing for the web (Culatta, 2015).
Strengths
Gagnes scaffolding hinges off of linking known concepts to new ones. This linking of
meaningful content relationships helps enhances retention of the newly learned skill/concept
(Gagne, 1970).
Weaknesses
Instructors may encounter difficulty creating meaningful links between previously
learned content and new content as each learner will have a different and unique perspective and
technical background (Gagne, 1970).
Learning Theory - Knowles
Knowles andragogy is ideal for CSUSM content authors as they are adult learners who
resist learning new skills when they do not feel applicable to their campus role. Knowles
identifies several main themes that adult learners require such as: the need for a willingness to
learn, hands-on learning experiences, problem-focuses learning, informal settings, bias from
previous experience, and a need for guidance (Knowles, 1988).
Influential Factors

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Knowles focuses on the unique aspects of adult learning which goes through a
predictable process outlined by five points: 1) while adults do not necessarily consider
themselves learners they engage in from one to twenty major learning projects each year; 2)
most of the learning achieved is independent from classic educational venues, such as higher
education, trainings, and lectures. Newly learned topics are instead gained through naturally
developed experiences and; 3) this learning takes place in a natural process, especially seen when
learning independently; 4) adult learners often seek help throughout the learning process and
lastly, 4) adult learners turn to helpers who generally are not a formally trained teacher. Adult
learners are more likely to seek peer assistance than the teacher as they feel that teaching
pedagogy interferes with the natural ebb and flow of learning (Knowles, 1985).
Role of Instructor
Rather than the role of an instructor, Knowles andragogy focuses more on creating
relationships between a subject matter expert who offers guidance than a one-way conversation
of an instructor (Knowles, 1985).
Strengths
Assuming one is able to capitalize upon the five known habits of adult learners,
Knowles andragogy outlines helpful tactics to maximize adult learner understanding.
Additionally, Knowles structural model, in relation to mobile learning, has been found to be
successful when adult learner cognitive needs, affective needs, and social needs are met
(Hashim, Tan, & Rashid, 2014).
Weaknesses
Andragogy does come with criticism however and some experts debate whether adults
and children learn differently. Some experts suggest that adult learning is not based upon meeting

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the needs outlined by Knowles, but instead is dependent upon the unique perspectives of the
adult learner such as from a feminist or sexual orientation defined lens (Sandlin, 2005). Experts
of this opinion critique that Knowles andragogy is too focused on a white-middle class values
and is too generic to be applied to the general population.
Media Components
The Writing for the Web training will consist of five learning modules that will set the
stage for content authors to optimize their content for web medium. Optimizing web content into
easier to read, more skimmable content for readers (Nielsen, 2013). These modules will be
created in Captivate and will be implemented through CSUSMs Training Center department
site. Pre-test snapshots of site structuring will be captured previous to training and will be
compared to post-training web site structuring. Statistics and other diagnostics will additionally
be gathered through the admin portal of Cascade.
Module 1: How to write for your audience will outline how to create content that
readers will want to interact with and focus on an appropriate tone. Content authors need to
carefully craft content to be approachable, but not compromise the integrity of the organization
or come off as unprofessional.
Module 2: Chunked content will focus on how to create concise, easy to skim page
content. Chunked content should be mobile-design focused and helps increase the likelihood that
a reader will interact with the content posted and is an important element to perfect (Meyer,
2016).
Module 3: Less is more. This module will focus on streamlining content and purging
old content. Users interact with less than 25% of the content shown on the average web page and

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thinning out a pages content increases the likelihood of actually reading the content (Nielsen,
2013).
Module 4: Use formatting effectively. Use of headers, bolded text, underlines, bullet
points and other formatting tactics helps promote skimming users to consume your content
(Meyer, 2016).
Module 5: Create accessible content. Accessibility of web pages for disabled viewers is
federally and state mandated. Creating accessible content not only helps readers with disabilities
(visual, physical, audial, and mental), but also helps non-native speakers and typical web users
consume the pages content. Adding in descriptive links, alternative text, and headers is an easy
way to implement accessibility standards.
Ultimately, each of the five modules should promote a sense of self-efficacy and pride of
ownership of the sites content, along with educating the learner of web publishing processes. A
final campus resources section will outline the campus resources available to content authors and
expected responsibilities of web authors. These resources will hopefully foster a relationship
between the Web Team and the content authors.
Real World Constraints
While the creation, testing and implementation of the training itself will not be difficult
thanks to department support, changing the campus culture will be a slow and laborious process.
Many employees do not have the feelings of ownership of the content and instead will just add in
whatever content is given to them by directors or managers. The greatest challenge will be to
motivate content authors to be invested in the web content process, and to convince them to think
pragmatically about the content that is being provided. This is especially difficult for content

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owners who report to the content requestor, who will need to be motivated to push back for the
sake of maintaining quality content.
Other issues include faculty pressuring staff content authors to feature the faculty
members program - which creates a site with no hierarchy that is instead treated like a dumping
ground. Limiting the content authors to be a more dedicated role -or- having more departments
consult directly with the Web Team before publishing content will likely have pushback from
higher ups.
A more concise and less academic mindset when it comes to content will be slow to
achieve. Many campus affiliates do not seem to understand that web media are different than
print media.
The current web presence of CSUSM as a whole is in dire need of improvement.
Institutional issues of culture and expectation have created shortcomings within the web content
owned by the organization. After thorough review the most efficient method of turning this
problem around is through user-directed training. Through the research and theories of Gagne
and Knowles the web team can begin to address the shortcomings of the body of content, and
train a population of content owners who are capable of creating and maintaining quality content.

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References
Culatta, R., 2015. Conditions of learning, InstructionalDesign.org
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/conditions-learning.html
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Hashim, K. F., Tan, F. B., & Rashid, A. (2014). Adult learners' intention to adopt mobile
learning: A motivational perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(2),
381-390. doi:10.1111/bjet.12148
Knowles, M. S. (1985). Applications in continuing education for the health professions. The
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Knowles, M. S. (1988). The Modern Practice of Adult Education from Pedagogy to Androgagy
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Meyer, K., 2016. How chunking helps content processing, Nielsen Norman Group.
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Morkes, J., and J. Nielsen. "Nielsen Norman Group." Applying Writing Guidelines to Web
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Nielsen, J. "Nielsen Norman Group." Website Reading: It (Sometimes) Does Happen. 24 June
2013. Web. http://www.nngroup.com/articles/website-reading/.
Sandlin, J. A. (2005). Andragogy and its disconnects: An analysis of andragogy from three
critical prespectives. PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 14, 25-42.