• Background
• CLASS Project
• CLASS Staff
• General Insights
• Questions & Considerations
• Content
• Development Teams
• Content Acquisition
• Assessment & Grading
• Design
• Introduction
• Modeling
• Presentation
• Interactivity
• Navigation
• Assessments
• National Standards
• Quality Assurance
• Courses
• Features
• Courses
• Copyrights
• Technology
• Building a Course
• See and Say
• There are Limits!
• Influence and Change
• CLASS Courses
• Content
• Extras Designed
• Extras Linked
• Class Assessments
• A Bit of Dreamweaver
• Proofing
• Graphics
• MOUs
• Detailing Treatment
• Course Credits
• CLASS Style
• Publications

Instructional Design Introduction

It is important to remember that CLASS™ was created as a research and development project involving a great deal of dreaming, experimenting, and just plain guessing! Little by little, as research trickled in, the designers ideas adjusted to go along with actual results; however, much of the time, they were flying by the seat of their virtual pants! Every course was a unique creation. Standardization was not yet in the picture.

In the early days of the Project, there were many ideas about what perfect Web-based instruction would be like. In many ways, CLASS™ was modeled on the existing look and feel of the World Wide Web and on what a few knew about video games! The idea was that students could have freedom, fun, and education all rolled into one! Built into the first courses were freedoms of choice--of paths to take through a course and of which assignments to do. Fun included the idea of interactive games, story lines (called "metaphors"), and cartoon-y characters. Of course, the main focus was on correct and instructionally sound content written to the age and knowledge level of the expected audience.

There are still many questions that need to be answered about the best instructional design for students. More research is needed to show actual learning outcomes with various types of design, but that will have to come in the future!

A consultant/reviewer summed it up this way:

• Web courses are lot harder [to produce] than anyone thinks.
• Modification [contrary to popular belief] is very difficult.
• You can't make an Internet course for everyone.

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