Integrated Intelligent Research (IIR) International Journal of Computing Algorithm

Volume: 05 Issue: 02 December 2016 Page No.66-71

ISSN: 2278-2397

Validation of Web Based Learning Environment using

Instructional Design Model
S.Pradeep Ganam
Asst.Prof, Department of Computer Science, STET College for Women, Mannargudi
Email: [email protected]

Abstract - The growth of Internet, Intranets and the World Tele-density in India is currently found to be poor (2.6 per
Wide Web has already had a significant impact on business, hundred) when compared with China or the West. But it is
commerce, industry, banking, finance, education, growing in a geometric proportion. Due to this growth, e-
entertainment, governmental and even our personal and learning market is rapidly shifting to m-learning. There is a
professional lives. Many legacy information and database heavy demand for Computer Applications (Engineering
systems are being migrated to the Internet and Web subjects) e-content developments. According to Said
environments. In the last few years, we have seen web sites Hadjerrouit (2006), the teaching paradigm of e-learning must
that were initially started as a few Web pages, which grew in be shifted from traditional methods to m-learning. Care should
size and after a while became unmanageable. Over a period of be emphasized while designing mobile Based Instructions.
time, if one wants to make some changes in the information, it Technical/operational aspects of learning objects and their
will be very difficult or impossible. The real value of Web- reusability is becoming a challenge - Natasha Boskic (2003).
based learning is to help students acquire knowledge that Merrill’s (2002) ‘First Principles of Instruction’ has been
enables them to function as an active, self-reflected and proven to be successful when adapted for instructional designs,
collaborative participants in the information society. Changes particularly for problem centric subject contents.
caused by academic institutions, course content, ethical, legal,
and cultural issues need to be considered in the development of This research work in view of the above, is attempting an m-
Web-based learning (Hadjerrouit, 2006). These factors have learning model that would use reusable objects that are of
made the researcher to explore a disciplined and systematic independent entities. This model would thus attempt to use
way to develop a large and maintainable web based Merrill’s portrayals. One of the research objectives is therefore,
information system that must constantly evolve in order to to propose an effective model for developing e-content on
ensure the relevance and completeness of the content on the ‘Computer Graphics’. Both experimental as well as social
web. The Web-based learning environment is developed for a study research methodologies have been recommended. This
course in the Master of Computer Applications (MCA) research work is question’s based and not hypotheses
programme, which is conducted under the curriculum of Anna based.The research work limits its scope of study to the subject
University. content of ‘Computer Graphics’ that is selected based on
interview schedules. A preliminary investigation has resulted
Keywords: Web engineering, Web-based system into certain issues that are pertaining to e-tutoring of
development, Web design, Web development, Pedagogy. ‘Computer Graphics’. 11 parts of NPTEL modules of
Computer Graphics have been taken for the study for
I. INTRODUCTION comparative study on instructional effectiveness of m-learning.
Content analysis has been performed on selected e-contents of
Web-Based Learning Environment is entirely different from ‘Computer Graphics’. The results clearly show that
software development because it is embedded in the online ‘information’ need not be ‘instructive’. Besides, the content
environment. And, it should mainly focus on scalability and analytical results that are documented would be of immense
maintainability, learning theories and examine technical, legal, value for further research.While the content analytical results
cultural and social aspects. Web-based systems evolve from have suggested for modular approach through using reclaiming
static, content-driven applications to dynamic interactive and model of Merrill (2002); the one that adapted unidirectional
ever-changing ones. Hence, there is a need to adopt a sound instructional model for NPTEL would be analyzed. Strategic
methodology throughout the development process and instructional components for e-content development have been
maintenance. Considering the need and advantages of the Web determined using social survey. 18 strategic components have
Based system, the present study titled “Development and been derived out in the research. These components include
Validation of a Instructional Design Model for Web Based issues like: ‘time-duration of e-content modules; need for
Learning Environment” has been carried out, in order to animated graphics; need for independent reusable modules for
develop a systematic process to maintain a large web based e-content etc.Based on the content analytical work and the e-
information system and also to ensure the relevance, content developmental instructional strategies, an instructional
correctness, completeness, self pacing and effective learning of model has been proposed. The basic e-content development
the content available on the web to the students. For the has adapted standards like SCORM initially. Merrill’s ‘First
purpose of research study, the course on Computer Graphics Principles of Instructions’ (FPI) has been applied to the
and Multimedia Systems of the third semester of MCA algorithm and test runs have been carried out for experiments.
programme under Anna University, curriculum has been taken. The model bases the following layers:
Objects layer; Modules meta-file containing essential
II. RATIONALE procedures; sections layer and the main procedures. Sharable
Content Object (SCO’s) ‘Black Box’ has been tried out
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successfully. The proposed e-content development model has  Calculating measures of central tendency – Mean and
been experimented with 500 respondents (learners). This social weighted average
survey was administered for validating the proposed model  Calculating measures of dispersion – Standard deviation
through experiment.  Graphical presentation of data – Bar charts

Plethora of e-contents of CSE subjects is available in the www. Suitable statistical package has been applied (SPSS-16.0) to
Most of these e-contents are found to be in the style and form find out the required results, namely frequency distribution,
of text books. Besides, no course objectives have been found mean, weighted average and standard deviation. The reliability
spelt out for most of these e-contents. It is thus observed and has been ascertained using the value of Cronbach’s alpha.
believed that many users of e-contents do not seriously utilize Number of responses received by the researcher is more than
for rigorous learning. They found to be viewing these e- the number of actual samples. Abnormal responses, which
contents for reference only. As seen from several published caused high deviation of standard and unfilled (blank)
research works, that learner characteristic is a very important responses, were considered unreliable and discarded. Like
component needed for the design of these kinds of e-contents. interpretation of results, the formulations of conclusions and
Literature also show that e-learning should be objective driven. generalizations will be carefully designed.
In that case this should pose some basic questions like what
kind of instructional model for e-learning would fit in well for 3.2 Sampling and Actual Samples
particular learner characteristics. How to validate such Universal sampling for the Instructional materials of the
instructional models? How to quantify learning abilities in selected area has been adopted. Purposive sampling has been
existing e-contents? etc. These cruxes have led to take up this considered for the feedback analyses, as it is known to be
research work. The research is delimited to the subject area of representative of the total required data, and known to
CG. Important and major conclusion such as the need for represent well-matched groups (Sharma (1988)).Delphimethod
small, independent reusable modular (objects) approach is has been adopted to validate instruction model through social
validated. study. The actual samples considered for various studies are
presented in Table 1.2.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Table 2: Actual Samples Considered for Various Study
One of the aims of this research is to study and to document
the levels of competencies (learning abilities) based on ‘First S.N Samples Purpose Validation Respondents
Principles of Instructions’, an Instructional model based on o
Constructivism and Cognitivism, that are existing in the 1 25 Pilot Determination Mixed
prescribed instructional materials of NPTEL modules. The Study of course for respondents
research work also aims at building an appropriate model using case study
the cognitive structures of the ‘First Principles of Instructions’ 2 120 Formal Determination Teacher
for e-content delivery. The validation of such a model would study of course for respondents
be achieved through questionnaires and interview schedules. case study
These feedbacks and the descriptive content analysis on the 3 328 Formal Determination Student
Instructional materials would be subjected to rigorous studies. study of course for respondents
Prior to these proposed studies, the subject domain as a case case study
study for the research purpose need to be determined. The 4 25 Pilot Determination Mixed
methodology adapted for this too is based on social survey and Study of Instructional respondents
interview schedule. The development of e-content for a chosen Strategies for e-
section is done through experiment using the proposed model. content
The methodologies and the application is briefed through Table
5 328 Formal Determination e-content
1.1.
study of Instructional learners
Strategies for e-
Table 1: Methodology Adopted for Research
content
6 124 Formal Validation of e-content
S.N Method Purpose
study Instructional learners
o
Model
1. Descriptive Content analysis on existing NPTEL
e-Content
3.3 Analytical Methods
2. Social Survey Determining Instructional Strategy David Robertson (1976) created a coding frame for a
3. Experiment Design of Model comparison of modes of party competition between British and
4. Social Survey Validating the Model American parties. It was developed further in 1979 by the
Manifesto Research Group aiming at a comparative content-
3.1 Statistical Analysis analytic approach on the policy positions of political parties.
In the general process of analysis of research data, statistical This classification scheme was also used to accomplish a
methods have contributed a great deal. Statistical methods have comparative analysis between the 1989 and 1994 Brazilian
been extensively applied for most types of analyses. The party broadcasts and manifestos as reported by Carvalho
following are some statistical methods of analysis considered (2000). It is also noted that every content analysis should
for this research. Some of the common statistical parameters depart from a hypothesis. This is an important statement as this
used are presented: research work has taken ‘Content Analysis’ as an experimental
 Calculating frequency distribution of items under study method. Ole Holsti (1969) groups 15 uses of content analysis
into three basic categories:
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 make inferences about the antecedents of a communication cognitive structures to be of importance. But real world
 describe and make inferences about characteristics of a ‘Problem’ is the most important starting point, he adds. Again
communication the problem should be interesting, relevant and engaging. This
 make inferences about the effects of a communication. ‘Problem’ may be ill defined or ill structured for better igniting
the motivation of the students. He has also pointed out that –
He also places these uses into the context of the basic for novice learners, ‘Activation’ component should be more,
communication paradigm. Texts in a single study may also while ‘Demonstration’ should be carefully designed,
represent a variety of different types of occurrences, such as ‘Application’ also is important. ‘Integration’ will improve
Palmquist's (1990) study of two composition classes, in which analyzing skill. Van Merrienboer’s (1997) model has
he analyzed student and teacher interviews, writing journals, ‘Application’ and ‘Integration’ in its center. His model treats
classroom discussions and lectures, and out-of-class interaction ‘Demonstration’ as subordinate to the other two. It further
sheets, but more importantly texts books. To conduct a content suggests that ‘Activation’ can even be neglected. Schank’s
analysis on any such text, the text is coded or broken down, (1999) model on the other hand provides a clear emphasizes on
into manageable categories on a variety of levels--word, word ‘Application’ limited next only to ‘Activation’ and
sense, phrase, sentence, or theme--and then examined using ‘Demonstration’. ‘Integration’ although important, will direct
one of content analysis' basic methods: conceptual analysis or the Integration per se, but need not be built-in.
relational analysis. Questions are generally used for content
analysis. David Merrill’s ‘First Principles of Instruction’
Merrill divides the instructional event into four phases, which
Content analyses, for quantifying the four phases (cognitive he calls ‘Activation’, ‘Demonstration’, ‘Application’ and
structures) of the First Principles of Instruction have been ‘Integration’. Central to this instructional model is a real-time
directly or indirectly reported from the following literature problem-solving theme, called ‘Problem’. Merrill suggests that
studied. Mc Carthy (1996) has emphasized that all the four fundamental principles of instructional design should be relied
cognitive structures of First Principles of Instruction are on and these apply regardless of any instructional design model
equally important in the whole cycle of a learning activity. She used. Violating this would produce a decrement in learning
has also argued that they are equally important to learners and and performance. His model is shown in Figure 1
the learners must involve completely in all the four phases.
Merrill (2002) has also emphasized that any instruction must
engage students in all the four levels of performance. But
coaching should gradually decrease from problem to problem.
He has clarified on the interpretations of the definitions of the
four phases: On ‘Activation’ he stresses: “Many Instructional
products jump immediately into the new material without
laying a sufficient foundation for the students. ‘Activation’ is
more than merely testing prerequisite knowledge. It should
include themes also. A simple recall of information is not
effective activation”. On ‘Demonstration’ he stresses: “It
should demonstrate ‘what is to be learned’ rather than just
‘informing what is to be learned’”. He further adds: “For
Concepts use Examples/Non-examples; for Procedures use
Demonstration; for Processes use Visualizations; and for Fig 1 David Merrill’s Phases of Instruction
Behaviour use Modelling”. On ‘Application’ he points out to (Reproduced from David Merrill’s “First Principles of
the use of media while he says “Media should play an Instruction”)
important role for ‘Show examples’ rather than ‘Telling
generalities’”. On ‘Integration’ he adds: “Learners can create, IV. VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE
invent and explore new ways to use their knowledge. It is a TOOLS
very important component. Media can be limitedly used for it”.
Merrill (2007) has further elaborated these components into 4.1 Validity of Content Analysis
instructional strategies. The content analysis aimed for the determination on the
presence of the four portrayals of David Merrill’s First
On quantification, Lianghuo Fan (2004)has stressed: Principles of Instruction in the instructions of the subject
“Instructional objectives should be quantified in every contents of the chosen modules. This is descriptive in nature
component of the curriculum, particularly in the instructional and the presence of these phases is found in all the components
materials. They lead to student’s abilities such as thinking of the chosen material. The components are essentially two,
abilities, judging abilities and reasoning abilities. It helps the namely: i) Slides / frame contents and ii) Notes accompanying
teachers to keep in mind how much a topic is more difficult the slides in the modules. The presence is summed up and
than another topic. This point is important and further averaged out according to the weightage pertaining to
strengthens the need for content analysis. On the individual instructional time in every slide or notes allocated
quantification of different cognitive structures, different for every concept of a frame. The weighted average for the
opinions are seen from literature. Merrill himself has suggested entire course is rounded off and presented as approved by an
for having more “Integration” component in e-learning content expert committee consisting of the following:
and less “Application”. Nelson (1999) stresses more on 1. Instructional Designer (one)
‘Application” and less on “Demonstration” for better critical 2. Statistician (one)
thinking, which involves social interaction skill. Jonassen 3. Research Supervisor (one)
(1999) on Constructivist learning has stressed on all the four 4. Doctoral Committee members (Two)
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5. The researcher himself

4.2 Validity of Social Survey

The design of questionnaire started with a collection of already
validated questionnaire of similar nature (a validated
questionnaire collected through internet on Cooperative
Learning, - Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
has been taken and modified to suite local requirements).
Further validity of the modified questionnaire was established Figure 3:Distribution of Instructive Cognitive Structures on
through consultations with the experts (Committee detailed Computer Graphics
above) from the field of different but related functional areas at
different phases during the development of the tools. Validity Observation: In the ‘Introduction’ part of the e-content of
was done in checking on the purpose - of the questions on Section I, 82% (Figure 5.1.1) of the material is informative
which the questionnaires were designed. Content validity of while the rest (18%) is actually (Figure 5.1.2) instructive (or
the tools can be established by expert judgments of recognized demonstrative). The maximum represented cognitive structure
authority (Best and Khan 2002). Determination of Content of the ‘informative’ portion of the material is ‘Application’
Validity evidence is often made by expert judgment (Kaplan (46%) followed equally by ‘Activation’ and ‘Demonstration’
and Saccuzzo 2001). Established Content Validity evidence for (18% each). There is no ‘Integration’ portrayal at all. Whereas,
a tool requires good logic, intuitive skills and perseverance. the entire (18% of the) instructive material is found to be
The context of the items must be carefully evaluated (Messick demonstrative (‘Demonstration’ portrayal) in nature. This part
1998). therefore does not promote effective learning.

Based on these suggestions, the instruments were validated 5.2 Part 2 Graphical User Interface
first through a pilot study. A sample of 100 feedbacks was Distribution of Informative Cognitive Structures
taken for the pilot study conducted on 500 respondents
(experts; trainers and trainees - mixed). The feedback
responses were then presented to the same team of experts
constituted for Content Analysis. Based on consultations held
with the experts and with the sample groups of the pilot study,
the ‘validity’ of each item of the tool has been established
independently and also the same parameters for the tools were
collectively studied. The Content Validity of the tools is thus
established. The responses were then scrutinized and minor
modifications as suggested by the team were incorporated in Figure 4:Distribution of Informative Cognitive Structures on
the questionnaires and subsequently used for the actual survey. Graphical User Interface

V. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS Distribution of Instructive Cognitive Structures

Accordingly the analysis performed and results obtained are

briefed below. Results are structured according to
chapter/section of the e-contents of the subject ‘Computer
Graphics’ of NPTEL. The study has been carried out so as to
segregate the textual material into two types namely i)
Informative and ii) Instructive – that is demonstrative as per
Merrill’s definition. This Section is divided into three parts,
namely, i. ‘Computer Graphics’, ii. Graphical User Interface Figure 5: Distribution of Instructive Cognitive Structures on
and iii. Computer Graphics Systems. The acronym RWP used Graphical User Interface
in the exhibits represents ‘Real World Problem’, as per the
definition of ‘First Principles of Instruction’. Results obtained Observation: 100% of the Graphical User Interface material
from each part are presented along with observation. of the e-content is purely informative and not instructive (or
demonstrative) in nature. The maximum represented cognitive
5.1 Part 1 Computer Graphics structure of the ‘informative’ portion of the material is
Distribution of Informative Cognitive Structures ‘Demonstration’ (36%) (Figure 5.2.1) followed by ‘Activation’
(28%) while the rest are 18% (Figure 5.2.2) each of
‘Application’ and ‘Integration’. Even though all the four
cognitive structures are present, the entire part is informative
and not instructive. This part also therefore does not promote
effective learning.

5.3 Part 3 Computer Graphics Systems

Distribution of Informative Cognitive Structures

Figure 2: Distribution of Informative Cognitive Structures on

Computer Graphics Distribution of Instructive Cognitive
Structures:

69
 CG
2 6 GUI 28 36 18 18 - - - -
% % % %
3 5 CG - 75 8 - - - - 17
System % % %
s
Figure 6: Distribution of Informative Cognitive Structures on
Computer Graphics Systems
The overall presence in the entire Section is summed up and
Distribution of Instructive Cognitive Structures
presented.

Distribution among Informative Contents

Activation : 17%
Demonstration: 49%
Application : 24%
Integration : 10%
Distribution among Instructive Contents
Activation : 0%
Demonstration: 51%
Application : 0%
Integration : 49%
Figure 7:Distribution of Instructive Cognitive Structures on Overall informative representation: 88%
Overall instructive representation: 12%
Computer Graphics Systems
Observation: The e-content of ‘Computer Graphics System’ is Observation: It is clearly demonstrated that the slide
presentations are treated in two instructional styles, namely:
once again found to be more informative rather instructive (or
demonstrative) in nature. The maximum represented cognitive (i) Informative.
Concepts are merely presented with ‘What is What’ as only
structure of the ‘informative’ portion of the material is
‘Demonstration’ (75%) (Figure 5.3.1) followed by information and not describing as ‘Why and/or How ‘on the
conceptual basis.
‘Application’ (8%) while the rest of 17% is ‘Integration’
(Figure 5.3.2) but demonstrative in nature. But for activation,
(ii) Instructive
this part to a little extent would promote learning, according to
the First Principles of Instruction. Concepts are instructed as ‘What, How, Why and Where’
basis. This kind of instruction is called ‘Demonstration’
5.4 Overall Cognitive Structures according to the First Principles of Instruction (Merrill – 2007).
The overall presence of cognitive structures in Section I is
briefed along with facts and examples as existing in actual Accordingly the slide presentations are grouped into the above
two categories. It is evidenced from the content analytical
slide.
results on this Section, that the ‘Informative’ presence is much
higher (88:12) than ‘Instructive’ style in this Section I on
Example(s)
1. On ‘Demonstration’ ‘Introduction of Computer Graphics’. It is observed from the
three parts that the ‘Demonstration’ cognitive structure is the
“Computer Graphics involves display, manipulation and
storage of pictures and experimental data for proper predominant portrayal in both the cases. It is also observed that
the slides with pictures/diagrams are more instructive rather
visualization using a computer. Typical graphics system
comprises of a host computer with support of fast processor, than informative unlike the slides with textual information.
large memory, frame buffer …..”
VI. CONCLUSIONS
2. On ‘Application’
“Typical applications areas are …. It is observed that both the student as well as teacher
respondents of South India, when combined with each other
 Plotting in science and technology
have rank ordered “Computer Graphics” as the subject content
 Web/business/commercial publishing and
among Computer Application courses that is most preferable
advertisements
for e-Mode of delivery. This preference is based on concept
 CAD/CAM design (VLSI, Construction, Circuits) instructions; usage of multi-media components; possibilities of
 Scientific Visualization” dividing subject contents/topics into small and independent
modules. It is clearly demonstrated through this research study,
The summary of data pertaining to cognitive structures of that the instructional strategy followed in the CG subject e-
instruction is presented in Table 5.4.1 contents of NPTEL is found to be both informative as well as
instructive, and media components have been effectively used.
Table 3: Cognitive Structures on ‘Introduction to CG’ It is also reported through investigation that no explicitly
developed instructional model has been adapted. The entire
Pa No. Informative Instructive instructive strategy followed is found to be linear. It is
rt of concluded that the instructional approach as well as
Title
N Slid A A instructional strategy that is to be adapted for e-mode of
A D I A D I
o. es p p delivery of CG, needs to be treated differently from that
1 4 Introdu 18 18 46 - - 18 - - adapted by certain existing techniques used for the same
ction to % % % % subject content in similar e-Modes of delivery. In addition, the
70
technique proposed by this research study augments many
documented findings of literature. The major finding of this
research work suggests modular approach in the form of
objects for e-content development and delivery. This inference
has been clearly demonstrated through experimentation and
validation in this research work. These are supported by the
experimental and analytical results that are documented in this
paper.

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