What is Instructional Design?

Key Concepts:

• Instructional Design: Aligning learning objectives, learning activities, and assessment.
• Learning Objectives: Clear, concise, and specific statements of what learners will be able to do.
• Learning-Centered Perspective: Focusing on what students will learn rather than what the instructor will teach.
• Alignment: Ensuring that learning objectives, activities, and assessments are all in support of each other.
• Iterative Process: Recognizing that instructional design is not a linear process and requires revisiting and revising different stages.

1. Definition and Historical Context of Instructional Design

• Instructional design is crucial for developing quality open and distance learning materials.
• It involves aligning learning objectives with learning activities and assessments.
• Its origins trace back to World War II with the development of training materials for the American military.
• Despite academic theorizing, instructional design is fundamentally common sense for educators.

2. Core Principles: Alignment and Learning-Centered Perspective

• Instructional design emphasizes alignment between learning objectives, activities, and assessments.
• Teaching involves more than transmitting content; learning involves more than memorizing facts.
• Learning is about developing understanding and integrating content into one's mental framework.
• Instructional design shifts the focus from a content-centered perspective (what to teach) to a learning-centered perspective (what students should learn or be able to do).

3. Formulating Effective Learning Objectives

• Formulating good learning outcomes is key to good instructional design.
• Writing learning objectives should be clear, concise, and specific, stating what the learner will be able to do.
• Learning objectives should cover an appropriate range of learning levels, including higher-level skills when appropriate.
• Well-developed learning objectives guide content selection and activity design.

4. The Instructional Design Process

• The fundamental process involves:
  • Specifying learning objectives.
  • Selecting content.
  • Developing learning activities.
  • Designing assessment activities.
• All components should be aligned and contribute to achieving the learning objectives.

5. Technology Integration

• Instructional design helps in making appropriate media and technology choices.
• Technology should be chosen carefully to avoid distracting or confusing learners.
• Technology selection should align with learning activities and objectives, ensuring a clear rationale for its use.

6. Iterative Nature of Instructional Design

• Instructional design is not a lockstep, linear process.
• It often requires cycling back to revise objectives, content, or activities based on insights gained during development.
• For example, assessment development might reveal gaps in content, necessitating revisions to both content and objectives.

7. Shift in Perspective

• Instructional design represents a shift from a teaching and content perspective to a learning and learner perspective.

8. Synthesis/Conclusion

Instructional design is a systematic and iterative process focused on aligning learning objectives, activities, and assessments to create effective learning experiences. It emphasizes a learner-centered approach, ensuring that all elements of a course or training program contribute to specific, measurable learning outcomes. While the mechanics can be complex, the underlying principles are rooted in common sense and a commitment to facilitating meaningful learning.