ABSTRACT

When designing online learning environments, action researchers, like all other designers, call on prior knowledge and experience.They bring to bear previous solutions and strategies they have used, have experienced or have seen that fit the particular constraints of the current situation (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992). These previous experiences play a central role in specifying the structure, contents and delivery strategies for the new environment.Therefore, if the pedagogical component of the design is not consciously considered and planned, the action researcher tends to incorporate his/her own model of learning into the environment, which may not be appropriate or adequate for the learning activities planned. Furthermore, the lack of an overall pedagogical strategy implies a lack of a consistent and adequate educational approach throughout the whole online learning environment (Nunes, 1999).