Designing for the Affective Domain: The Design Document, Page 2

Lesson Objective

Given a design document, evaluate whether or not the strategies and methods within the document meet the affective needs of the particular course.

Interim Objectives

Identify and describe the different elements of a design document.
Explain how each design document element can account for the affective domain.
Compare the objectives of a course to that course's design document.
Evaluate design document examples for their treatment of affective elements.

Introduction and Lesson Organizer

Much of what we teach has some form of affective element associated with it. In fact, much of what we know is represented in the form of attitudes. According to Kamradt & Kamradt, "An attitude is a psychophysical structure that stores related bits of affective, cognitive, and psychomotor learning in a manner that allows intantaneous, subconscious access by its owner." If you look at your subject matter in this way, you will start to notice the affective elements and realize the need to design for them. The design document is very important. It allows you to get your ideas on paper and polish them before you invest any time and money on building or creating a course. By finalizing your design on paper in the design document, you reduce the risk of costly mistakes or revisions as you develop your material. This is especially true in eLearning.

In this lesson we will look at the interim objectives one by one. This will help you meet the overall lesson objective. Before you go on to the first objective on design document elements, look at a preliminary version of the design document our team used to develop the affective domain lessons. Think about what you see and what you don't.

Click next to learn more about the different elements in a design document.