Abstract

This paper focuses on the application of good 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 wellknown principles, concepts and process models borrowed from instructional design and objectoriented 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. Key words: Instructional Web Sites, Course Sites, Web-based Study Guides, Web-based Instruction, Distance Education.

This article was published in the magazine: Education and Information Technologies.
Vol 7, Nº 3
pp 201 - 224
ISNN 1360-2357