LTGR Ep. #13 - Defining Instructional Design
Instructional Design is a popular phrase but few really understand what it is. In this show, Dan and Susan tackle the definition and ask why we should bother with instructional design.
Download MP3 File
Show notes:
Why bother? Instructional Design is a popular phrase but few really understand what it is.
Dan uses one word: intentionality. The long version: People who are thinking concretely wand with intention about how they are creating learning experiences for an audience, and using their assumptions about how people learn.
Susan offers: The marriage of learning theory to instructional strategies that creates an environment conducive to a particular outcome.
Dan thinks everyone has a theory about how people learn, but not many articulate it. And if you don’t know why you created the learning experience the way you did, you can’t change or measure it.
Context – Who is the audience? What do they know? What are the needs? Curricular – How long will it be? What do I assume about how they’ll learn Evaluation – Did the things I plan for work?
Sorting through whether this happens at a macro level or micro level. K12 do it better at the micro level with lesson planning. Higher education looks at design in both. Corporate planners think in terms of seat time.
Martin Ryder’s site is a rich resource for exploring more models.
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html
The common elements (the ADDIE model) include:
- Audience; who is the learner?
- Design; objectives, scope and sequence, pen to paper
- Development; getting the material into a usable form
- Implement; try it out
- Evaluate; reference to Kirkpatrick’s
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/k4levels/index.htm
In higher education with accreditation and the boom in portfolios, evaluation has become more important.
Rapid Prototyping: create a small model of what people will experience and ask the content experts for feedback. Good for self-paced learning and the corporate world.
We’d like to hear additional definitions from those working in the field, and particularly if your title is instructional designer, we want to know if your job responsibilities match your definition!
February 5th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Hi Susan and Dan!
Great episode, as always.
This page has links to three essays by Jason McDonald about instructional design that you will find interesting. http://cid.lib.byu.edu/
I recently found a Flash presentation from University of Florida that I think really captures what an instructional designer does these days to produce an online course. See http://citt.ufl.edu/Marcela/ADDIE_Online/ADDIE-online.swf
One thing that comes across in the Florida presentation is that their instructional designers have a lot of skills that a typical instructor does not have - needs analysis, project management, accessible and usable content creation, etc.
I think that Instructional Design is a lot like Interior Design (my mom was an interior designer while I was growing up). Everyone can do it, but not everyone can do it well. I remember my first attempts at teaching (when I was about 20 years old in an EFL classroom in Taiwan with no previous training) and my first attempts at decorating (when I was a freshman in college, living away from my parents for the first time). Needless to say, both attempts were not very successful! Hopefully, with some experience and training, I have become better at both.
Keep up the good work,
Michael
February 6th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Wonderful resources, Michael!
I’m thinking about the interior design metaphor. If I want my instructional “house” to look like it came from a television set, then I probably need to find a professional to help me because even with all the self-help channels, I’m not there, yet. Is that realistic for most faculty at small schools with small budgets? Where can I find inexpensive help?
Still thinking … you’ve got me started!
Susan
May 26th, 2007 at 11:30 am
As a graduate student currently working on an ADDIE project, I was pleased to come across your blog. You have given me some ideas and better understanding to help me along with this project. Thanks!
May 26th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
[…] Blog #2 I just visited the LearningTimes Green Room where the topic was defining instructional design. As luck would have it, the authors presented information on the ADDIE model. I found it especially helpful in my efforts to understand the model as I continue to work on my own ADDIE project. The MP3 download was helpful in filling in any gaps that the blog had left. Especially helpful was the use of terms like “intentionality” from Dan and the choice of “marriage” from Susan to tie more meaning to instructional design. […]