Instructional Design for Global E-Learning Environments

There is a need to incorporate global perspectives, and particularly African perspectives, during the development of e-learning environments. Instructional design is appropriate because it is a process that is student centered, responsive, generative, collaborative, situated and practical. Instructional design is student centered because student performance is the focal point. Responsive because it is a process that reflects the expectations of the primary stakeholders. Generative because knowledge is co-constructed among the constituents within the learning community. Instructional design is a situated process where a high correlation exists between the e-learning environment and the reality outside the [classroom]. Instructional design is a collaborative process that requires diverse and specialized knowledge and skills. Instructional design is practical. The aforementioned principles of instructional design conjure a complex process essential for addressing the variety of unique teaching and learning situations. This is consistent with the law of requisite variety, which contends that in order to facilitate the quantity and diversity of a situation, you must have the ability to generate an equal quantity and diversity of responses. The law of requisite variety was promoted by Ashby (1956) as a way to mathematically explain the various states of dynamic systems. The notion of Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety being applied to e-learning environments will be introduced as a way to reinforce the importance of context. Also taken into consideration are the philosophical assumptions that inform the practice of instructional design. Finally, recommendations are presented for designs that promote effective global e-learning environments.