Background

Brenda Bannan
PhD, Pennsylvania State University
Currently is an Associate Professor at George Mason University
Research interests focus on the definition and delineation of methods related to the integration of design and research processes in educational technology design and development.
Has authored many influential articles and chapters in books about The Integrative Learning Design Framework.

Summary

The integrative learning design (ILD) framework was created by Brenda Bannan-Ritland to provide a comprehensive and flexible schema to help in establishing appropriate teaching and learning interventions (programs and environments) that support theory.

The ILD framework derives from several leading design communities: Instructional design, product design, usage-centred design, diffusion of innovations, and educational research methodologies. According to Bannan-Ritland(2003)what makes ILD different among other design frameworks is ILD's ability to,
“...move past isolated, individual efforts of design research by articulating a logically ordered, but dynamic frame that considers both field studies and experimental research methodologies in advancing the systemic impact of research across a variety of domains and social settings”(p. 21).
ILD is more than a hodgepodge of the best aspects of other' leading design communities, ILD accommodates an expansive background, which enables the ability to project design-based research with precise detail and effectiveness.

The ILD framework consists of several stages:

• Informed Exploration - This stage focuses on problem identification. Resembles ISD's need analysis, but has an additional research focus on audience characterization found from the usage-centred design.
• Enactment - This stage works on research of a system of design, and work on development of a prototype to receive informal feedback via the Web. The data received from unsolicited users helps latter on in redesign. This phase may last for a long period of time and involve multiple design cycles.
• Evaluation: Local Impact - The evaluation is a two part state, the first stage 'Local Impact' looks at how well the design intervention satisfies its clients.
• Evaluation: Broader Impact - The second stage of evaluations sees how the design can be taken and received to a broader target range. Basically taking a flavoured ice cream tailored to a specific audience, and now converting it to a vanilla version—bland but still tasty for everyone.

Example

LAO - Literary Access Online project
The LAO is a program developed by Brenda Bannan-Ritland that was designed to help teachers, tutors, and parents use web-based technology to foster collaborative reading processes with children.

Informed Exploration Phase
The team did a traditional literature review but they supplemented it with:

• Documentation on their target audience
• Analysis of stakeholder perceptions
• Benchmarking of related products

Informed by traditional views of experts, teachers and parents, but also with:

• Observations of children and facilitators
• Observations in both home and classroom environments

Enactment Phase
Rather than just jump from design to development, the LAO team first articulated a prototype on paper which allowed numerous groups to give input on the development process, including:

• Facilitators
• Teachers
• An expert panel
• Researchers

With solid feedback in place, they could then move to the more time intensive web-prototype development process with lower risk of time wasting changes during development.

Evaluation Phase: Local Impact
Once the prototype was in place, testing began which was able to not only provide data but refine both the theories and redesign efforts. Data gathering techniques included:

• Observations
• Interviews
• Parent and child journal entries
• Videotaped use of the system
• Pre and post online surveys

Because multiple methods of evaluation were used, it better informed the team of possible theory and system redesigns.

Evaluation Phase: Broader Impact
The LAO has not fully completed this phase of the ILDF, however, by continuing the evaluation page past the point of publishing findings and treating as a living project, a broader variety of evaluation methods in a larger number of environments and situations has already led to deeper insights into redesign and application of the LAO that would not have been found had the process ended with the publishing of the initial, "local impact" data.

Influence

Bannan-Ritland's work with the Integrative Learning Design Framework was extremely influential in the world of online learning. It's influence has spread in the following ways.

Online Learning: Concepts, Strategies, and Application
Bannan-Ritland team up with her George Mason University college, Dr. Nada Dabbaugh to write Online Learning: Concepts, Strategies, and Application. In this book all of chapter 4 is dedicated to the Integrative Learning Design Framework and is use in online learning. This book has impacted the education community by being reviewed by other universities such as the University of North Dakota and Western Michigan University.

Teaching:
The knowledge in Dabbagh's and Bannan-Ritland's book is now being taught in universities across the nation. The following is a short list of some universities and classes that are using/have used this book:

George Mason University – Advanced Instructional Design
Ashland University – Organization and Management of Educational Technology
University of Illinois – Learning Technologies
Colorado State University – Using Bibliographic Software for Research

Journal Articles:
This book has been referenced in scholarly journals discussing online learning.

Presentation
In August 2005, Dr. Dabbaugh gave a 3 day presentation and workshop to the United States Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration on Integrative Learning Design Framework for online learning in Beckley, WV.

Resources
Bannan-Ritland, B. (2003). The Role of Design in Research: The Integrative Learning Design Framework. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 21-24.

Photo linked from George Mason University faculty profiles: http://it.gse.gmu.edu/profiles/faculty/bbannan/