Course Map

ADEC Guiding Principles for Distance Teaching & Learning

The American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) has developed Guiding Principles for Distance Teaching and Learning. The following 6 principles were specifically developed for web-based learning:

1. The learning experience must have a clear purposed with tightly focused outcomes and objectives.
   
2. The learner is actively engaged.
   
3. The learning environment makes appropriate use of a variety of media.
   
4. Learning environments must include problem-based as well as knowledge-based learning.
   
5. Learning experiences should support interaction and the development of communities of interest.
6. The practice of distance learning contributes to the larger social mission of education and training in a democratic society.
   

All of these principles have overlapping themes that should be considered when designing distance education courses.

Course Development Teams

Development teams are used to design web-based instruction and e-Learning activities in many distance education programs. The teams generally consist of curriculum developers, content experts, and instructional designers.

The University of Phoenix, the national, for-profit university, uses a unique instructional design model to create their courses. The team uses a systematic grid and a hypothetical, inexperienced, instructor named Joe to development the curriculum. The team creates or revises an entire course's curriculum in two or three days.