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CWIS
26,2 The design of a web-based course
for self-directed learning
Mingzhuo Liu
122 Distance Education College, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how to design a web-based course in the context of
China for self-directed learning from four perspectives – i.e. pedagogical, psychological, social and
technological – and also to summarize the design principles for the web-based course.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews literature related to: self-directed learning,
with a view to bringing out its capabilities and capacities for use in a web-based environment; theories
and pedagogies of learning with a view to imbuing them for the design of web-based courses; and
challenges of the design of web-based courses with a view to gauging its acceptability.
Findings – The development of a successful web-based course needs to focus on multiple
perspectives — pedagogical, psychological, social and technological – in order to contextualize it for
learner-centeredness. The results show that the course designed based on these dimensions was
flexible, useful and welcomed.
Originality/value – This paper describes a conceptual framework for designing a web-based course
from four perspectives and also presents a series of design principles for a web-based course.
Keywords Self managed learning, Students, Internet, E-learning, China
Paper type Research paper

Campus-Wide Information Systems
Vol. 26 No. 2, 2009
pp. 122-131
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1065-0741
DOI 10.1108/10650740910946846
Introduction
In China, the development of the education system is unbalanced between urban and
rural areas, and also between Eastern and Western regions because of the vast
territory and teacher shortage. The traditional face-to-face training program has the
disadvantages of slow effectiveness, restricted coverage and difficulties in tracking.
An effective method to shorten the distance is modern distance education. It has
numerous advantages. For instance, it breaks through time and space constraints,
increases learning opportunities, and helps to expand the scale of teaching, improves
the quality and reduces the cost of teaching. Therefore, the application and
popularization of distance education has the potential to bridge the distance. Being
fully aware of this potential, the Chinese Ministry of Education has approved and
authorized 67 distinguished Chinese universities to launch modern distance education
programs from 1999. As one of distinguished universities in China, East China Normal
University was ratified to set up the Distance Education College (DEC) for modern
distance education in 2001.
Based on the practice for many years, the DEC has summed up a set of effective
online teaching and learning mixed modes, which feature as student self-directing
online curricula, instructor’s in-time guiding and supporting, and also local face-to-face
counseling through cooperation with local education institutes. The students mainly
study from textbooks, CDs, web-based courses, audios and videos. They are also
requested to participate in online learning activities. When they have questions, they
can find solutions in FAQs, or ask teachers for help by telephone or e-mail. The learner
self-directed web-based course is designed under this context. It is a student-centered
learning environment, in which lots of learning modules (about half an hour for each Self-directed
module), cases, exercises, interactive activities and learning tools are contained.
“Self-directed” means the learner can not only learn on the web-based course at their
learning
own pace, but can also collaborate with teachers and other students. Self-directed
web-based courses have numerous advantages, such as more student-centered,
collaborative learning, and opportunities for engagement and reflection (Jonassen et al.,
1999). These advantages, however, do not happen spontaneously unless the web-based 123
courses are thoughtfully designed.
A self-directed web-based course is designed based on four perspectives:
(1) pedagogical;
(2) psychological;
(3) social; and
(4) technological.
The purpose of this paper is to describe how a web-based course is designed based on
the four perspectives and the design principles it follows. Also, the students’
perceptions on the design of the web-based course are presented.

General guidelines
Based on constructivist learning theories and the practice for many years, we summed
up a conceptual framework for designing a self-directed web-based course as shown in
Figure 1. It is designed from the four perspectives noted above (i.e. pedagogical, social,
psychological, and technological). The intersection is student-centered design, which is
a key factor in the success of a web-based course, and the role of technology is to
support the design. The pedagogical, social, and psychological perspectives pay great

Figure 1.
Conceptual framework for
designing a web-based
course
CWIS attention to the content and activity design, while the technological perspective focuses
on translating the learning content and activities online using technologies. This
26,2 section will elaborate on the four perspectives.

Pedagogical
It is critical to distinguish a learning environment from other networked communities,
124 such as an alumni community or a football fan community. The pedagogical
component primarily reflects the educational purposes of a learning environment
(Wang, 2008). The pedagogical design of a self-directed web-based course must enable
students to construct knowledge and hence achieve learning objectives. It focuses on
the content design of the course and the teaching strategies.
The content of a web-based course is the determining factor in maintaining learners’
enthusiasm in learning. We cannot just move a textbook or classroom teaching to the
internet. According to constructivist learning theories, knowledge is actively
constructed by learners based on their prior experiences rather than directly
delivered by the teacher. Learners are active knowledge constructors rather than
passive information receivers (Jonassen, 1991). Moreover, cognitive constructivists
claim that learners are most likely to construct knowledge individually based upon
their personal experiences and newly obtained information. Knowledge construction is
a process of internalization and reconstruction of external reality, in which individual
interaction with the content plays a vital role (Perkins, 1993). So the self-directed
web-based course must provide various activities, such as case studies, collaborative
learning, online discussion, the exchange and sharing of documents, online debating
and so on, in which the students can achieve higher-order knowledge and skills
through interacting with other students or teachers and content. These activities
enable their tacit knowledge to be transformed into explicit knowledge and skill.
A self-directed web-based course must support and satisfy learners’ various
learning needs and learning intentions; be flexible with regard to the learning content
and objectives (Wang, 2008); and involve learning resources and activities that support
active learning (Chen, 2003).

Social
Learning is a social process in which learners collaboratively construct knowledge
through interactive processes of information sharing, negotiation and modification.
In cyberspace, students should construct knowledge collaboratively with one
another. They can construct knowledge collaboratively through information sharing,
collaborative learning, and exchanging ideas. On the other hand, when learners
encounter problems in the process of learning, they can ask for help from other learners
or teachers through various means. The social dimension of learning has become an
integral part of many recent web-based learning environments (Moallem, 2003). The
social design of a self-directed web-based course aims to provide and maintain a
friendly and interactive environment in which learners feel safe and comfortable and
able to interact with one another (Anderson, 2004).
In order to promote social knowledge construction, a learning environment must
provide a variety of communication tools, such as synchronous (e.g. chat rooms and
video conferencing) or asynchronous (e.g. discussion forums and e-mail) facilities. With
these tools, students can join other students or teachers to discuss an issue and express
their views. Through these activities, learners can get more information. Moderation
by facilitators is also critical for successful online discussions and social knowledge
construction. Effective moderation includes setting up norms, encouraging Self-directed
participation, monitoring progress and providing information (cf. Hootstein, 2002).
Such an environment can help students to discuss and solve problems quickly and
learning
easily, and can help students take the initiative of self-directed learning.

Psychological
Each individual is unique in intellect, ways of thinking, and moral character. This 125
individual uniqueness is not only present from birth, but is also developed
subsequently by interacting within the social environment. There are four online
learning orientations:
(1) transforming;
(2) performing;
(3) conforming; and
(4) resistant (Martinez, 2005).
Learning orientations describe an individual’s disposition to approaching, managing,
and achieving learning intentionally and differently from others.
To make a web-based course more learner-centered, the course designer must
diagnose learning needs, formulate learning needs and identify human material
resources for learning, choose and implement appropriate learning strategies, and
evaluate learning outcomes.

Technological
Web-based courses cannot be separated from the computer network hardware and
software platform support. As in the process of online teaching, teachers and students
are in a state of separation. They need technological tools to support their
communication and interaction. These tools include computer network hardware and
user terminals. Also, they need software to provide a user-friendly interface.
In addition, the design and development of the web-based course need technological
ideas and technological tools. A web-based course is a typical technology product.
Computer tools integrate the text, graphic images, audio and video, and animation.
This makes the content of the course more intuitive and lively.

Design principles
Flexible learning principle
One key characteristic of a self-directed web-based course is that it can satisfy learners’
flexible learning. Since learners vary in knowledge level, learning capabilities, and
interest in learning, the design of self-directed web-based course should be flexible and
should leave learning space for students. Students can make their own learning plans,
and adjust the pace of learning based on their own learning regardless of other people.
For example, we can prepare levels of content and divide them into small modules so
students can learn at any time, anywhere, at their own pace.

Personalized learning principle

Online learners have different learning orientations; for example, some like reading,
some like listening and some like watching videos. When designing a web-based
course, we have to think about the learners’ learning orientations, such as their needs,
CWIS motivation, thoughts, and worldview and also their capability, character, and social
environment. We can track their learning process through the platform and students’
26,2 portfolio, so that students can get personalized learning materials.

Inner-set learning support principle

Inner-set learning support places a virtual teacher in the course who will give some
126 clues and guide the students to learn, wake up the students frequently to urge them to
study, and provide suitable support as soon as the students need it. Inner-set learning
support is like a set of supplemental materials to the content, such as pre-questions,
learning suggestions, indexes, learning goals, important and difficult points, and
reviewing previous content. There are five kinds of inner-set learning support
designing strategies.
Diagnosing support. These supporting strategies include two types:
(1) examining the students’ former (original) learning level; and
(2) examining the students’ personalized learning character.
The goal of diagnosing support is to offer learners suitable learning activities based on
their own learning level and also the system can provide suitable content and learning
suggestions to the learners.
Commonly used diagnosing support strategies include:
.
pre-test;
.
personalized psychological questionnaire; and
.
learning process tracing, analysis and management through learning platform.
Guiding support. On all web pages of a web-based course, there are convenient guiding
tools. Through them, the students know where and how to go. Commonly used guiding
strategies include:
.
websites map;
.
guiding button;
.
bookmarking; and
.
position wake-up.
Cognitive support. Cognitive support is to help students build a concept map, form a
clear understanding of exploration activities, raise self-monitoring capability, and
develop self-correction skills. Learners are supported in the process of their
participation in learning activities to effectively assimilate knowledge or conform to
the knowledge.
Common cognitive support strategies are:
.
definition – the definition of the course and scope of the field;
.
explanation – clarifying concepts, principles, methods and content of the subject;
.
exploration – guiding the students to explore through various methods;
.
feedback – online tests, exercises and answers, and other feedback information;
.
tracking – recording the students’ learning process;
.
expanding – expand the borders of course learning, teachers or classmates
shared learning experience and fun between each other;
 .
highlights – through the use of bold, large print, italics, underlining, different Self-directed
colors, different spacing, boxed, and symbols to highlight the focus of study;
learning
.
help learners enhance memory and understanding of – the use of illustrations,
diagrams, schematics, require students to learn while training, to a certain
extent, help learners enhance memory and understanding of the content.
Interests in learning support. Learning interest support is to help learners keep their 127
learning interests through an attractive interface of web-based course pages, intimate
content description, rich content, and varied activities. It also helps to strengthen
learners’ learning success feelings and ease their loneliness during web based
studying.
Commonly used learning interests support strategies include:
.
proper use of language;
.
various learning activities, such as reading, discussion; exercises; online
homework, practical training, and collaborative learning;
.
personalized information collection and content provision;
.
personalized interface designing – for example, the pages need not be too long,
and the word spacing should be suitable for the readers and so on.
Evaluation and feedback. Evaluation and feedback can help online learners to think and
self-control their study pace. Generally used evaluation and feedback strategies
include:
.
procedural evaluation strategy;
.
homework;
.
online testing; and
.
final test.

The design of a web-based course

Course description
This self-directed web-based course is entitled ‘Introduction to Psychology’, which is a
compulsory course offered to Psychology major students and also an elective course
for those who are from other subjects. The participants seek Bachelor’s degrees. Most
of them are adults who have worked for a few years. For them, with the burden of
family and work, it is impossible to study full time. They usually have to make use of
their spare time to study. Hundreds of students have been enrolled to the course since it
first opened in the Spring of 2005.
The teacher of the course is a distinguished psychological professor, who has rich
experience in teaching this course face-to-face. His classes are always warmly
welcomed by students. In addition, the professor has accumulated a number of cases
for this course.
The professor divides the content into 18 modules. In addition, this course also
provides the basics and some learning tools for the students. The basics include the
syllabus, the learning proposal, an introduction to the teacher, and appraisal
requirements. From the basics, the students will know the basic information about this
course and the teacher. Learning tools include note-taking, bookmarking, calendar and
CWIS searching tools. For instance, when the students are reading, they can use the
note-taking tool to write down what they are thinking, and what they are listening to.
26,2
Pedagogical design
Each of the 18 modules includes four components:
(1) Warm-up. Story-based description, such as a flash comic. From the description
128 of the scenarios, the subject can be raised so as to excite the learners’ learning
interest.
(2) Lectures. The same content will be taught (displayed) in three styles – text,
audio and video – so that the learners can choose according to their
personalized learning orientation.
(3) Practice. There are many kinds of activities prepared for the students, such as
forums, chats, quizzes, assignments, supplementary resources, cases, wikis and
so on.
(4) Tests. This course provides two kinds of tests – standard tests and
performance evaluation. In this performance evaluation, the teacher gives open
questions and some answering clues to the students. The students submit their
test paper online, the teacher marks it online, and other students comment on it.
When students submit outstanding works, the teacher shares them to all of the
students.
In addition, the web-based course also provides tools, such as note-taking,
bookmarking, searching, and downloads. By using the note-taking tool, the students
can write down what they are thinking about, and later they can review those notes.
Also, they can collect their favorite websites by using the bookmarking tool.

Social design
The course designs a variety of activities, such as forums, chats, online debating, and
case analysis for students to exchange ideas, share materials and study collaboratively.
They can negotiate with each other in those activities. Besides those activities, also an
online Q/A tool is provided. When someone encounters problems or questions in the
process of studying, he or she can ask other people or the teacher and get timely reply
through this function.

Psychological design
From the psychological perspective, students may have different media orientations.
The content is presented in three forms of text, audio and video. We design two tools
for the students to self-plan and self-pace their study, one of which is called the
self-study weekly schedule. Using this the tool, the students can find out what
percentage they have learned about each item to help them to self-manage their pace of
study. The other tool is called the learning process tool. With this tool, the students can
determine the state of their study.

Technological design
As shown in Figure 2, the interface of the webpage is divided into five functional
blocks:
(1) banner – shows the logo of the university and the name of the course;
 Self-directed
learning

129

Figure 2.
The homepage of the
course

(2) navigation bar – shows links to the basic information about this course, such as
syllabus, references, test requirements, and so on;
(3) navigation for modules – lists all of the chapter titles of this course;
(4) the learning path for each module – when the title is clicked, the related learning
path for that module will be shown here; and
(5) copyright information and contact information.
Figure 3 shows the webpage of module 1. The left area is a menu which includes
warm-up, lectures, activities and post-test. The central area displays the related
content, and the right bottom corner lists supporting tools, such as note-taking,
bookmarking, and a search engine.

Evaluation
In order to determine how the students would react to the design specifications of the
course, we conducted a pilot study to evaluate the design of the course. A user
satisfaction questionnaire survey and usability testing were applied.

User satisfaction questionnaire survey

We offered a user satisfaction survey to the learners. A total of 168 students from the
DEC took the survey. There were 26 items in the questionnaire and a five-point Likert
scale (5 ¼ strongly agree, 4 ¼ agree, 3 ¼ neutral, 2 ¼ disagree, 1 ¼ stronglydisagree)
was adopted for each item. The 26 items were designed to evaluate the educational,
psychological, social and technological design.
CWIS
26,2

130

Figure 3.
The webpage of module 1

The evaluation results showed that the majority of students liked the design of the
course. Eighty-four percent of students thought that the overall design style was good
and easy to use, and all students said that they would like to use the web-based course.

Usability testing
We invited a number of learners in accordance with pre-designed tasks to do usability
testing about this course in a usability testing lab. The whole testing process is
recorded. Figure 4 shows the pictures taken from the test video clips. We used the
think-aloud method. When the student explored the course they frankly said what they
thought about the course. Each video faithfully recorded the tester’s facial expression
and screen operations.
We conducted some qualitative analysis of the data from the survey and usability
testing. Compared with other previously designed courses, this course is more flexible,
personalized and more welcomed by the students. In this course, the students actively
participated in the discussion, expressed their views and finished all of the modules
and online tests. However, some problems were also identified. Some students said that

Figure 4.
Usability testing pictures
the audio or video content was monotonous and dull, because the teacher did not Self-directed
explain their teaching points but just read the content on the PPT slides. In addition,
probably because of the limitations of broadband, many students mentioned that they
learning
preferred the content in text form rather than in audio or video form. This result gives
course designers clear clues on how to modify the existing web-based course or design
a new web-based course to avoid the above problems.
131
Conclusion
The self-directed web-based course is built based on the characteristics of distance
education and the learners’ characteristics. It is student-centered. The web-based
course is designed from educational, social, psychological and technological
perspectives by following the designing principles. The evaluation results show the
course design is sound and the built-in support tools are meaningful for students to
construct knowledge. However, there are still some problems to overcome in the future
improve the course.

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Corresponding author
Mingzhuo Liu can be contacted at: mzliu2000@126.com

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