INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN FOR BLENDED TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS: A CASE STUDY OF ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

Instructional Design in Distance Education is an innovative subject in itself. It is key to design course material. It generally refers to planning, development, delivery and evaluation of instructional system. Instructional Design is an applied field of study aiming at the application of descriptive research outcomes in regular instructional settings. This study is significant from point of view that only standardized self-instructional material is useful for the learner in distance education system. An evaluation of existing instructional design followed by Allama Iqbal Open University can lead to further improvement in instructional material and ultimately the quality of education can be ensured with production of high quality self-instructional material. This study is a source of knowledge for course coordinators, writers, editors, media personnel’s, tutors and researchers. The study aimed to evaluate the existing instructional design of blended teaching learning process followed by Allama Iqbal Open University and propose a new model of instructional design for Allama Iqbal Open University. The study was conducted on 120 faculty members of AIOU involved in instructional design process. Data was collected through five point likert scale and some open ended questions. Analysis was made through percentage and mean score. Study revealed that proper need assessment is not done before conceiving the outlines of courses. Courses did not contain sufficient activities, pictures and illustrations. Study recommended that proper need assessment may be conducted before writing any course. Multi-media support may be provided along with correspondence courses. Text material of courses should be enriched with illustrations, pictures, activities and self assessment questions.