Key Instructional Design Elements for Distance Education

Distance education professionals need to play multiple roles, one of which is instructional designer (Thach, Murphy, & Korhonen, 1994). However, there is little literature that reflects the instructor's views on the application of the different types of design elements in distance education courses (Koszalka & Bianco, 2001). The authors argue that distance education instructors need to understand and apply some important instructional design elements in order to exert a successful role of an instructional designer. This article reviews the most recent literature pertaining to designing instruction in distance education, identifies some key instructional design elements for teaching at a distance, and provides some suggestions on their application in the distance teaching process.