Object-oriented Instructional Design and Applications to the Web

Abstract

In 1945 Vannevar Bush created a theoretical machine that constructs and stores knowledge as trailsthrough information. This presages Web-based learning and points out that authoring and deliveryenvironments should be based on information and knowledge constructs. Unfortunately, current Web-basedlearning environments are based on the manipulation of data. This approach links data rather than ideas, forcesauthors to think about form rather than pedagogic substance, and makes it almost impossible to extend thefunctionality of commercially available learning environments in new and creative ways.An information-based approach can be realized using the object-oriented paradigm applied first toinstructional design and then to the software built to support it. This note summarizes our work in thisdirection. We treat the problem of hyperlinks with conclusions similar to those of Hermann Maurer'sHyperwave group and illustrate how the object-oriented approach can add extensibility to on-line learningenvironments.