3. BATES, Actions Model
• Bates Product-Oriented Design by Tony Bates
University of Massachusetts BostonSpring 2009
4. Overview of Bates Model
• In 1995, Tony Bates presented a model for
developing open and distance learning. Bates
realized digital communications were going to be
used more frequently for distance education. Early in
his research, he acknowledged the fact that there are
inherent limitations of distance education. Bates
created a framework for selecting learning
technologies which is still relevant today. The
organizing framework that Bates proposed is called
ACTIONS, which stands for access, cost, teaching and
learning implications, interaction, organizational
issues, novelty and speed.
5. • Bates's model has what he calls a front-end
system design. A front-end system design has four
phases: course outline development, selection of
media, development/production of materials, and
course delivery. Within each phase, Bates has
properly identified the team roles and the actions or
issues to be addressed. One of the reasons Bates
may have felt compelled to create an additional
model to ADDIE is because ADDIE has been widely
and often criticized for being too systematic. ADDIE is
often said to be too linear, too constraining, and
even too time-consuming to implement with regards
to e-learning. While Bates may have been making an
attempt to simplify ADDIE, he cautions course design
may take as much as two years.
6. • One of his main concerns, prompting the
development of ACTIONS, was the way face to face
course material was adapted for web or other
distance learning approaches. Bates feels the
traditional remote instructor concept is nothing
more than face-to-face instruction without direct
interaction.
Additionally, in his 1995 book, Technology: Open
Learning and Distance Education, Bates details cost
analysis when designing distance or e-learning
solutions. If his design and evaluation methods are
followed, one would easily be able to determine the
effect each dollar spent on this e-learning solution
has had on a given student.
8. • The following diagram outlines the four main
focus areas of the Bates model. The left hand
column under each header outlines the types
of roles that are involved in each phase, while
the right hand side outlines the actions that
should be addressed in each phase.
9. 1 Course Outline
Developed
2 Selection of Media
1Project
Manager
2Subject
Matter
Expert
3Instructiona
l Designers
1Target
Group
Identified
2Place in
curriculum
identified
3Content
Agreed
4Teaching
Approach
1Project
Manager
2Subject
Matter
Expert
3Instructiona
l Designers
4Media
Specialist
1Access
2Costs
3Teaching
Functions
4Interaction
s
User/friend
5Organizati
onal Issues
6Novelty
10. 3
Development/Productio
n of Materials
4 Course Delivery
1Project
Manager
2Subject
Matter Expert
3Instructional
Designers
4Media
Specialist
5Senior Tutor
6Operations
1Copyrig
ht
Clearanc
e
2Printing
34 A/V
Productio
n
5Comput
er Based
1Project
Manager
2Subject
Matter
Expert
3Instructional
4Designers
5Tutors
6Operations
Manager
1Warehou
se
2Packagin
g
3Mailing
4Tutoring
5Library
Services
6Student
11. • Below is an overview of the main components of ACTIONS:
Access: how accessible is a particular technology for learners?
How flexible is it for a particular target group?
Costs: what is the cost structure of each technology? What is
the unit cost per student?
Teaching and learning: what kinds of learning are needed?
What instructional approaches will best meet these needs?
What are the best technologies for supporting this teaching
and learning?
Interactivity and user-friendliness: what kind of interaction
does this technology enable? How easy is it to use?
Organizational issues: what are the organizational
requirements, and the barriers to be removed, before this
technology can be used successfully? What changes in
organization need to be made?
Novelty: how new is this technology?
Speed: how quickly can courses be mounted with this
technology? How quickly can materials be changed?
12. Gentry, IPDM Model
• Castelle G. Gentry created the Instructional
Project Development and Management (IPDM)
model in 1994. The main focus of the model is to pay
attention to what needs to occur as well as how it
needs to occur in an instructional design project.
Gentry intended the model to be used by graduate
students, those that were developing various forms
of instruction, and teachers. The model focuses on
the importance of sharing of information between
the development and supporting components of
learning. Communication is key in the model.
14. • The IPDM Model
• The Instructional Project Development and
Management (IPDM) model presented by Gentry
(1994) is allows designers to fully implement a
complete instructional unit. Pictured in Figure 1, the
14 circles in the IPDM (9+5) model represent the
necessary components. To complete each
component, the use of a particular method is used.
These varying methods are called techniques.
Typically, several different techniques exist for each
component. It is left to the designer to select the
technique that best suits the project.
15. • The components are divided into two groups. One is for developing
• and the other for supporting the project. The development group
has to do with explicitly implementing instructional material. The
supporting group has to due with the management of
implementing the material. There is a line of communication
between the two groups. This communication is important to the
model since support for the project often affects 4 development.
Development is also likely to have an impact on the support
• components. Each group in the IPDM intentionally has a circular
shape. This is to emphasize that the model is not linear. The starting
place is usually the Needs Analysis phase, and the designer
continues to work clockwise around the circle. However since most
components are interrelated, it is quite normal to skip from
component to component as the design evolves.
17. • The arrows between the components
represent how each component
• shares information with one another by
sending and receiving information.
• Many models do not indicate how one
component affects another. By
• illustrating arrows in and out of each module,
this interrelationship is emphasized.