Research-Based Guidelines for Computer-Based Instruction Development

The current generation of authoring systems provides tools for nonprogrammers to create software. This article provides guidelines for educators who wish to design custom software to meet either their own or other's needs. Many instructional design theories and related computer-based empirical research findings are merged into a prescription for the most important facet of courseware development-instructional design. The instructional design process, based on Gagne's nine events of learning, is broken into four domains: (a) instructional set, (b) teaching strategies, (c) student performance, and (d) issues unique to computer-based instruction.