Two interesting principles

Principle:

1.1.4 Audience analysis should determine the learner's personal characteristics, intellectual skills, subject knowledge level, and the purpose of taking the course.

This is, in my opinion the greatest principle listed on the website. If the instructor does not know who they are administering the training to, it can be disastrous. For example, my mother is 55 years old and knows very little about computers as compared to the average teenager. However, her intellectual skills and purpose of taking the course would be her strong points. So the responsibility of the trainer would be to keep the interactive software usage to a minimum and include a lot of reading material and conceptual thinking exercises that will keep her at the computer despite her lack of experience with modern software. By contrast, the average teenager would not do a lot of reading, so the course would be designed with lots of pictures and interactive software applications to keep the learner engaged. The same things can be taught to both but the delivery would be absolutely different. I probably could design a course that gives the learner an option to read or view interactive videos and clips according to what motivates them and how deeply they think about subject matter.

Principle:
4.1.3 The instructor should prepare students for taking the responsibility of learning in an online course.

I had never taken an online based course until I started grad school in 2009. I had always been an independent learner but I was used to coming to class and the teacher telling me what to do by syllabus or in class note taking. When I began to move from being teacher dependant to pacing my own learning and disciplining myself to do online course modules and classes, it was a wild experience. Students must be taught how to navigate online and have a good idea of how many resources the teacher had provided for them outside of the classroom setting. The teacher also has the responsibility of making sure the course content is posted at the right time and in the right place. The learning management system must be available 24 hours a day and be accessible to all types of students.