Principles for Designing Web Searching Instruction

Web searching is a timely topic which importance is recognized by researchers, educators and instructional designers. This paper aims to guide these practitioners in developing instructional materials for learning to search the Web. It does so by articulating ten design principles that attend to the content and presentation of Web searching instruction. These principles convey a mixture of insights gleaned from instructional theory, empirical research, and many hours of classroom experience. Together, these design recommendations elucidate the key characteristics of effective Web searching instruction, explaining not only what the instructional materials look like, but also why they look the way they do.