Framework for asynchronous discussion design decisions: applied principles from special issue authors

After a discussion of the state of both misaligned and informative online and distance education research, the authors in this special issue (hereafter called the collective) extract evidence-based principles about strategies that work. Both are addressed in this article. First, their criticisms centered on the value of comparative research. Those discussions are compared to debates by the International Board of Standards for Training Performance and Instruction (ibstpi). Second, to summarize and synthesize the evidence-based principles on interactions of online distance learners with content, peers and instructors, I offer a framework for planning, developing, and executing online distance education learning activities. The guidelines from the collective are organized within this framework for making asynchronous discussion design decisions. Finally, a redesign of an existing online distance education course exemplifies how these evidence based principles may be applied in a real example.