Previous: Management
Up: THE IRVINE-GENEVA PRODUCTION SYSTEM
Next: Implementation
Previous Page: Management
Next Page: Implementation

Design

This very important activity might be called pedagogical design, as all the initial decisions relative to learning are made at this stage. We follow in the Irvine-Geneva system a two stage top-down process, first doing overall design, and then defining all the details to assure effective learning.

• Overall Design

  In this stage a group of excellent teachers defines the course, typically in outline form. We begin by brainstorming to develop ideas, and end with a description of the content of each module to be developed.

• Detail Design

  In this critical stage all the details for each module are specified. Typically a group of four excellent teachers will work together full time for a week, defining about one to two hours of learning material. So for a course many such groups are needed. We seek the best interactive teachers.

  We give strong emphasis to interaction, and individualization. Necessary media are also defined at this stage. Everything that is to appear on the computer screen is specified at this time.

  The resulting design document, the script, may be on paper, or it may be entered directly into the computer. In either case it is quickly available as a visual document, on the computer. In our recent efforts we have emphasized an online script editor. All changes are also made online, so the script is a full documentation of the design.