1. EDU655: Trends & Issues Inst. Design & Tech. Online learning
Leticia R. Lopez
EDU655:  Trends & Issues Inst. Design & Tech. Online learning
Ashford university

2. What is E-Learning?
“All learning involving technology in any way whatsoever” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2012, p. 282).
E-learning has emerged and is now popular. It involves anything that has to do with technology and learning. E-learning can be asynchronous and synchronous. It is important to understand what is necessary to teach e-learning so that it can be effective (Reiser & Dempsey, 2012).

3. Examples of forms of e-learning
Learning games and simulations
Mobile learning
Social learning
Virtual-classroom courses
Learning games and simulations are activities that teach by exploring and discovering. Mobile learning consists of learning through an electronic device such as a smart phone or tablet. Social learning is education through social interaction and communicating via discussions, text messaging, and blogging. Virtual-classroom courses are classes that are online and similar to a classroom structure requiring assignments such as; reading, presentations, forum discussions or journals.

4. Collaboration & Related Tools
E-learning enhances collaboration by presenting interactive and stimulating material for students to engage actively.
As technology advances, so does e-learning methods. For example:
CD-ROMs
Floppy Disks
Tape recorder
Improved to
USB drives
Recording apps on mobile devices and computers
Online storage
E-learning enhances collaboration exposing material that will allow a student to interact with others. They will also engage more in learning. As technology advances, e-learning methods advance also by incorporating these new tools into teaching and learning. These types of tools allow students to communicate more with other students via internet. Students will feel more confident about reaching out to peers virtually. They will also have more flexibility and be able to focus more on their education while balancing other life priorities also (Monahan, McArdle, & Bertolotto, 2008).

5. With e-learning, learners are able to:
Communicate
Skype
Twitter
Facebook
Collaborate
Wikis
Blogs
Mind Meister
Adobe Connect
Interact
Virtual labs
Virtual games
Interactive PowerPoints
With e-learning, students are able to communicate, collaborate, and interact with other peers. There are many technology tools that allow students to do this such as , skype, social media websites, virtual games and labs. These technology tools are essential when teaching and learning online.

6. Role of instruction design models
The purpose of instruction design models are to specify procedure applications required to develop teaching and learning. These instruction design models must be carefully constructed to fulfill knowledge and skill objectives. There are many models of instruction design but they differ in the ways the material, tools, and management is organized. It is important for educators to implement the proper instruction design model to teach effectively (Branch, & Kopcha, 2014).
The roles of instructional design models are specific applications of processes and procedures that are needed to develop teaching and learning. These models require defined models to promote better understanding. Knowledge and skills are significant when implementing these models because it must suit the appropriate course of learning. There are numerous instructional design models which provide tools to direct, visualize, and manage high quality teaching and learning (Branch, & Kopcha, 2014).

7. An example of an Instructional Design Model
The ADDIE model is an instructional design models that includes processes that designers utilize. It demonstrates a detailed guideline for achieving effective development, performance, and training in five phases.
The ADDIE model consists of: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. It is a plan, strategically designed to serve instructional design. In the analysis phase, learning objectives and instructional goals are defined. In the design phase, instructional strategies are outlined to create learning actives. In the development phase, learning content, assessments, and learning assignments are built. Technologies are also chosen to improve the learning experience. In the implementation phase, learning participate in the instruction and training for the instructor also occurs. Lastly, in the evolution phase, learning outcomes are measured during instruction for formative evaluation and learning outcomes are measure after the instruction for summative evaluation (Davis, 2013).

8. Enhance e-learning
Leveraging technology to enhance e-learning is essential because today, students are the new generation of technology savvies. Networking is the popularity and it is only becoming more implemented in e-learning. An example of a great way to leverage technology is a virtual laboratory.
A virtual lab is a highly interactive virtual space that provides students with simulation, interaction, and modeling capabilities through technologies.
Today, networking technologies are significant in the world. As technology becomes more popular, so does the need for implementation for e-learning. A virtual lab is an example of a newer technology that is defined as a virtual environment for simulation, modeling, and leverage to create enhanced interaction (Prieto-Blazquez, Arnedo-Moreno, & Herrera-Joancomarti, 2008).

9. The following video shows an example of a virtual lab:

10. Best practices for media use
Some of the best practices to enhance e-learning with media use include:
YouTube- There are great educational videos as well as tutorials on almost any topic
TeacherTube- Similar to YouTube, TeacherTube consists of strictly educational videos
Skype- Allows students to connect visually with each other
Podcasts- Allows students to listen to media and download it for later use
These examples of media use are great for e-learning because they provide students with resourceful information. YouTube and TeacherTube are similar website that provide students with videos on almost any topic. The only disadvantage with YouTube is that it is not strictly educational like TeacherTube. One can learn to do anything from watching tutorial videos on YouTube. Skype is an application where students can video chat in real time. It is essential for those who live far from each other or live in different time zones. Podcasts are great for those who are audio learners because the media can be downloaded and retrieved later. All these practices are great for media use, however internet access is needed to utilize them.

11. Learning Objectives Learning Activities
Learning objectives can be accomplished by the use of simple learning activities. Activities are a necessity when engaging learners to absorb information by applying thought processes, attitudes, behaviors, and basic skills. The goal of a learning activity is to provoke experiences that lead to learning the material (Horton, 2011).
Examples of technology tools for e-learning activities:
Learning objectives are important because is makes the educator stick to the purpose of teaching. By determining the learning objective, the instructor can plan accordingly to implement the proper technology tools for learning activities that will make the student achieve the objective (Horton, 2011).

12. Ways to manage virtual courses
Prepare and organize
Create schedules with due dates
Assure that there are no technical problems
Provide students with contact information
Log on often to observe student participation
Check often
Update information
Provide grading in detail
Give feedback
It is important to maintain a virtual course with effective techniques. To manage a course, it is significant that there is careful planning and organizing. An outline and schedule should be created and posted that way students can be on track. Making sure that the website is running good is recommended because you do not want to have technical problems during the course. The instructor’s contact information should always be provided in case the students need to contact him. Student participation is important and the only way the instructor will know is by constantly checking for activity. Updating information will keep students informed if there are any new alerts or important information. Checking daily is essential because students will have questions regarding assignments. As students complete assignments, it is important to grade work on timely manner and provide feedback so students will be aware of how they are doing and if they need to improve.

13. Ways to best teach in a virtual classroom
Include collaborative assignments such as discussions where students can share, critique, and respond to other’s ideas.
Assign assignments where students must utilize a technology tool to complete them.
Provide links to essential resources such as educational videos, interviews, or articles.
Include scenarios and have students critically think.
Provide feedback and also participate in the discussion with the students.
In virtual classrooms, students perceive the virtual experience more as a group learning than rather than learning alone. This is why it is important to include lots of collaboration and communication. Students feel the flexibility with virtual classrooms rather than a traditional classroom where they have to physically attend face-to-face. In a virtual environment, although students do not see each other, the support and relationships are real (Hiltz, & Wellman, 1997).

14. DON'T DO Apply enough design Try to teach too much
Target precise objectives
Teach what people need
Provide support & feedback
Consider learners' learning styles
Brainstorm and plan
Try to teach too much
Teach irrelevant information
Ignore student questions
Force unsuitable learning styles
Buy technology before designing instruction
Expect a guarantee of learning
There are always recommendations for improvement. By following simple strategies, e-learning will become effectively.

15. Re-design e-learning instructional design
There are four elements of redesigning; design, analyze, build, and evaluate. The designer has to analyze the situations, put it to test by building it, and finally evaluating the results. If the design still needs improvement, re-design again and again, but never repeat.
E-learning design will not always run smoothly. You have to analyze the design by actually testing it and observing the results. Making changes is often necessary. It’s like an ongoing cycle, therefore it’s best to be patient and just improve the weak areas (Horton, 2011).

16. References
Branch, R. M., & Kopcha, T. J. (2014). Instructional design models. In handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp ). Springer New York.
Davis, A. L. (2013). Using instructional design principles to develop effective information literacy instruction The ADDIE model. College & Research Libraries News, 74(4),
Hiltz, S. R., & Wellman, B. (1997). Asynchronous learning networks as a virtual classroom. Communications of the ACM, 40(9),
Horton, W. K. (2011). E-learning by design (2nd ed). San Francisco: Pfeiffer. 615 Pages.
Monahan, T., McArdle, G., & Bertolotto, M. (2008). Virtual reality for collaborative e-learning. Computers & Education, 50(4),
Prieto-Blazquez, J., Arnedo-Moreno, J., & Herrera-Joancomarti, J. (2008). An integrated structure for a virtual networking laboratory. Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, 55(6),
Reiser, R. & Dempsey, J. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.