Site Purpose
The Instructional Design Resource Center is designed as a resource for individuals with varying levels of course design experience.
Individuals new to higher education can use this site to help design their first classroom based course integrating technology where appropriate.
Notice
This site replaces the Hitchhikers Guide to Course Development.
Experienced instructors, being encouraged to place materials within a learning management system, can use this site to decipher the differences between Web-Presence, Web-Enhanced, Web-Centric and Online courses and how to plan courses for online delivery.
Instructors of online courses, looking for new ideas and ways to improve their course, can use the site to improve content development by finding sources for pre-developed content and ideas to improve student centered learning.
Instructional Designers and Instructional Support Staff can use this site as a reference for themselves or as a resource for the faculty they support.
Accessing the Content
Materials can be accessed by clicking on the links under “Course Categories” on the left-hand-side of the screen. Some of the modules will allow you to visit them as a guest, but others require a valid user account. If the information on this site is of interest to you, please take a moment to create a user account by clicking on the “Create new account” link located on the left-hand-side of this screen.
The first time that you login to the site or access an open module as a guest the copyright statement will be displayed. Please review the statement. If you agree to the abide by the copyright guidelines click the [Yes] button – the materials that you requested will then be displayed. If you do not agree with the copyright guidelines click the [No] button – the system will then log you out.
Once the copyright agreement has been accepted by an account it will not be displayed again. If you wish to review the agreement again it can be accessed by the clicking on the “Copyright” text on any screen or the link located on the right-hand-side of this screen.
Other Resources
At the end of each module, wherever possible, there are links to additional Resources and Tools that apply to the topic covered on that section. The ancillary sections provide access to even more resources as well as background information on a number of learning management systems and about the site itself.
When selecting external (off-site) links it is important to note that the link will open in the same window as the Hitchhiker site as required to meet accessibility standards. Simply use the browser back button to return to this site or right click the link to open it in a new window.
News Feeds and other RSS Content
Throughout the site there are selected RSS feeds that will assist you in keeping abreast of what other educators have to say about teaching and learning. For example several feeds are listed on the right-hand-side of this screen.
Many of the tutorial sections within the guide also display feeds that complement the topic under discussion in that area. If you have a favorite blog, podcast site or wiki that you would like to share with this community please post a link and short description to the "Your Recommendations" forum.
Site Links
The Instructional Design Resource Center is fluid and new information will be added as it is developed. That being said, narrative such as list items not currently hyperlinked are areas where new content is under development.
Site Feedback
Finally, we would appreciate it if you could complete the User Survey after you have explored the site. The responses we receive will help us make modifications to the site to better serve the needs of the intended audience. If you have any recommendations for content not currently covered within the guide, please feel free to contact the site designers through the "Suggestions" forum.
Thank you and enjoy the site.
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Presentations like PowerPoint is one of the most widely form of data being presented to users. It shows set of data at a time and moves from one set to another.They are linear in behavior. But our mind does not see information in a linear fashion. It tries to get a whole picture of things first then see the individual parts and then fits it in the whole picture. It can move in any order between data. If it is more interested in a specific item it can spend more time on those things.
What would a presentation tool be like which matches how the mind sees the information. It shows you the big picture , allows you to move between them while showing the relationship between them and if you like it go to details.
An online tool called "prezi" is trying to do exactly this. It is completely different presentation tool than what we are accustomed to. Click Here to view some presentations created with this tool.
Is there a use for this tool in your classroom or online presentations? If so, please share your ideas in this forum.
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“The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. The VUE project is focused on creating flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learning and research.” VUE provides a flexible environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing information.
Usage Ideas
- Faculty
- Visual representation of assignments and how they fit into the course, program or discipline
- Provide a picture of complex concepts
- Develop non-linear presentations
- Interactive syllabus
- Students
- Provides a method of assessing how well students understand a concept or theory
- Peer facilitation
Sample Maps
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- Discuss class and status within SL. Are there separate and distinct classes of users within SL? Builders, chatters, international users, adult users, business people? Are class distinctions obvious right away, or is this something that a casual user might not necessarily notice right away? What are residents' views on class and status? How can a resident raise their status? What can a resident do to (intentionally or unintentionally) lower their status? How does group membership impact one's status? How closely are status and money linked? How closely are status and time spent in-world linked? Have students interview residents about their perceptions (be mindful of the research ethics statements from SL). Have students reflect on their own experiences in-world and compare to real-life experiences.
- Experience different subcultures within SL. SL has thriving "furry", "goth" and "dwarf" subcultures, and many others. Note an intersection with race issue: do furries or dwarfs comprise a separate "race" within SL? How can races be defined among avatars?
- How is religion experienced in SL? Sex, Politics, and Religion (http://newsinitiative.org/story/2007/07/31/this_revolution_will_be_televised) Also see Where Two Or More Are Gathered (http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/2004/04/where_two_or_mo.html).
- Discuss marriage & relationships in-world. Some articles to start with are “Is This Man Cheating on His Wife” (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118670164592393622.html), ‘Second Life Affair Leads to Real Life Divorce” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/second-life-divorce), and “Watching the Detectives (http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/2005/03/watching_the_de.html) . Are hiring private investigators in Second Life to spy on a spouse a "breach of privacy" issue? Weddings as in-world social events.
- Can you die in SL? Compare death and dying in the Snow Crash metaverse to SL (interesting essay topic). Explore SL Funerals.
- Are there race issues in Second Life? Experience Martin Luther King, Jr Day in Second Life.
- Explore gender issues in SL. Students are surprised to read about a difference in price in male and female avatars on the secondary market. Gender-bending. Are there Software-controlled behavior differences in male and female avatars in SL.
- Explore criminal justice: punishment, "criminal profiling". Send students to the SL police blotter. Define and discuss griefing (being "bad" just for the fun of it, or to ruin someone else's game). Early description of player types, including description of griefers. How does this remind students of the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator? There are HUGE controversies on these online games about how to punish offenders. There are even bigger controversies about how to even define "crimes", and whether "real world" laws can extend to a virtual world, and whether law enforcement should be by the company or by the real world police. See A Rape In Cyberspace (http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html) for a historical perspective.
- Terrorism. Department of Homeland Security and CIA simulation terror and using multiplayer games and notion of "griefing" to study terrorist groups.
- Explore avatars & personal identity. Fashion in Second Life, Avatars as alter-ego (Second Life mentioned). Avatar and Identity (general Internet). Tourism (general Internet).
- What are some legal issues in SL? Do avatars have rights?. Laws of virtual worlds. Intersection with real-world laws. Resources: The Alphaville Herald (http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/legal_issues/), Legal Issue in SL (http://muveforward.blogspot.com/2008/06/podcast-episode-3-legal-issues-in.html).
- Have ethnographic studies been done in SL? Researchers try to figure out demographics of SL (w/voluntary poll).
- SL and disability support groups. Wilde Cunningham is a group of 9 disabled adults in a group home. Live2Give is a group for people living with Cerebral Palsy. Brigadoon is a group for people living with Asperger's and Autism.
- Gambling. Gambling within SL.
- Psychology. Discussion of usefulness of SL to model things, mental illness, for example. Recreating the experience of schizophrenia in-world. Daedalus Project has overviews of many different psychology issues in the context of MMO game play.
- Political science. Can SL be used to explore the process of creating a government?
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