Having read your copy of the handbook for IMM design I am surprised to observe that you have omitted aspects given some priority in the handbook. I refer of course to the educational design aspects of IMM--educational objectives, context in which the software is to be used, and how it is to be evaluated.
[quoting Phillips' Paper] Were your plans too ambitious? Did you bite off too much to chew? If you did it again, what would you change? Would you ever do it again? Did you have enough funding? Did it take longer than you thought? Did the project finish? Is it in use?
In your case example you have discussed the educational problem that led to the development of the Dosage software.
Q: How are the learning objectives to be included in this model of instructional design?
The literature on what constitutes good teaching and learning (Ramsden, 1992; Laurillard, 1993) indicates that students appreciate being provided with clear goals. Students want to know how their current work is related to the overall objectives of the course past, present, and future. In short, students appreciate knowing the relevance of their academic programs.
Are you satisfied with the result overall? Are you satisfied with the instructional design? Was there sufficient student interaction with the software? Are you happy with the way it looks?
One of the really difficult issues facing the design of IMM is how to challenge students' alternative frameworks. Research shows these are extremely resilient to change or transform to frameworks more congruent with academic knowledge.
Q: How is the IMM software to be embedded in the overall curriculum?
Q: What are the time allocations made for students to undertake it?
Q: Where is the time to come from (lectures, tutorials, practicals)???
Much IMM that has been developed is used as an extra set of resources for students, or suffers not only the not-made-here syndrome but the not-made-by-me syndrome also has an influence in how software is implemented in large departments. The question I would also ask ITForum members is:
Q: How many of you know of examples of software developed by an individual in a department, only to have the implementation blocked by other members of the same department.
For software to be transformative (change naive understandings, address misconceptions), the context in which it is used is paramount. Arguably, even what looks to be at first glance to be fairly simple and unsophisticated software may be used in ways by a tutor or lecturer (group work, tutorials, problem solving) which may become transformative.
Did parts of it turn out differently than you envisaged? Were there arguments about who said what, when? Did design flaws surface late in the project? Are there bugs in the program? How many? How much effort did it take to get rid of them?
Having just attended the Apple University Consortium (AUC) Conference in Brisbane, my next question is clearly one that is not being addressed widely by IMM developers.
Q: How is the software to be evaluated?
Q: Is the evaluation process a fundamental component of the IMM project with, formative and summative evaluations performed as appropriate, or is it merely an afterthought dependent upon budget?
At AUC, a number of projects were presented which had no evaluation processes as part of the project design. One of these demonstrated was near to pressing onto a CD without yet being subject to any formal evaluation whatsoever, while others had minimal evaluation. That is, if there is enough money, then let's do some evaluation.
Formative evaluation serves the purpose of informing the IMM design team on potential difficulties with screen design, navigational issues, the content and composition of the language in the text, and efficacy of the animations and graphics, while summative evaluation may indicate to the holders of the purse strings and skeptics that the software does accomplish its educational objectives.
While I haven't followed the requested format, the educational issues of IMM design are of vital importance and I hope this stimulates debate of these issues.