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Taskiran, A. (2022). Effective, Efficient, and Attractive Instructional Design for Online Learning. In G. Durak, & S. Çankaya (Eds.),
Handbook of Research on Managing and Designing Online Courses in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments (pp. 140-158).
IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-8701-0.ch007

Chapter 7
Effective, Efficient, and
Attractive Instructional
Design for Online Learning
Ayse Taskiran
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1913-7296
Anadolu University, Turkey

ABSTRACT
The worldwide school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a rapid transition from
traditional to emergency remote teaching. On the other hand, during this emergency, remote teaching,
deliberate planning, and design of distance learning processes had to be overlooked to provide a quick
solution for the disruption of face-to-face education globally. The aim of this chapter is to shed light on
what could be done to make online courses effective, efficient, and attractive by embodying the elements
that can be included in the instructional design of online courses for future online distance education
practices that might be applied during emergency remote teaching. The elements that will be discussed
in the chapter will be elaborated in relation to general principles of instructional design, teaching meth-
ods and techniques, instructional technologies, teaching materials and media, learner-teacher-content
interaction, and feedback.

INTRODUCTION

Open and distance learning is basically expressed as a system in which teacher and student are in different
environments (Keegan, 1996). At all learning levels distance learning includes organization of teaching
and learning methods used, classroom and school management, planning, guidance, and organization
(Holmberg, 1989). Accordingly, Simonson, Smaldino et al. (2012) define distance learning as a learning
process in which learners are distant from each other and from learning resources in the context of time
and space, and their interactions with learning materials and with other learners are realized through
distance communication system. According to Moore and Kearsley (2005), open and distance learning

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8701-0.ch007

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Effective, Efficient, and Attractive Instructional Design for Online Learning

is a process where the learning event and the teaching event take place in different time and places, and
which requires deliberate planning and scheduling
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, deliberate planning and design of distance learning processes had to be
overlooked to provide a quick solution for the disruption of face-to-face education globally. The world-
wide school closures caused a rapid transition from traditional to online distance education. By means
of learning management systems (LMS), video lectures, online libraries, TV broadcasts, open educa-
tional resources, videoconferencing platforms, guidelines and online channels, countries all around the
world tried to maintain the education process (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020). All these attempts are quite
different from planned online distance education practices and they should be regarded as Emergency
Remote Teaching (ERT). According to Bozkurt and Sharma (2020), online distance education comprises
elaborative planning of the learning process in which choices, agency, responsibility, and flexibility are
created and which includes detailed course design that fosters learning ecology, whereas ERT could not
go beyond providing a quick solution to compensate for interrupted education by means of information
communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, there are concerns about the effectiveness of the ERT
applications.
ERT created challenges for both teachers and learners. Some of these challenges can be listed as
being inexperienced in online teaching and learning, not enough technological feasibility, not enough
techno-pedagogical competencies, low digital competence that causes learners to lag in online learn-
ing (Adedoyin & Soykan, 2020). More importantly, ERT applications seems to fail to create effective,
productive, and engaging learning experiences at the expected level as they are not based on elaborate
planning on instructional design, but rather a quick transfer of course contents to incorporate tools in an
online environment (Green et al., 2020).
The aim of this section is to shed light on what could be done to make online courses effective,
efficient, and attractive by embodying the elements that can be included in the instructional design
of online courses. The elements that will be discussed in the chapter will be elaborated in relation to
distance learning pedagogy. These elements will be discussed under the headings of general principles
of instructional design, teaching methods and techniques, instructional technologies, teaching materials
and media, learner-teacher-content interaction, and feedback.

FROM DISTANCE EDUCATION TO EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING

Due to the threat of COVID-19, instructions at all levels have moved online as internet-based conveyance
provides flexibility of teaching and learning without time and place constraints. Even though online
instruction was an expected phenomenon in the near future, this transition due to the pandemic was so
instantaneous and done on the spur-of-the-moment. The lack of planning brought about by this sudden
transition can seal the perception of online learning as a poor option. In fact, possibilities that a prop-
erly planned and prepared online teaching offers are overshadowed by this sudden transition. Although
concepts such as online learning, distance learning, distributed learning, ubiquitous learning, blended
learning, and mobile learning have been carefully defined by educational technology and distance educa-
tion experts over the years, these terminologies have become indiscriminately used by people other than
field experts due to this sudden transition. Brown (2005) portrays some of these concepts in Figure 1.
Brow (2005) highlights the significance of learner-centered approach in successful teaching and learn-
ing environments where flexibility in modes of delivery, interaction, learning materials, evaluation and

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 Effective, Efficient, and Attractive Instructional Design for Online Learning

assessment methods, time and place of study and learning pace. As seen in the figure, distance learning,
as a broad term, involves more than one concept. According to Brown (2005) m-learning is a sub-set of
e-learning, which is a macro concept including online and mobile learning environments. E-learning is in
return a sub-set of distance learning, which is a sub-set of a macro concept, flexible learning. Although
the figure displays the concepts as distinct delivery modes, in practice these concepts are actually very
much integrated and blended.

Figure 1. The subsets of flexible learning (Brown, 2005)

Soruce: Brown, 2005

During the pandemic induced crisis, especially the concept of Distance Education (DE) has been
misperceived by many, drifting away from its basic principles, and this situation has been highlighted
by many experts in the field (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020; Hodges et al, 2020; Toquero, 2020; Trust &
Whalen, 2020). Therefore, it is useful to move forward by clarifying the ERT terminology.
Providing an alternative remote instructional delivery system for temporary access to education dur-
ing an emergency could be the shortest definition for ERT (Hodges et al., 2020). The main objective of
ERT is to provide reliable and practical instructional support in the time of the crisis. ERT might have
some common characteristics with DE, yet global pandemic induced online instructions differ greatly
from carefully planned and designed DE. ERT also differs in many ways from online courses conducted
with planned instructional designs because it evolved in response to a specific crisis (Trust &Whalen,
2020; Wang et al., 2020). DE can be defined as a planned teaching and learning experience that applies a
wide range of technologies to reach learners at a distance and is designed to promote learner interaction
(Greenberg, 1998). Anderson (2009) elaborates this definition highlighting the importance of pedagogy
behind the technology used, and describes pedagogy and technology as concepts with a dance metaphor:
while technology creates the music, pedagogy defines the moves. Giving more importance to pedagogy,
Anderson (2009) points out that it might be possible to dance without music but it cannot be possible to
dance without moves. This also brings out the significance of teachers rather technologies, as technology
alone is not enough to make a difference but a well-designed lesson and a prepared teacher.

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Effective, Efficient, and Attractive Instructional Design for Online Learning

Due to the global pandemic, disruption of traditional education gave way to distance education, which
could not go beyond an assumption. Different modes of delivery for education including TV broadcasts,
video lectures, online channels (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020; Goksel, 2021) have been initiated. Especially
during the first months of the pandemic many instructors and teachers urgently transferred their course
content into digital platforms. According to recent studies, during the first months of the ERT the focus
was not on pedagogy. It was rather limited to presenting the curriculum online using information and
communication technologies (Eder, 2020). All these efforts were made to compensate for interrupted
face-to-face education, yet they failed to comply with the principles of DE. While DE requires detailed
planning on learning process and provides learners with choices, agency, responsibility, and flexibility
for creating effective learning ecology, ERT serves as just a temporary solution (Bozkurt & Sharma,
2020). ERT and DE may seem to be analogous; however, they have completely different planning and
organization behind them. While participating in DE programs is a choice for the learners, ERT comes
as an urgency due to the critical circumstances (Hodge et al., 2020). This brings out the significance of
learners’ mental and emotional wellbeing in addition to their formal education.

ISSUES EXPERIENCED DURING EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING

The measures that can be taken in order to make online DE more successful should not be considered
within the current pandemic crisis only, but should be considered seriously in more general and wider
timeframe as pandemics like Covid-19 or other natural disasters that may cause global crisis might
happen in the future. During the necessity of social distancing, moving teaching to online platforms can
provide teaching and learning flexibility everywhere, but it also comes with many factors that need to
be seriously considered. Before designing the paths for better online DE process, what issues have come
out so far should be identified.
According to early studies, while pedagogy was at the bottom in the ranking of importance in the
early periods of ERT in educational institutions, the curriculum was contented with being transferred
to the online environment through various tools (Eder, 2020). But systematic planning and end-to-end
instructional design must be done for successful online learning (Branch & Dousay, 2015). These design
processes are directly related to the quality of online distance education (Hodges et al., 2020). Caught
unprepared, both teachers and learners experienced challenges during ERT. Instructors expressed that it
was overwhelming to adapt their pedagogy to fluctuating situations, such as students’ unreliable Internet
access, changing personal needs, and uncertainty about how educational process will proceed (Trust &
Whalen, 2020).
The global epidemic has raised the digital divide into question once more. Especially for low-income
countries, inequalities for access to education have been experienced due to digital divide during the
pandemic. Not having stable internet connection (Rotas & Cahapay, 2020), necessary technologies and
infrastructure has excluded millions of students from emergency distance education practices (UNESCO,
UNICEF & the World Bank, 2020a, 2020b; UNICEF, 2020). Those who had the internet connection
and necessary technologies faced problems such as lagging, freezing in videos and sound cut-off due to
network instability, poor sound, and video quality (Karadağ & Yucel, 2020). Studies on ERT practices
revealed its inefficiency in terms of educational quality and proved that parents needed support dur-
ing ERT (Donmuş Kaya & Eroğlu, 2021). When digital divide is considered especially in low-income
countries, it might take a long time to provide solutions for such technical problems. Nevertheless, by

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means of a well-designed instruction, learners can still be kept active in the learning processes and en-
gage in the learning tasks asynchronously without inclusion of cutting-edge technology. Through other
mass media technologies such as radio or television, it is still possible to provide interaction in distance
learning technologies.
Reduced concentration for lessons was another issue affecting the quality of ERT. Due to the home
confinements and lack of social interaction, learners tend to feel isolated and stressed, which gave way
to lack of concentration on academic studies. Unilateral interactions, and reduced concentration were
among the complaints of learners during this period (Shim & Lee, 2020). As COVID-19 cases increased,
learners have become concerned, and their concentration was disrupted (Alvarez, 2020). In another
study aiming at investigating the perceptions of 225 instructors on ERT revealed that almost half of the
participants complained about their students’ changing study habit and lack of interest in courses during
ERT (Erdem-Aydın, 2021).
Psycho-social state of the learners and teachers during the pandemic has reflected on the effectiveness
of ERT. For learners, uncertainty about future, financial constraints, uncertainty related to academic
performance, graduation, career prospects (Sundarasen et al., 2020), and for teachers, work-related
stress, uncertainty about how long-distance learning lasts and not being sure about how to best teach
at a distance were among the stress factors during the ERT (Kim & Asbury, 2020; Lepp et al., 2021).
Conflicts due to factors such as anxiety caused by health concerns, financial problems, lack of social
life and home confinement were among factors influencing the quality of ERT.
Lack of interaction in lessons during ERT emerges as another issue. Lack of interaction, difficulty
in sharing thoughts, difficulty in questioning, lack of direct interaction, no utilization of the chat room
by some teachers, no feedback on questions and answers, difficulty with immediate feedback, difficulty
asking questions after class were among the complaints of some learners in Shim and Lee’s (2020) study.
Especially unilateral progress in ERT draws attention as one of the most frequent complaints (Fatonia et
al., 2020; Shim & Lee). Lack of personal interaction during classes and the lack of a sense of community
were the most frequent challenges experienced by many learners and teachers during the initial stages
of ERT (Wolfensberger & Ding, 2020). During ERT teacher-student communication is provided solely
through online tools. This might make the students feel under pressure in the online learning process.
Previous peer groups such as the project team, classes and clubs no longer meet face to face. Meeting
with classmates just happens with the names on the participation list in the virtual classroom. Projects
are made in the digital environment, but due to the lack of face-to-face social communication, students
lose motivation to learn (Wolfensberger & Ding, 2020). These might be seen as drawbacks at first glance,
yet with a well-planned instructional design interaction level can be increased both synchronous and
asynchronous lessons.

EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN TO FACILITATE ONLINE LEARNING

It seems that online education will be used more widely in the future with its increasing popularity with
the opportunities offered by instructional technologies, as well as emergencies such as pandemics, where
distance education has been compulsory. Therefore, there is a significant need to develop an effective
instructional design model to facilitate the development, improvement, and delivery of online learning
environments. Online learning requires additional planning in advance due to the diverse nature of online
learning environments and the possibilities provided by technologies (2021). While designing teaching

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in online distance learning environments, learning theories and distance learning theories should be
utilized, individual differences should be considered, the target audience should be analyzed well and
instructional needs should be determined accordingly. More importantly, while designing online instruc-
tions, the principles that should be followed must comprise different disciplines such as educational
psychology, cognitive sciences, and systems theory (Driscoll, 2005).
Given the multifaceted nature of online course design, any overlooked step will result in an unsatisfac-
tory learning process and most likely failure for the learners as they might get confused and frustrated,
lose concentration and motivation. As İşman (2011) highlights, all factors involved in an instructional
design are interrelated with each other, so they should be organized in successive steps. For example,
if the step for choosing goals and objectives is skipped or not done properly, the following steps will
have some problems because of previous ones. Each step should be planned very carefully and should
follow a meaningful flow (İşman, 2011). In a well-designed online course, students should be able to
see in detail what they will do at each stage, why they will do it, how long each stage will take, which
materials they will need to use, what communication and interaction means they will use, what evaluation
principles are, and what the achievements of the process will be from the beginning to the end. On the
other hand, online learners will not be able to know where to start, what to do, when to communicate,
and how to learn if the course is not designed well. Therefore, a pedagogically effective instructional
design model is significant (Chen, 2016). The transition from traditional, teacher-centered, didactic
teaching to student-centered learning necessitated a teaching presentation model that supports interactive
learning and critical thinking (Ali, 2003). Some suggestions regarding elements of effective, efficient,
and attractive instructional design are elaborated below.
In order to ensure more engaging and effective course design, it is necessary to carry out a serious
analysis and then a design long before the start of the learning processes. Although it is not appropriate
to talk about classical teaching models in a learner-centered online learning, a modernized ADDIE ap-
proach can be mentioned for the learning environments (Simonson et al., 2015). This approach includes
the stages of analysis, design, development, evaluation, and revision, respectively.
Identifying the rapidly changing dynamic social needs, who these needs belong to, what is necessary
for their elimination, and possible limitations that may be encountered comes as the first step. After this
step, the design phase should be started. In the design, how, when, by whom, at what cost, and which
needs of the target audience, that is, learners, will be met should be concretely revealed. Changing needs
should be revealed with a strong communication with learners as primary resources, and learning pro-
cesses should be designed accordingly, rather than the learning goals set by the leadership of the top-level
managers of the society as in the traditional understanding. At this stage, one should not only focus on
the requirements that were present during the research, but also foresee the possible requirements that
will arise in the near future by conducting market research. At this point, it is very important for the
course designers to have a vision. During the development phase after the design, the course designers
should work with experts in their fields from different units on by means of which strategies, what type
of media use, and which method the objectives will be achieved. The learning program that emerges
as a result of this process should contain very detailed information such as which learning resources,
where and how to use them, feedback and support processes of the learners, evaluation, success, and
failure results. In the implementation phase, the process should be closely observed that all required
materials, and resources are used on time and on site, ensure the creation of detailed data containing
the progress, performance, and participation records of the learners, and collect data from the learners
through questionnaires or interviews in order to get healthier feedback. During the evaluation process, all

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the feedback collected about the effectiveness of the design in achieving the goals should be reviewed.
Individuals should be encouraged to present their views on working and non-working points in all units.
In an environment where there is good communication, it will be much easier to identify problems and
evaluate solutions. In order to achieve this, it is important that the learning environment presents a wide
variety of communication channels to participants. Finally, during the review phase, where the whole
process is discussed in detail, the points that need change or improvement are identified with a flexible
approach. Since learning in online learning environments is carried out by the preferences that learners
make autonomously in all processes, it will be an approach that does not achieve the purpose of prepar-
ing and presenting the programs by ignoring their preferences.
As it is known, teaching methods and delivery methods can be mentioned in the design of an e-learning
course according to the ADDIE model. Teaching methods come in three different ways. These are;
Descriptive Methods: These are the methods that focus on assimilation of new knowledge, includ-
ing presentations, case studies, and animations. They enable learners to use their listening, reading and
observing skills. They can include tests, short exercises, and activities to reinforce them. They form the
components that lay the groundwork for moving from basic topics to more complex and detailed topics.
Application Methods: These are the methods that focus on the learners actively using what they
have learned and constructing new things from it, including situation-based activities, project studies,
simulations, and animations. After an activity first presented by the teacher, the learners are asked to do
a similar work with interaction on the software or system.
Collaborative Methods: These are methods that include collaborative work, formatted online
discussions, focus on the social dimension of learning, and promote knowledge sharing and collabora-
tive learning among learners. It is carried out in the form of dialogues and discussions between course
assistants and learners. They apply the principles of social constructivism and cooperative learning by
adding a social dimension to their learning experiences. Environments where learners can learn from
each other are prepared.
When determining delivery methods, the following aspects should be considered:
Factors Related to Learners: Which distribution channels (audio/video conferences, forums, discus-
sion boards, e-mail) learners are more comfortable with, their technology literacy level, the time they
can spare for activities, and the time differences in their regions should be considered.
Technology Dimension: When choosing the technology to be used according to the technology lit-
eracy levels of the learners, situations such as computers and software owned by the students, Internet
connections, connection speeds should be considered. In cases where there is limited Internet access,
with the help of offline formats such as CD-ROM, learners should be able to access the entire course
content offline and take part in the process at their own pace.
Planning Requirements: Time and budget must be considered. For a course that involves self-paced
learning and the use of multimedia, much more preliminary preparation may be required than a virtual
classroom. While such courses target learning outcomes in the long term, it is more convenient to prepare
virtual classrooms for short-term goals (Ghirardini, 2011).

ANALYZING TARGET AUDIENCE

The most important element of a well-designed online course is how well your course will suit the target
audience. To be able to design a course that best meets the needs of the target audience, it is essential to

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analyze the target audience very well. Gagne et al., (2005) explain the objectives of learner analysis as
the defining common learner characteristics that have a direct impact on instructional design and affect
learning outcomes by analyzing multiple individual student characteristics and reducing them to a single
set. In short, target audience analysis is to identify the critically important general characteristics of a
group that will directly affect the instructional design. Some aspects of learner analysis can be easily
measured and the collection of this data can be a relatively simple process. For example, characteristics
such as age, gender, location are not among the features that are difficult to accurately determine. How-
ever, the cultural and psychological information of the learners can be much more difficult to accurately
identify (Brown & Green, 2019).
Identifying and understanding learners’ needs and characteristics can help instructors in many ways.
For instance, knowing how competent the learners are in self-directed learning skills, how well they
know assessing their own performance (van Merriënboer & Kester, 2014) and to what extent they are
autonomous will give ideas about the instructional control. That is, instead of giving full control to the
learners, a shared control might be preferred if the learners lack self-directed learning skills (van Mer-
riënboer & Kester, 2014). Also, instructors can better choose appropriate technologies to maximize learn-
ing as they will know their student’s prior experience of technology use (Chen, 2016). Target audience
characteristics including class size, computer literacy skills, handicaps will give ideas to the instructors
about the selection of the media in the design.
Smaldino et al. (2012) point out general characteristics, specific entry competencies, and learning
styles of the learners as the three aspects that should be considered while analyzing learners. General
characteristics might include demographic information such as students’ age, physical abilities, or so-
cioeconomic status, as well as learners’ cultural identity or shared values and amount of previous expe-
rience related to the course content. Specific entry competencies are about learners’ prior knowledge.
This information is critically important to the success of instructional design. For example, if the target
audience does not know how to use a particular software or application, it will not make much sense to
assign a project about it. Learning styles are about individuals’ psychological preferences and how they
affect what they find effective and attractive in instructional design. Knowledge of these preferences
can help the designer. Having information about the learning styles of the target audience may help in-
structors to create an instructional design that is easily understood and accepted by the target audience.
Another important gain regarding knowing the target audience is learning about attitudes. Learners’
attitudes about the course are significant to take into consideration. Impressions, beliefs, and prejudices
that the learners may have about the course content, the teacher, the method of instruction, and the group
that will take the same course may affect the success of online course directly. In an online distance
learning context, learners’ epistemological beliefs, motivations, approaches to learning, and attitudes
toward technology use are considered effective intervention constructs that might mediate cognitive
performance. Therefore, researchers draw attention to attitudes by pointing out that no matter how well
a technology enhanced learning environment is designed, desired outcomes may not be reached depend-
ing on such learner factors (Chiu et al., 2013; Gregory & Lodge, 2015). These researchers highlight the
importance of learner attitudes as a prerequisite for the design factor in online distance learning. Good
news is that attitudes can be changed. It is possible to change attitudes by making them more compatible
with the targeted gains, and even if they are not directly among the learning objectives, it is accepted
that they can affect learning outcomes (Gagne et al., 1992). The most important step to change possible
negative attitudes of the learners towards an online course is to know about them at the beginning of
the course. Attitudes can be interrelated with motivation as well. Motivation is recognized to have an

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important role on persistence and learning in all educational settings, and there is a body of literature on
the relationships between students’ motivations, attitudes, and levels of engagement in various learning
contexts (Shapiro et al., 2017). Due to its multifaceted nature of online learning, learners should have
online readiness and online attitude, which is defined as “the desire and the manner of the individual
towards online learning” (Herguner et al, 2020, p. 103). If learners have positive online learning attitudes,
they tend to have online learning readiness, which should be identified before online learning process
starts in order to make the process more successful (Herguner et al., 2020). In addition, Abdullah et
al. (2015) claim that learners’ attitudes toward technology use are the direct determinants of learning
outcomes (Abdullah, Ziden, Aman, & Mustafa, 2015). Recent research indicates positive relationship
between attitudes toward technology use and academic performance (Nketiah-Amponsah et al., 2017;
Stošić & Fadiya, 2017).
For smaller class size, online one-to-one interviews including structured open-ended questions
can be conducted with the learners. For larger classes, a wide variety of information such as learners’
preferences for online learning, current technological opportunities, learning motivations, and attitudes
towards individual or cooperative learning can be collected in a short time thanks to online question-
naires. During the online course process, communication channels can be used where participants can
anonymously convey their preferences, requests, problems, and criticisms.

COMPILING DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO LEARNING

It is known that the concept of instructional design originates from behavioral psychology. However, the
evolution of instructional design has also been influenced by the principles of the cognitive approach. In
cognitive models for instructional design, students’ cognitive and affective learning processes are em-
phasized. It is accepted that learners use both their memory and thought processes in learning processes.
Recognized instructional theorist Gagné (1984) argued that a lesson is well designed if it facilitates learn-
ers’ internal cognitive structures, emphasizing that such a design will increase the probability of success.
Reflections of the cognitive approach on instructional design are about clearly expressing the aims and
objectives of instruction, selection of effective strategies according to the type of learning outcomes,
logical ordering of teaching activities, and evaluation of expected learning. In time, instructional design
principles and practices have shifted from behaviorist and cognitivist approach to constructivism. In
constructivist approach to learning, theorists like Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey emphasize that knowledge
occurs when learner makes sense of experience. Unlike other approaches, knowledge is not transferred
from outside, rather learning is a social phenomenon. Teachers should not simply transfer knowledge.
This approach gained importance with the spread of two-way communication technologies. It was ac-
cepted that the learner is not passive anymore, but constructs the knowledge.
Anderson and Dron (2011) explain the three generations of distance education in detail. The two ap-
proaches to learning, behaviorist and cognitive, were combined in distance education pedagogy at early
stages. Cognitive-Behaviorist pedagogy focused on the definition, practice, and research of learning. It
covers observable behavior change and unobservable processes such as motivation, attitude, and mental
barriers in learning process. Since learning can be observed by examining action-reaction, computer-
assisted learning models have been implemented. Short-term memory studies have been carried out.
When cognitive learning was encouraged, personalized printed packages, video and television were
widely used. The theoretical ideas of major behaviorist learning theorists directly shaped the instructional

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designs and interventions such as Gagne’s (1965) events of instruction, which proceeds through linear
and structured phases listed below:

Step 1: gain learners’ attention: In this step, in order to reach the objectives of the course, the learners’
attention should be drawn to the subject, information or material to be taught.
Step 2: inform learner of objectives: In this step, it is reported what the learners will learn before starting
the teaching. By this way, the learners are prepared for the lesson.
Step 3: stimulate recall of previous information: In this step, before presenting new information to learn-
ers, preliminary information is reminded.
Step 4: present stimulus material: In this step, learners are presented with stimuli related to the targeted
information or behaviors in the learning environment.
Step 5: provide learner guidance: In this step, the learners are guided through the learning process about
how they will study, what they should pay attention to, how to deal with problems they encounter
in the process.
Step 6: elicit performance: In this step, attempts are made to determine to what extent the targeted be-
havior has been achieved by the learners.
Step 7: provide feedback: In this step, the learners are informed about the correctness of the behavior
learners have acquired.
Step 8: assess performance: In this step, attempts are made to find out to what extent the behaviors
desired to be gained have been achieved by the learners as a result of educational activities.
Step 9: enhance transfer opportunities: In this step, it is ensured that the learners can apply what they
have learned in new situations in order to make learning permanent.

Instructional design ideas based on cognitive-behaviorist approach were not satisfying as they were
not sufficient to reflect richness and complexity of human learning. As Anderson and Dron state “People
are not blank slates but begin with models and knowledge of the world and learn and exist in a social
context of great intricacy and depth” (2011, p. 81). As a result, social-constructivist pedagogy, which is
based on individual construction of knowledge and social interaction was taken over. It has been seen that
technology can create synchronous and asynchronous interactions not only for the transfer of knowledge,
but also establishing bonds between the learner and the teacher with the opportunities it creates. The
social dimension of learning has gained importance thanks to technologies that can prepare the ground
for the interaction of more than one person at a time. There has been a shift from product-oriented
learning process to process-oriented one. The focus has shifted from the teacher to the learner, and the
teacher has begun to play a role as a guide, planner, and shaper of learning. According to this approach,
cognitive availability should be provided in an authentic context, information should be interpreted by
the individual, and reinforced by participation and learner interaction. Interaction has come to the fore
with this approach. Social presence, which has gained strength thanks to the developing technology, has
been at the center of this approach. However, new technologies can increase the cost while providing a
highly conducive environment, and a factor such as the digital divide can be considered as the weakness
of this approach.
With the introduction of technology into our lives, deep-rooted theories such as behaviorism, cog-
nitivism, and constructivism began to be inadequate because technology began to shape how we learn
and how we communicate. Information has become more accessible than before, and this has caused
information to quickly lose value or become out of date. There has been an explosion of information

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all over the world. Formal education has been insufficient to cover most of the learning, and informal
learning has gained importance. In addition, learning started not only in the education process, but also
in business life and came to an integrated right and took the form of lifelong learning. The concepts
of know-how, know-what, plus know-where appeared. For these reasons, new principles and methods
emerged. It is a more important skill for the individual to know “what he needs to learn”. Synthesizing,
making connections, and recognizing the interest between parts are important skills. These requirements
have spawned a new approach, called Connectivism (Siemens, 2005).
The term, Connectivism, can also be defined as the learning theory for the digital age. In this approach,
learning is not linear. Since computers are responsible for most of the cognitive processes today, what
changes are needed in theories? How can we stay up-to-date in this information ecology? How will theories
help when performance is required in the absence of understanding? What is the impact of networks on
learning? What is the effect of chaos and complex structure definition on learning? Experiences are ef-
fective in learning, but what if we don’t have any experience? Is it possible to learn from the experiences
of others? Connectivism is based on the search for answers to all these questions. While constructivism
focuses on making sense of knowledge, connectivism focuses on the meaning that already exists, and
it is emphasized that the real issue is recognizing the hidden parts that exist in the connection. Accord-
ing to connectivist pedagogy in distance learning, learning is defined as building information networks
(Downes, 2012). Technologies that make it possible to access information anywhere at any time are
being put to work. Knowledge is shared in networks, so the burden of learning must be transferred from
humans to machines. Instead of learning or memorizing information, it is more important how to access
that information from the right source in the shortest time. Opportunities should be provided for students
to develop their self-efficacy by directing them to networks. In networked environments, learners identify
real learning needs, filter the relevant part from the knowledge pool, construct, and recall knowledge
(Siemens & Conole, 2011). Cognitive availability is achieved by mirroring in networks. For this, blogs,
tweets, entries, discussion threads, wikis and multimedia servers are used. The teacher constructs the
content together with the learner. It is also important to teach by example. The learner can also teach the
teacher. Sometimes learners may want to learn in a more controlled environment. The central server in
the network has a lot of work, in terms of ensuring the continuity of the network, providing the central
connection is important so that the learners do not feel lost or confused (Anderson & Dron, 2011). In
Table 1, the summary of three pedagogies of distance education can be seen.
As can be seen, the approaches adopted in distance learning have evolved with the introduction
of technology. Learning approaches and distance learning approaches alone may not be sufficient for
online learning to be effective. Therefore, adopting different approaches to learning while designing
online courses can help create a more inclusive learning environment. It is generally not recommended
to strictly follow a single approach when performing instructional design (Brown & Green, 2016).
Every teaching context is different. Especially connectivism that involves inclusion of social networks
in learning enhance learning motivation as they are used as a supportive milieu for open and distance
learning courses (Ucar & Goksel, 2020).

IDENTIFYING INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The power of online course design comes from leading students to a meaningful destination. In order to
make the instructional design more effective and powerful, designers should include purposeful course

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Table 1. Summary of distance education pedagogies

Generation
of distance Learning Learner Content
Technology Evaluation Teacher role Scalability
education activities granularity granularity
pedagogy
Mass media: Fine: scripted
Content
Cognitive- Print, TV, radio, Read and and designed
Individual Recall creator, sage High
behaviorism one-to-one watch from the ground
on the stage
communication up
Conferencing
Medium:
(audio, video, Discuss, Discussion
scaffolded Synthesize:
Constructivism Web), many- create, Group leader, guide Low
and arranged, essay
to-many construct on the side
teacher- guided
communication
Web 2.0: Social
Explore, Coarse: mainly
networks, Critical
connect, at object and Artifact
Connectivism aggregation & Network friend, co- Medium
create, and person level, creation
recommender traveler
evaluate self-created
systems
Source: (Anderson & Dron, 2011)

goals, objectives, and outcomes. Based on the information gathered about the target audience, instruc-
tional designers would start defining instructional goals and objectives. Identifying the course objectives
is an important factor for effective online instruction design. What we are aiming at for our learners to
achieve with the help of this course, in other words, the purpose of the instruction is the fundamental
question. This question describes the instructional goal. Other questions to be considered are what spe-
cific instructional objectives support the instructional goal (Czerkawski & Lyman, 2016), if there is any
flexibility that the instructor can create his/her terminal objectives for the learners (Chen, 2016), what
the most important concepts are, and why they matter, what tasks should learners accomplish, and why
they matter, what is important and relevant to the learners, how and why the learners would apply what
they learn from the course, how this course will help learners’ future life (Nilson & Goodson, 2021).
The more the instructional goals and learning objectives of the online course overlap with the audience
analysis, the more attractive the course will be for learners. The contribution of the course outcomes to
the lives of the learners at the micro level, that is, during the learning process, and at the macro level,
that is, throughout their lives, plays an important role in making the course effective and attractive. After
determining the objectives and learning outcomes of the online course, the most important step to be
taken is to express them clearly and publish them in an accessible and understandable way in the online
course. The objectives will contribute to effective instructional design only if they were stated clearly.
On how to write well-stated objectives, Heinich et al. (2002) offer a to do list called “ABCDs”, that is
Audience, Behavior, Conditions, and Degree:

• Audience: Identify and describe the learners.

• Behavior: Describe what is expected of the learner after receiving instruction.
• Conditions: Describe the setting and circumstances in which the learners’ performance will occur.
• Degree: Explain the standard of performance that can be considered adequate.

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At the beginning of the online course, the teacher can go through these goals and objectives with the
learners, and thus, the learners can become aware of what their gains will be at the end of the course. The
goal of the online course should always be published on the course introduction page, and the objectives
and learning outcome of each course should be published on the front screen of the course. At the end of
each online course unit, a self-check list can be added to allow learners to reflect on learning outcomes.
Moreover, these self-checklists can act as a process-oriented assessment element and contribute to overall
achievement score. Another way to reflect on learning outcomes might be having synchronous discussion
with the learners on how they feel about the achievements by raising awareness and providing feedback
for both the teacher and the learner about the points that need improvement.

IDENTIFYING THE LEARNING CONTEXT AND

DESIGNING ONLINE COURSE CONTENT

Pedagogically effective instructional design for distance online learning depends on attractive and effective
content presented in a meaningful online learning environment. It is significant for online instructional
designers to provide a comfortable, safe, and collegial online learning environment for their learners”
(Chen, 2016). According to Smith and Ragan (2004), online learning context, where and how the in-
struction will be delivered should be analyzed primarily (Farmer, 2021). Learning context should have
certain features to enhance learners’ mental models and motivation, provide student support, practice,
and formative feedback, and support retention and transfer (Dick et al., 2015). Although information and
communication technologies are considered as an indispensable element of online learning, these tech-
nologies should be used only to support and assist teaching and learning, and they should not dominate
course activities. That is, planning and designing the curriculum and course content takes precedence
over presentation medium and format of delivery (Ali, 2003).
In order to create a successful online learning environment, planning and design related to the tech-
nological dimension is as important as the pedagogical elements. A poorly planned and poorly designed
instruction can hinder learner-content interaction or learner-teacher, learner-learner interaction. In this
case, it cannot be assumed that the developed design will result in effective learning. At the design stage:

1. design of teaching systems

2. message design,
3. teaching strategies,
4. learner characteristics
5. technological and logistic support are factors to be taken into account.

Creating learning environments and producing activities that fulfill teaching purposes and objectives
are challenging aspects of instructional design. It is important for an instructional designer to be familiar
with different online instructional platforms and online activities that can be used in these environments
(Brown & Green, 2019). Diversity is one key word for a successful online learning context. Diversity
provides learner engagement as a way to enhance learning, support knowledge transfer, develop critical
thinking skills, and increase motivation. The platforms chosen should have variety that can appeal to
different learning and teaching styles, none of the tools or technologies should be used overwhelmingly
(Ali, 2003). Student satisfaction in online learning is closely related to the variety of interaction tools,

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activities, tasks, and these can also foster relatedness (Ilgaz & Gülbahar, 2015). Multi-modal concerted
tasks that are meaningfully linked to each other using strategically placed questions, prompts or feedback
that support and provide guidance to students’ progress are important components of an effective les-
son design. Online instruction designers can apply the procedural elaboration sequence. By sequencing
the tasks of different cognitive difficulty levels and cognitive load for learning from easy to difficult, it
becomes possible to prepare students for a more complex version of the task. Once online learners are
provided with meaningful and consequential tasks, they can form learning communities (Jonassen et al.,
2003), which in return will improve learning attitude and motivation. Aligning activities, tasks and all
parts of your course will help your students achieve learning outcomes and make a positive impression
(Fink, 2013; Lee et al., 2014).
Another essential element of designing the content is interaction. The content should be designed in
a way to promote learner-learner, learner-content, and learner-teacher interaction. According to Dixon
(2010), online learning activities can be classified as active (online discussions, online lab activities,
problem solving activities, group projects) and passive (test taking, reading, watching lecture videos)
ones and in an online course where learners are required to interact with the content, instructor, or their
peers, they tend to demonstrate higher levels of engagement. Proposed by Moore (1989), the notion of
interaction sets the core learning framework. Moore classifies interaction as student-content, student-
teacher, and student-student interaction.
Advances in technology can remove many of the limitations of distance in time and space in online
distance learning. Bozkurt (2020) emphasizes that the strategies of interaction and maintaining com-
munication have become an important aspect of instructional design in distance education, and transac-
tional distance is still an important problem because the solutions to create no transactional distance do
not depend on technological possibilities, but the instructional design that comprise interaction, com-
munication, and motivational channels embedded into the processes. Online discussion is considered
as significant activity for online learning, so choosing the right technology tool to enhance facilitate
online interaction and communication is essential. User friendly online discussion tools have potentials
to lower learner anxiety as well as promote a more dynamic online discussion (Chen, 2016). Therefore,
instructional design of online courses should provide learners with a variety of alternatives such as cha-
trooms, discussion forums, synchronous and asynchronous communication channels, e-canteens, and
more importantly, formative feedback either from teacher, peers or from artificial intelligence-based
automated feedback tools. Timely, effective formative feedback is a key to learner motivation as well as
interaction in online course. The more online learners become aware of their learning progress with the
help of continuous formative feedback, the more their motivation and their interaction with the program
they study will increase (Moore & Anderson, 2007).
Online learning processes often involve use of multimedia. For an effective online instructional design,
Mayer’s principles might be taken into consideration while embedding learning objects like videos or
multimedia for learners to interact. These principles help to reduce extraneous processing, manage es-
sential processing, and foster generative processing when multimedia is presented in online instructions.
By this way, learners are not distracted by irrelevant information and they can focus on targeted input
without extra cognitive load, which in return makes comprehension process smooth. The following table
shows the principles and definitions of using multimedia for online learning (Mayer, 2017).

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Table 2. Summary of Mayer’s principles: using multimedia for online learning

Principle Definition
Coherence exclusion of irrelevant material
Signaling inclusion of vocal cues or visual highlight for important information
Redundancy pairing animation and narration together omitting on-screen text
Contiguity placing printed words closer to corresponding graphic, coinciding narration with related display
Segmenting adding self-pacing options rather than continuous unit
Pre-Training providing information on main concepts to help learners familiarize with them
Modality pairing narration with the animation rather than animation and on-screen text
Voice using human voice that matches on-screen character for narration
Personalization presenting in conversational style rather than formal style
Embodiment presenting simultaneous drawing of graphics with narrative explanation
Source: (Mayer, 2017)

CONCLUSION

With both the COVID-19 pandemic and the availability of cost-effective learning thanks to the develop-
ment of instructional technologies, there has been a marked increase in the use of online learning mode
in educational institutions at all levels around the world. In order to make online instruction effective,
efficient, and attractive, following online instructional design principles is essential. By considering the
problems encountered in online teaching activities during the pandemic period and by employing the
principles of distance education, instructional designs that comprise detailed planning, include diversity,
and support communication and interaction can be made.
A well-designed online course is the one that meets the needs of the target audience who should be
analyzed beforehand. Some information, such as demographics, can be easily measured when analyz-
ing the target audience, and collecting this data can be a relatively simple process. However, the correct
determination of the cultural and psychological knowledge of the learners is much more important and
is a much more difficult process. Therefore, sufficient time and effort should be dedicated in order to
get to know the learners better.
Also, online instructional design should adopt a variety of approaches to learning so that it can be
inclusive for different variables like context, learner characteristic, and content. On-fits-all approach
cannot meet the needs of diverse learning communities. Online instruction should present a balanced
mixture of different distance learning and learning approaches.
In online course design, setting instructional goals and objectives ensures an efficient and effective
instructional development process and it increases learner achievement. An online instructional designer
can hardly begin to create learning materials or assessment criteria without first carefully determining
the intended outcomes of the course. Setting goals and objectives should be followed by clear represen-
tation of those goals of objectives
Furthermore, to be able to create attractive and effective content to be presented in a meaningful
online learning environment, diversity of online instructional platforms, online activities, tasks, and
technologies, and organizing the content in a meaningful sequence will make the course more appealing
and satisfying for online learners. While including multimedia, certain principles might be followed in

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order to reduce extraneous processing, manage essential processing, and foster generative processing
(Mayer, 2017). A course design that offers channels to support versatile synchronous and asynchronous
interaction and feedback will bring learner motivation, engagement, and ultimately academic success.
One of the most important building blocks of effective learning is undoubtedly pedagogy. In this
context, pedagogy is more important than technology (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007). It can be thought that
the technology used as a tool and which is necessary in online learning may be confused with the purpose
(Guri-Rosenblit, 2009). Personal learning environments, self-study materials, online courses, synchro-
nous publications, forums, e-seminars used in online learning should be considered only as tools and
not as goals. It cannot always be thought that technology will equal quality education. A course offered
online can be just as boring as a course that the individual follows from the textbook. It’s all about how
meticulously the content is planned. Planning of learning and presenting it by experts is more important
than technological opportunities.

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