Volume Two - Academic Conferences

6.1 Design implications
Li Zhong Zhang
The dynamic inter-relationships of instructional design, pedagogy and learning technologies will
continue to shape the landscape of one another. Except for the fundamental design elements in
instructional design and pedagogy, learning design will continue to be dynamically impacted by
new educational and technological trends.
At the surface, instructive and constructive paradigms are discordant or seem to be mutually
exclusive. However, learning is as much a social as an individual activity. Hence the two
paradigms of learning can actually complement each other for determining design requirements in
supporting the learning.
The emerging trend of distributed learning environments and that of an integrated blended
technologies, will inevitably lead course designers to rely more on emerging learning technologies
to shift towards a learner-centered environment
Distributed learning and cognition coupled with distributed technological systems are providing
more interaction between human and technologies. Learning communities, made up learners,
instructors, and domain experts, will constantly interact not only with one another via
technologies, but also with technologies in constructing and retrieving both explicit and tacit
knowledge from the knowledge base and database stored. Under these conditions, the traditional
instructional system approach and pedagogical design that are rooted in linear sequencing needs
to give way to one that places a premium on learner control and community building (Kirkwood,
2009).
6.2 Design challenges
A design challenge lies in choosing appropriate learning technologies, i.e., to find the “best fit”, to
match the technological tools and systems with the pedagogical underpinning in a learning
setting. Hence, the course designer should examine closely the pedagogical aspects of learning
before considering technological tools and systems
While most of the learning theories and principles provide solid frameworks for new educational
approaches and paradigms, the actual implementation of the concepts still requires much effort in
translating them into feasible or practical learning strategies
In responding to new educational and technological trends and developments, alternative
teaching and learning methods and strategies are deployed to create more interactive,
constructive, process-oriented and collaborative learning environments. The existing assessment
methods and techniques for learning may not be totally suited for assessing learning occurred
under the said environments. Hence, alternative assessment methods and techniques are to be
developed and validated for use in these kinds of learning environments
7. Conclusion
Good technology-based learning is defined by design and not by technology. The author has
proposed a holistic approach to designing technology-based blended learning environments by
introducing an integrated design framework, comprising three key components, namely, instructional
design, pedagogy and learning technologies. Based on the literature review of various learning
theories as theoretical frameworks for pedagogy, though the contemporary dominant theme
underpinning the approach to technology-based blended learning is constructivist with social contexts,
the authors proposed a blended approach to deployment of instructive and constructive paradigms
as pedagogical bases in designing technology-based blended learning environment. A blended
approach to the pedagogical design would be more effective in addressing different learning
requirements by situating it in appropriate learning contexts based on the intended learning outcomes,
goals and objectives.
References
Chou, C.C. (2008) “Formative Evaluation of Synchronous CMC Systems for a Learner-Centered Online Course”.
Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Vol.16, No. 2, pp.173-192.
Conole, G., and Oliver, M. (2007) Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research. Routledge, New York.
Convery, A. (2009) “The Pedagogy of the Impressed: How Teachers Become Victims of Technological Vision”,
Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.25–41.
Dick, W., Carey, L. and Carey, J.O. (2004) The Systematic Design of Instruction (6th ed.). Addison-Wesley
Educational Publishers, New York.
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