MOATS Project Plan

Version 2

April 4, 2004

 

 

1.     Project Goals

a.     Audience: Instructors and instructional support staff

b.     Domain:  Encompasses the transformation of instructional design and pedagogical practice through enhanced engagement with instructional design and learning science research in pedagogical practice and the effective use of technology to promote learning.

                                                    i.     The instrument is envisioned to provide an instructor or instructional support person, with a means to a solution based along a continuum of the inputs concerning the instructor’s goals, preferences, and/or key instructional variables such as learner characteristics, subject matter content and learning task characteristics, or other contextual variables such as course level, class size, and teaching philosophy.

                                                  ii.     The instructor or instructional support person should be able to view and select a solution along the array if the primary solution is not the most desirable.

                                                iii.     The selection is based on the input pattern of variables and  should be stored so that popular selections are immediately available.

c.     The instrument is a design experiment that will suggest the three dimensions of preferability be attended to when selecting an instructional strategy. The major methodological concern in Instructional design theory is preferability rather than validity. The ability to choose which method is better than another method for achieving a desired outcome is preferability and is based on the three dimensions:  effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal (Reigeluth & Frick, 1999).

 

2.     Design Team members ( +1/4 FTE each: programmer,  DB,  Web-designer, Flash, graphic artist)

a.     Jean Kreis

b.     Wayne Brent

 

3.     VALA Team

a.     Jenny Franklin

b.     Jan Knight

c.     Garry Forger

 

4.     Core Team Members

 

a.     Design Team

b.     VALA Team

c.     NLII Staff

 

5.     Stakeholders –(UA & NLII)

a.     Design team members

b.     Core team members

c.     LTC & CIO

d.     NLII Staff

e.     Bridging Core Team (6 people skilled in T&L and COP’s)

f.      Select UA Faculty

g.     Bridging Community (Advisory Group)

6.     Budget

a.     ?

7.     Development plan outline

a.     Development plan to be completed by 4/16/04

                                          i.     To include programming information/adjustments

b.     Design team will use a functional requirements design approach

c.     Establish specifications for MOATS

d.     Develop a storyboard

e.     Establish the algorithm

f.      Design team will perform acceptance testing using the personas, a set of scenarios, and the theory-vocabularies, followed by structured testing by core team, general review by advisory group.

 

8.     Specifications for MOATS

a.     Refine members, roles

b.     Refine purpose, domain

c.     Define need and activities

                                          i.     Related to array - The array should be displayed along a continuum based on the inputs concerning the instructor’s goals, preferences, and/or key instructional variables such as learner characteristics, subject matter content and learning task characteristics, or other contextual variables such as course level, class size, and teaching philosophy. (though this will be related to the algorithm)

                                        ii.     Related to ontology

                                      iii.     Related to algorithm – possibilities to examine

1.     Ax + Bx + Cx + Dx = Adjust as necessary

2.     word position comparison between theories

a.     (ex. “Active” & “engaged”)

3.     Series of comparisons (if, then, else)

                                      iv.     Related to interface

                                        v.     Related to project teams and design plans

                                      vi.     Related to instrument management as it continues after development

                                     vii.     Needs for resources, programming notes, explanatory texts

 

d.     Technology requirements and functionality (requires input from programmer)

                                          i.     Expected size of database, accounts, user population

                                        ii.     Customizable –

1.      How will we be able to add to the storage of design theories and instructional strategies (vocabularies)?

2.     Will they have to go through a vetting process?

3.     Will there be a wizard walking them through the process?

4.     Will the additional strategies only be available to the user who added them?

                                      iii.     Account management (specify requirements)

                                      iv.     Design requirement open access vs account storage

 

9.     Evaluation Plan

a.     (TBW)

 

10. Recommendations for next steps

a.     Technology choices

b.     Development team creation

c.     Personas & Scenarios created

d.     Algorithm developed

 

11. Deliverables and Milestones

a.     Planning phase (1/5/04 – 4/16/04)

                                          i.     Development plan – attached – to be refined with technical input

                                        ii.     Design proposal – attached

                                      iii.     * Evaluation plan

b.     Design / Prototyping / Testing phase (4/19/04 – 6/230/04)

                                          i.     Personas and scenarios - 4/23/04

                                        ii.     Functional specifications - 4/30/04

                                      iii.     * Design documentation – to be revised, refined

                                      iv.     Acceptance test report 4/30/04

                                        v.     Recommendations 4/30/04

                                      vi.     * Prototype – 6/15/04

                                     vii.     Usability testing – 6/15/04 – 6/28/04

                                   viii.     Usability test report – 6/30/04

                                      ix.     Recommendations – 6/30/04

c.     Design / Modifications / Revisions ( 7/1/04 – 8/20/04)

                                          i.     * Prototype Revision– 7/1/04

                                        ii.     Usability testing – 8/8/04 – 8/13/04

                                      iii.     Usability test report – 8/20/04

                                      iv.     Recommendations – 8/20/04

d.     Implementation (8/20/04 – 10/30/04)

                                          i.     Documentation

                                        ii.     Training materials

                                      iii.     Resource library set up and seeding

                                      iv.     Feedback mechanisms

e.     Formative Evaluation (4/30/04)

                                          i.     * Formative evaluation report

                                        ii.     * Recommendations

f.      Summative Evaluation (10/22/04)

                                          i.     Summative evaluation report

 

Reigeluth, Charles, & Theodore Frick. “Formative Research: A Methodology for Creating and Improving Design Theories.” Instructional Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory. Ed. Charles M. Reigeluth. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. Inc,. 1999, 633-653.