Abstract
This paper focuses on the application of software engineering practices to the development of instructional web sites. The development of a web site, to support a distance or campus-based online course, is a very complex process that involves many instructional and technical aspects, including the instructional purpose of the course, its content, its structure, its interface, and its teaching–learning activities. The use of a method is essential for dealing with the complexity of this process. We describe, in this paper, a software engineering method that helps course designers and teachers to develop high quality instructional web sites. The design of the method was based on the integration of well-known principles, concepts and process models borrowed from instructional design, method engineering, and object-oriented software engineering. The method addresses the managerial processes required to plan, organize, and control the project, as well as the instructional and technical activities involved in the development of high quality course sites.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrios, J. (2001) Une Méthode pour la Définition de l'Impact Organisationnel du Changement. PhD thesis. University of Paris I.
Boling, E. and Frick, T. W. (1997) Holistic rapid prototyping for web design: Early usability testing is essential. In Web-Based Instruction, B. H. Khan (ed). Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, pp. 319–328.
Booch, G., Jacobson, I., and Rumbaugh, J. (1998) The Unified Modeling Language User Guide. Addison-Wesley, Reading.
Brinkkemper, S. (1996) Method engineering: Engineering of information systems development methods and tools. Information and Software Technology, 38, 275–280.
Bruegge, B. and Dutoit, A. H. (2000) Object-Oriented Software Engineering. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
Conallen, J. (2000) Building Web Applications with UML. Addison-Wesley, Reading.
Dean, R., Biner, P., and Coenen, M. (1996) Distance education effectiveness: A system approach to assessing the effectiveness of distance education. Education at Distance Journal, 10(3), J1–J4.
Dick, W. and Carey, L. (1990) The Systematic Design of Instruction (Third edition). Scott, Foresman & Co, Glenview.
Furnell, S. M., Evans, M. P., Phippen, A. D., and Abu-Rgheff, M. N. (1999) Online distance learning: Expectations, requirements and barriers. The Virtual University Journal, 2, 34–48.
Hall, R. H. (1999) Instructional web site design principles: A literature review and synthesis. The Virtual University Journal, 2, 1–12.
Harasim, L. (1999) A framework for online learning: The virtual-U. IEEE Computer, 32(9), 44–49.
Ince, D., Sharp, H., and Woodman, M. (1993) Introduction to Software Project Management and Quality Assurance. McGraw-Hill, London.
Jarke, M. (1990) DAIDA: Conceptual modeling and knowledge based support of information systems development process. Technique et Science Informatiques, 9(2), 122–133.
Khan, B. H. (1997) Web-Based Instruction. Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs.
Lee, W. L. and Owens, D. L. (2000) Multimedia-Based Instructional Design. Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer, San Francisco.
Lynch, P. J. and Horton, S. (1999) Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Nielsen, J. (1995) Ten Usability Heuristics. [On-line] http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
McCormack, C. and Jones, D. (1998) Building a Web-Based Education System. Wiley, New York.
Montilva, J. A. (2000) The watch process model for developing business software in small and mid-size organizations. In Proceedings of the IV World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics. Edited by the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics. Orlando, July, Vol. XII. pp. 263–268.
Moore, M. G. (1997) The study guide: Foundation of the course. Editorial note. The American Journal of Distance Education, 11(2), 1–2.
Moore, M. G. and Kearsley, G. (1996) Distance Education: A Systems View. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont.
O'sullivan, M. F. (1999) Worlds within which we teach: Issues for designing world wide web course material. Technical Communication Quarterly, 8(1), 61–72.
Pallof, R. M. and Pratt, K. (1999) Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Pernici, B. and Casati, F. (1997) The design of distance education applications based on the world wide web. In Web-Based Instruction, B. H. Khan (ed). Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, pp. 245–254.
Pfleeger, S. L. (1998) Software Engineering: Theory and Practice. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
Schweizer, H. (1999) Designing and Teaching an On-Line Course. Allyn & Bacon, Boston.
TeleEducation NB (2001) Course Management Systems (CMS). [On-line] http://cite.telecampus.com/LMS/ cms.html
Welsh, T. M. (1997) An event-oriented design model for web-based instruction. In Web-Based Instruction, B. H. Khan (ed). Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, pp. 159–165.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Montilva, J.A., Sandia, B. & Barrios, J. Developing Instructional Web Sites – A Software Engineering Approach. Education and Information Technologies 7, 201–224 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020855429304
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020855429304