| When students at the secondary school level miss school for any length of time due to illness or other temporary physical disability, they often have much work to complete upon their return. It can be very difficult for the students to complete this work; so, many school districts provide services for homebound students. Given the rigor of upper secondary school level courses, it is rare to find a person who is qualified to provide appropriate instruction in multiple subjects to homebound students. Few studies address the concerns of homebound students; but the few that do, identify a lack of appropriate academic instruction and a feeling of social isolation for homebound students. Categorized as distance education, the current homebound system is similar to the correspondence course model and the technology utilized is clearly outdated. Computer-based technology, including e-mail, the Internet, and desktop video-conferencing, is widely used to provide distance education in many contexts and it is reasonable to assume that some of these same technologies could deliver appropriate instruction to homebound students at the secondary school level. Through the development research approach, this study identifies computer-based technologies that can be used to provide appropriate instruction to homebound secondary school students by considering the academic and social activities first. A standard approach to instructional technology often considers the technology first, followed by the activities. Principal features of an instructional module and an operational prototype incorporating distance education technologies to deliver appropriate instruction are identified. It is reasonable to make a distinction among reactive, proactive, and transactive designs as related to the control of the learner over both academic and social interactions. The designs are additive in nature whereby a transactive resolution includes all the functionality of reactive and proactive resolutions. |
