Course Design

Module 3 had me looking into the similarities and differences when it comes to instructional design and delivery for distance education and face-to-face courses. What I've discovered is that designing courses whether for distance education or face-to-face is not an easy task. I've had experience designing once course and it was a painful experience not knowing what I really needed to do. The discussion on identifying the similarities and differences in designing for an online course versus a traditional one would have come in handy as it would have set me on the path to understanding that there is a distinct difference.

However, I must state that it is a bit less complicated to point out those differences than it is to actually design the course. There are many components that start to become an exhaustive list of do's and don'ts. While I understand the lack of being "present" in the classroom poses a huge difference when it comes to how you approach course design, I'm still unsure as to why there's such a huge difference when it comes to actually designing the course. It would seem that the design that's used for face-to-face should be able to transfer over to distance education with a few tweeks and vice versa but that is not the case.

I understand that there's a different learning approach depending on which type of class you take (DE or F2F) and that plays a major role in instructional design. But I wonder if there is really a huge difference when designing a course for distance education or face-to-face or if it's not that big of a difference but seems that way when you don't fully understand course design. As I progress through the course and the overall program, it is my desire to gain a better grasp on instructional design and all its intricacies.