Activity 3: How Did Your Sites Deal with Local Context?
Revisit the model resources you began to document in Session 1. This time, you'll be trying to understand the designer's assumptions about the distance learner's local context. Answer Questions 7 through 11 on the 20 Questions sheet:

7. Does the designer seem to assume anything about where learners will be when they interact with the resource? At home? At work? At school?

8. What are the technology requirements that learners must meet to use the resource? Are these requirements stated explicitly? Or do you infer them from the content of the site? What support is provided for learners with respect to these technology requirements?

9. Do you see anything else in the design that relates to features or constraints learners might face in their local environments?

10. Does the designer assume anything about the learning styles or abilities of typical users?

11. Does the designer anticipate differences among learners in terms of learning styles or abilities? How does the designer accomodate such differences?

Activity 4: Your Own Project Begins
By now, you should be ready to make some preliminary choices about your own project's design. Consider this work tentative!

1. Write up a page or two, briefly answering each of the following questions. Save these notes with your 20 Questions sheets:
   1. Name and briefly describe the content, skills or subject(s) your resource will address.
   2. Who are the learners you want to design for?
   3. Where are they likely to be when they use your resource?
   4. What assumptions will you make about the technology they have, and about their comfort with that technology?
   5. What server will host your resource? Does this server support cgi scripting? (Tip: send email to your server administrator and ask what you need to know to implement any special capabilities your server has.)

2. Look over your answers. To each one, try to add one or two sentences pointing out its implications for instructional design. Keep it brief, but do try to be concrete and specific. You will revise your statements as your thinking changes and deepens. But you've got to get started somewhere. The goal here is to begin making notes to yourself about things you need to keep in mind.

   For example:

   • If your learners are likely to be novice web users, remind yourself to build in (or provide links to) some technical instruction as well as content instruction.
   • If your learners are in elementary school, how do you picture their teachers using your resource in the classroom setting?
   • If your learners will interact with your resource independently, what might you do to provide direction and support?