This study seeks to understand how teacher education programs prepare pre-service teachers for online learning instructional design. The demand for online K-12 courses is growing, but teachers need instructional design skills to create online content. However, it is unclear if teacher programs provide this training. The purpose is to describe programs at Midwestern colleges regarding online learning instructional design preparation through interviews and document analysis. The research will analyze programs' instructional design coursework, objectives, and competencies to understand how pre-service teachers learn these skills.

1. Instructional Design for Online Learning:
Are Pre-Service Teachers Prepared?
VERA S. WEBER

2. Topic
 This study seeks to understand and describe how college and
universities offer instructional design within their undergraduate
teacher education programs to meet the growing demand for
online learning in K-12 school systems.

3. Statement of the Problem
 The K-12 public school system is creating a high demand for
courses offered through online learning
(Watson, Murin, Vashaw, Gemin, & Rapp, 2013).
 School systems are turning to the knowledge of subject
matter experts, or classroom teachers in this case, to create
and design online learning environments (Project
Tomorrow, 2011).
 There is a need for teachers who have knowledge and skills in
instructional design (Picciano & Seaman, 2009)
 Teacher education programs will need to equip all teachers
with the ability to design, deliver, and support K-12 online
learning (Barbour, Siko, Gross, & Waddell, 2013)

4. Purpose
 The purpose of the proposed qualitative, multi-case study is
to understand and describe undergraduate educational
programs offered through Midwestern colleges and
universities in order to determine how these programs strive
to prepare pre-service teachers for designing online learning
environments that implement instructional design principles,
models, and strategies.

5. Research Questions
 How do pre-service teachers in undergraduate preparatory
programs learn instructional design competencies, including
knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to deliver online
learning programs?
 What are the titles of programs, specific courses, and
objectives within courses in undergraduate teacher
preparatory programs that address instructional design theory,
models, or strategies and specifically their application to
online learning?

6. Theories Supporting this
Research
 Instructional Design Theory: A prescriptive theory
that recommends a specific action to achieve the
goal of instruction (Christensen & Osguthorpe, 2004;
Smith & Ragan, 2005)
 Constructivist Design Theory: A learning theory that is
based on three principles
 1) learning comes from interpretations of personal
experiences which
 2) exist in realistic and relevant situations and
 3) include explorations of multiple perspectives
(Richey, Klein, & Tracey, 2011).

7. Qualitative, Multi-Case Study
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research design and methods, (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage
Yin’s model for conducting case study research
Prepare
Collect
AnalyzeShare
DesignPlan

8. Qualitative, Multi-Case Study
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research design and methods, (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage
Yin’s model for conducting case study research
Field Test
Documents
IRB Approval
Multiple
sources of
evidence
Organize data
Maintain
chain of
evidence
Rely on Theory
and Literature
Use an
analytic
technique
Display data
Review and
Re-write
Display
evidence
Compose
textual and
visual
materials
Define Unit of
Analysis
Develop
Theoretical
Propositions
Define Case
Study Quality
Scientific
Merit Review
Plan

9. Research Design
 Target Population: Pre-service Teacher Preparatory programs
 Sampling method: Purposive
 Sample Size: 3-5 teacher education programs in Minnesota
 Candidate Pool: 4-5 participants from each research site
 Maximum Variation Strategy: Privately or Publicly funded institutions in
diverse geographical locations
 Recruitment: Letters to Department Chairs of Minnesota Teacher
Education Programs, Snowball Strategy, Posting a Recruitment Flyer

10. Data Collection
 Feedback from Pre-Qualifying Questionnaire
 Face-to-face or telephone interviews recorded using Audacity
or similar software, transcribed, and reviewed for accuracy by
participants
 Documents: syllabi, textbooks, course catalogs
 Physical Artifacts from institution’s website
 Optional, self-administered classroom observation by faculty
member
Sources of Evidence for triangulation

11. Triangulated Sources of
Evidence
Interviews
Information from the institution’s website
Faculty
Pre-Service Students
Former Students working
in an online environment
Physical Artifacts
Examples from student projects
Education Department Chair
Optional, Self-administered
classroom observations
Documents
Course Catalogs
Syllabi
Textbooks
Course Materials

12. Data Analysis
Within Case
Yin’s (2011) Five Phase Process for Analysis
 Compile Data – organizing field notes and other coded data
collected for each case
 Dissemble Data – Develop categories and themes and
reorganize coded data.
 Reassembling Data - Creating display matrices or arrays
 Interpreting Data - Analysis
 Concluding – Making conclusions about the data and findings

13. Data Analysis:
Cross Case Analysis
 Assemble analyses from individual case studies
 Develop display matrices within each case study and across
cases (Miles & Huberman, 1994)
 Examine the emerging categories and themes based on the
theoretical proposition of the case study (Yin, 2009)
 Use Nvivo 10 database software to organize data collected
from transcribed interviews, self-administered observations,
documents, and website information

14. DataCollectionPlan

15. Goal:
Walk in Commencement August 16, 2014
 End of Spring Quarter: June 13, 2014
 Finalize Chapter 3
 Complete Data Collection and Analysis
 Work on Chapters 4 & 5 during break
 Summer Quarter
 First Draft of Chapters 4 & 5 submitted first week of
Summer Quarter
 Apply for graduation
 Complete Chapters 4 & 5
 Gain Mentor Approval for Chapter 3, 4, & 5
(Milestone 9)

16. Questions

17. References
Watson, J., Murin, A., Vashaw, L., Gemin, B., & Rapp, C. (2011). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning:
An annual review of policy and practice. Sammamish, WA: Evergreen Education Group
Project Tomorrow. (2011). Learning in the 21st century: 2011 trends update. Irvine, CA: Project
Retrieved from http://www.blackboard.com/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=f68cca85-a863-43c9-
9dbd-8ff4439b87b3
Tomorrow.
Picciano, A. G., & Seaman, J. (2009). K-12 online learning. Retrieved from
http://155.48.10.202/Academics/Documents/babson-survey-research-group/k-12-online-learning-
2008.pdf
Barbour, M. K., Siko, J., Gross, E., & Waddell, K. (2013). Virtually unprepared: Examining the preparation
of K-12 online teachers. In R. Hartshorne, T. Heafner, & T. Petty (Eds.), Teacher education programs
and online learning tools: Innovations in teacher preparation (pp. 60-81). Hershey, PA: Information
Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-1906-7.ch004
Christensen, T. K., & Osguthorpe, R. T. (2004). How do instructional-design practitioners make instructional-
strategy decisions? Performance Improvement Quarterly, 17(3), 45-65. doi:10.1111/j.1937-
8327.2004.tb00313.x
Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Instructional design. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Richey, R. C., Klein, J. D., & Tracey, M. W. (2011). The instructional design knowledge base. New York, NY:
Routledge
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research design and methods, (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage
Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.