Design Guidelines and Expectations

Our design guidelines and expectations are essential to our planning and design practice.  

  • Constructive Alignment
    • All projects will include a planning process where assessable learning outcomes are aligned with both formative and summative assessment opportunities.  
  • Accessibility
    • Materials will be developed with inclusive approaches and accessibility in mind. See further resources on accessibility, but at the very least materials will follow the TRU Accessibility Quick Guide. Accessibility…One Step Closer is another great resource.
    • Language will be inclusive and supportive. Developers are encouraged to read this Summary of Indigenous Style Principles (Younging, 2018); and we will work with open learning editors to recommend language that communicates with respect and inclusion.
  • Multi-modal content delivery. The theoretical foundation for this is the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) developed by Richard Mayer. For a summary of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, see Sorden (2005).
    • All developed media will include a consultation between the ID, writer and a multi-media specialist. At the very minimum all media will need to adhere to the following: video should not exceed 10 minutes, have good production quality especially light and audio, enable students to control playback including visibility of instructor in recording (Kizilcec, R.F., Bailenson, J.N., & Gomez, C. J.,2015).
  • Activity-focused
    • All courses will include a variety of learning activity types which can be done individually or, when appropriate, collaboratively. As active learning has been shown to increase student performance significantly more than traditional lecturing (Freeman et al, 2014), our courses will require students to engage in meaningful learning activities that help them think about what they are doing (Prince, 2004, p1).
    • Learning activities will include a range of types from assimilative (reading, viewing) to analytical (comparing, evaluating) to creative (producing, synthesizing) (Rientes & Toetenel, 2016).
  • Learning Space Design
    • The design of our interfaces matter–we will work with our colleagues to create welcoming spaces for all learners, which reflect a sense of place and invite learners to bring their own spaces and places into the learning process (Schmidt et al., 2020).
    • The learning environment will be easy to navigate, and we will provide resources to help support faculty and learners to use our supporting technologies in meaningful ways.
    • The learning environment will be optimized for the modality of the content and types of interactions and connections we hope to foster.
  • Evaluation
    • Formative assessment will enable students to demonstrate learning and provide opportunities for reflection and feedback from instructors.
    • Summative assessment will reflect the course content. When appropriate, we will include authentic activities that allow students to apply their knowledge to real problems/issues of interest. Reliance upon one mode of assessment alone (e.g., multiple-choice) will be avoided.
    • We will use various feedback tools, including end of course student surveys, instructor input and where/when possible learning analytics to help improve the learning experience and our design practice.

Our Inspirations

This framework was inspired by the work of our colleagues at other institutions, including the following:

  • The ICEBERG model (Van Ameijde, J., Weller, M., & Cross, S., 2016)
  • Manifesto for Teaching Online, 2016 (Bayne et al., 2016/2020)
  • The University of Waterloo’s Centre for Extended Learning UXDL Honeycomb
  • Pedagogy of Care, Maha Bali, 2020. https://blog.mahabali.me/educational-technology-2/pedagogy-of-care-covid-19-edition/

References

Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Harvard University Press.

Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, A., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O’Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P. & Sinclair, C. (2016). Manifesto for Teaching Online 2016. University of Edinburgh.

Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

Kizilcec, R. F., Bailenson, J. N., & Gomez, C. J. (2015). The instructor’s face in video instruction: Evidence from two large-scale field studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 724–739. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000013

Lambert, Sarah, R. (2018). Changing our (dis)course: A distinctive social justice aligned definition of open education. Journal of Learning for Development – JL4D, 5(3). https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/290/334

Mayer, R. (2020). Multimedia Learning. (3rd ed). Cambridge University Press.

Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223-231.

Rienties, B., & Toetenel, L. (2016). The impact of learning design on student behaviour, satisfaction and performance: A cross-institutional comparison across 151 modules. Computers in Human Behavior, 60, 333–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.02.074

Schmidt, M., Tawfik, A., Jahnke, I., & Earnshaw, Y. (2020). Learner and user experience research: An introduction for the field of learning design & technology. https://edtechbooks.org/ux

Sorden, S. D. (2005). A cognitive approach to instructional design for multimedia learning. Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 8, 263+. https://doi.org/10.28945/498

Van Ameijde, J., Weller, M., & Cross, S. (2016). Designing for Student Retention: The ICEBERG model and key design tips. The Open University: Quality Enhancement Report Series. Issue No. 2016/4. http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/learning-design/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ICEBERG-booklet-compressed.pdf

Younging, G. (2018). Elements of Indigenous style: A guide for writing by and about Indigenous Peoples. Brush Education. https://ezproxy.tru.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1723018&site=eds-live&scope=site