An Object-Oriented Approach
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
INSTRUCTIONAL WEB SITES DESIGN: AN OBJECT-ORIENTED APPROACH. A Dissertation Presented by THOMAS ZSCHOCKE Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 2002 Center for International Education Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration School of Education © Copyright by Thomas Zschocke 2002 All Rights Reserved INSTRUCTIONAL WEB SITES DESIGN: AN OBJECT-ORIENTED APPROACH. A Dissertation Presented by THOMAS ZSCHOCKE Approved as to style and content by: Robert J. Miltz, Chair George E. Forman, Member Miguel Romero, Member D. Nico Spinelli, Member Bailey W. Jackson, Dean School of Education ABSTRACT INSTRUCTIONAL WEB SITES DESIGN: AN OBJECT-ORIENTED APPROACH. MAY 2002 THOMAS ZSCHOCKE, DIPLOM-SOZIALPÄDAGOGE, UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES COLOGNE, GERMANY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE, GERMANY Ed.D. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Robert F. Miltz The great variety of authoring activities involved in the development of Web- based learning environments requires a more comprehensive integration of principles and strategies not only from instructional design, but also from other disciplines such as human-computer interaction and software engineering. The present dissertation addresses this issue by proposing an object-oriented instructional design (OOID) model based on Tennyson's fourth generation instructional systems development (ISD4) model. It incorporates object-oriented analysis and design methods from human-computer interaction (HCI) and software engineering into a single framework for Internet use in education. Introducing object orientation into the instructional design of distributed hypermedia learning environments allows for an enhanced utilization of so-called learning objects that can be used, re-used or referenced during technology-mediated instruction. In addition, by applying the Unified Modeling Language (UML), a iv modeling notation tool is available to instructional designers that helps them to visually communicate design specifications using a widely established standard. This developmental research study is based on an extensive document analysis of resources from a variety of disciplines involved in the instructional Web site development process. The author identifies a set of authoring activities from ISD as well as HCI and software engineering that play a major role in instructional Web sites development. These authoring activities have been specified based on the object-oriented paradigm and visualized using UML. The author provides an example from a higher education setting about how the OOID model can be implemented in the design of Web-based instruction. This study contributes to the ongoing research into the design of Web-based instruction. The results will be of interest to educators, instructional designers, and other e-learning specialists who want to implement learning objects and improve their development of Web-based instruction by incorporating object orientation as the primary development paradigm and UML as the principle modeling notation tool. This research also provides suggestions on how to develop instructional Web sites for international use. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................IV LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ XI LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. XII CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: LEARNING OBJECTS..................................................... 1 1. Basic assumptions......................................................................................... 1 2. Educational software engineering ............................................................... 11 3. Knowledge objects...................................................................................... 13 4. Examples of learning object strategies ........................................................ 18 5. Learning objects ......................................................................................... 25 6. Instructional technology and learning......................................................... 36 7. Research outline......................................................................................... 43 II. OBJECT ORIENTATION ............................................................................. 46 1. Background................................................................................................ 46 2. The software crisis...................................................................................... 47 3. Historical review ........................................................................................ 50 4. Object-oriented concepts and elements....................................................... 52 4.1 Fundamental concepts......................................................................... 54 4.1.1 Objects ....................................................................................... 54 4.1.2 Classes........................................................................................ 57 4.1.3 Attributes ................................................................................... 59 4.1.4 Methods ..................................................................................... 59 4.2 Major elements ................................................................................... 61 4.2.1 Abstraction................................................................................. 61 4.2.2 Inheritance hierarchy .................................................................. 63 4.2.3 Encapsulation............................................................................. 66 4.2.4 Modularity ................................................................................. 66 vi 4.3 Minor elements................................................................................... 67 4.3.1 Typing........................................................................................ 67 4.3.2 Concurrency............................................................................... 68 4.3.3 Persistence .................................................................................. 69 5. The object-oriented development process ................................................... 69 5.1 Basic characteristics ............................................................................ 69 5.2 Life-cycle models................................................................................. 72 5.3 Phases of the object-oriented life cycle ................................................ 76 5.3.1 Object-oriented analysis ............................................................. 77 5.3.2 Object-oriented design................................................................ 79 5.3.3 Object-oriented programming .................................................... 80 5.3.4 Object-oriented testing ............................................................... 82 6. The Unified Modeling Language (UML)..................................................... 83 6.1 Overview ............................................................................................ 83 6.2 The fundamentals of UML .................................................................. 88 6.2.1 Use case diagram ........................................................................ 90 6.2.2 Class diagram ............................................................................. 91 6.2.3 Behavioral diagrams ................................................................... 92 6.2.4 Implementation diagrams ........................................................... 93 6.2.5 Model management .................................................................... 93 III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................... 95 1. Characteristics of a model .......................................................................... 95 2. Developmental research............................................................................ 100 3. A task analysis of instructional design ...................................................... 104 3.1 Knowledge classification for task analysis ......................................... 105 3.2 Task analysis in human-computer interaction ................................... 112 3.3 Task analysis in object-oriented development ................................... 120 3.4 Task analysis process ........................................................................ 125 4. Knowledge elicitation and task analysis techniques .................................. 127 4.1 CommonKADS................................................................................. 128 4.1.1 The CommonKADS model suite............................................... 130 4.1.2 Knowledge-engineering methodology ....................................... 135 4.1.3 Application of CommonKADS in research study ...................... 136 vii 4.2 Knowledge elicitation techniques ...................................................... 137 4.2.1 Document analysis.................................................................... 138 4.2.2 Facet analysis............................................................................ 140 4.3 Additional