| This study explored the nature and function of learner participation in instructional design for online learning in Equestrian Studies. The goals of this study were to transform a local culture of learning from a traditional face-to-face environment to one that embraced online learning while refining an ID model that could be used in multiple contexts. The study sought to discover the nature, role, and function of learner involvement in ID for online learning; how and to what extent learner participation in ID for online learning could provide contextual information that contributed to the design of a powerful, virtual learning environment; and how and to what extent learner participation in ID for online learning could contribute to the refinement of an ID model that might be used in multiple contexts. A qualitative method of inquiry, critical design ethnography (CDE), was used in this study. CDE is a form of participatory design work that integrates the attributes of critical ethnography, participatory action research, and participatory ID. Study findings revealed 3 main themes; (a) learner roles, (b) learner empowerment, and (c) model features. Theme 1 emerged to explain roles played by participants in a community of design, interface design, and content design. Theme 2 developed as a result of the finding that learner empowerment derived from the creation of a contextual online learning environment. Theme 3 emerged to identify model features that highlighted a case typology for multiple contexts, a schedule of recursive reflections, and a model of ID that was made transparent to learner/participants. This study focused on the nature and function of learner participation in ID for online learning within a unique local context; the upper level elective course offering EQS 304: Theories of Equine Behavior and Training. Therefore, findings served to raise many questions that can only be answered through further research in other contexts. |
