Designing for Unique Online Learning Contexts: The Alignment of Purpose, Audience, and Fom of Interactivity

Abstract

This chapter argues that more attention needs to be given to problematizing designat the level of purpose, audience, and form of online interactions and to seekingalignment of these components. It derives from experiences of conceptualization,design, and delivery processes. Some online students are more active than others;some groups respond to a series of planned activities and online tasks while othersdo not, and in some cases patterns of interactivity develop that are not planned anddesigned for. We propose that the design of online programs is not a simple, but askilled and complex, phenomenon with a large number of independent and inter-dependent variables. We present our ideas in three sections and use the allusion ofa bespoke tailor customizing a jacket for a client. These sections comprise the“jacket,” “the body,” and the skilled task of tailoring the jacket to fit the body,which represents the process of designing for unique online contexts.