Functional Relevance and Online Instructional Design

Abstract

Online instruction will more likely be effective if it fits with, and is perceived by, students as being functionally relevant for their education, work, or other personal contexts. Existing practice may emphasize an ad hoc approach to online design by being pragmatic and somewhat unsystematic. It is proposed that using a functional relevance perspective, as described in this chapter, is more likely to have designers and online learners attain a greater advantage in using the capacity of the Internet to support teaching and learning. This chapter introduces the concept of functional relevance and identifies some of the underlying theories. Discussions are made on how the concept of functional relevance can be used as a conceptual framework to identify and to drive decision-making processes that occur during the design and development of instruction.