Streamlined ID

A Practical Guide to Instructional Design

Miriam B. Larson, Barbara B. Lockee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351258708
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation inclusive

Streamlined ID presents a focused and generalizable approach to instructional design and development – one that addresses the needs of ID novices as well as practitioners in a variety of career environments. Highlighting essentials and big ideas, this guide advocates a streamlined approach to instructional design: producing instruction that is sustainable, optimized, appropriately redundant, and targeted at continuous improvement.

The book's enhanced version of the classic ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) emphasizes the iterative nature of design and the role of evaluation throughout the design/development process. It clearly lays out a systematic approach that emphasizes the use of research-based theories, while acknowledging the need to customize the process to accommodate a variety of pedagogical approaches.

This thoroughly revised second edition reflects recent advances and changes in the field, adds three new chapters, updates reference charts, job aids, and tips to support practitioners working in a variety of career environments, and speaks more clearly than ever to ID novices and graduate students.

CHAPTER 1

THE ITERATIVE DESIGN PROCESS

You are wired to learn, and that’s a good thing. Learning helps you adapt and survive in a world that is changing at an ever-increasing rate. In this era of information overload, the new currency is the ability to learn. As a result, learning is a key concern for:

• Businesses with changing products, services, competitors, and business conditions;
• Governments struggling to ensure an adequate quality of life for their citizenry, while adjusting to changing economic, political, and societal factors;
• Military organizations faced with global political changes, and new technologies and methods for securing populations;
• Institutions of higher learning tasked with anticipating and communicating an evolving knowledge base and meeting the changing needs of society, students, and future employers;
• Health care organizations challenged by changing health needs, demands for research, the application of new knowledge, and the implementation of new methods; and
• K-12 educators who must not only learn new knowledge and methods, but must also prepare future generations to learn and adapt in a constantly changing world.

Change characterizes every aspect of life in the 21st century. Consequently, lifelong learning is crucial to the survival of individuals and societies, resulting in an on-going, critical need for effective learning experiences and environments. The field of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) has evolved to address this critical need. Yet, instructional designers do more than just design. They also:

• Analyze problems to determine if instruction is a valid solution;
• Identify and limit the scope of instruction to ensure its relevance and ability to meet critical needs;
• Select appropriate media and delivery modes; and
• Develop, implement, and evaluate the success of instruction.

With such a broad range of responsibilities, it’s easy for instructional designers to become mired in complexity and discouraged from taking a creative approach. That’s why it’s important to know how to design effective instruction, and when and how to streamline the process.

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW …

• Where did the field of Instructional Design and Technology originate?
• What constitutes an effective learning experience?
• How do you determine if your instructional solutions were effective?
• What factors and processes are involved in designing instruction, and how can the process be streamlined?
• What do you need to remember and understand from this chapter?

The meaning of these important terms: learning, instruction, technology, design, grounded design, competency, asynchronous and synchronous learning, media comparison studies, stakeholders, formative and summative evaluation;

Distinctions between these concepts: systematic design and systemic design, hard skills and soft skills, and well-structured and ill-structured problems;

The different career environments where IDT is practiced;

The range of competencies expected of proficient instructional designers;

The principles of streamlined instructional design;

Different ways to classify learning environments; and

The importance of learning theory and research in IDT.

THE NATURE OF LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION

You learn in many ways: through your senses and experiences, by reflecting on those experiences, and by interacting with and watching others. You learn from everyday life. You learn intentionally and serendipitously; from both formal and informal instruction and experiences. Educators define learning in many ways but most would agree that it “occurs when experience causes a relatively permanent change in an individual’s knowledge or behaviour …” (Woolfolk, 2005, p. 190), and some would also emphasize the change in a learner’s connections to knowledge sources (their knowledge networks).

At a very basic level, instruction is “that which facilitates and supports learning” (Spector, 2001a, p. 309). Since educators differ on the definition of learning, it’s easy to see why they might also differ on the definition of instruction. The distinguished educator John Dewey (1938) defined instruction as a social activity with a key aim to prepare students to become more capable learners in the future.

Decades ago, IDT pioneers Robert Gagne and Leslie Briggs (1974) defined instruction as “a human undertaking whose purpose is to help people learn” (p. 3), explaining that it is accomplished through a set of events external to the learner, as well as through internal self-instruction. They therefore concluded that teacher-led instruction is just one form, since instruction could be also accomplished through events generated by physical objects and experiences. Bruner (1966) broadly defined instruction as “an attempt to shape intellectual growth” (p. 1), and Glaser (1976) described it as “the conditions that can be implemented to foster the acquisition of competence” (p. 1).

Reflecting a different theoretical perspective, Biggs (1999) characterized instruction as “a construction site on which students build on what they already know” (p. 72). More recently, Stephen Downes (2012) stated that Connectivist learning experiences “create an environment where people who are more advanced reasoners, thinkers, motivators, arguers, and educators can practice their skills in a public way by interacting with each other … , [and other] people can learn by watching and joining in” (p. 508). You can experiment with design methods to produce instruction that matches any and all of these definitions, and this book provides plenty of ideas for pursuing that goal.

JARGON ALERT!

What’s in a name? There are many different job titles used for those who design instruction and many diverse degree programs that produce practitioners. Knowing the range of titles and terms can be of value when you are searching for helpful research or career positions. Some applicable fields include: Instructional design and technology, instructional or educational technology, instructional systems design, learning sciences, technical communications, adult learning, performance technology, instructional psychology, online teaching and learning, e-learning, training and development, and open and distance education.

Job titles vary both by industry and sector, and you’ll even find inconsistencies within a particular field. The range of job titles includes: instructional technologist, instructional designer, eLearning developer, distance learning coordinator, librarian, media specialist, instructional systems specialist, learning architect, learning experience designer, and even learning product design engineer! If you’ve been perusing the job ads, you can probably add a few to the list.

EFFECTIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Defining learning and instruction is one thing, but how do you identify quality instruction? What characterizes instruction and learning experiences that are effective and memorable? Defining the criteria for quality instruction is an elusive goal, and the criteria vary based on many factors. Yet, a representative description of an effective learning experience would probably include characteristics like:

• Captures and maintains the learner’s attention;
• Communicates the learning objectives (the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be learned) and their relevance to the learner;
• Is matched to learner needs and characteristics;
• Provides opportunities for meaningful interaction with, and reflection on, the content;
• Emphasizes essential (need-to-know) knowledge and skills over nice-to-know information;
• Supports learners in organizing new knowledge and making connections to prior knowledge;
• Provides cues for recalling and recognizing important information;
• Provides meaningful activities that enable learners to practice applying the new knowledge and skills described in the learning objectives in authentic settings;
• Assesses the learner in a way that is consistent with the learning objectives and the learning activities used in the instruction;
• Provides an environment conducive to learning that is motivating, diverse, encourages self-directed learning, provides practice and feedback, and opportunities for collaboration and discussion; and
• Is flexible in nature to provide access and opportunities for all learners through multiple means of representation, multiple means of expression, and multiple means of engagement.

You can begin to develop your own criteria for quality learning experiences by reviewing the standards and lists of different organizations dedicated to supporting quality teaching and learning, including the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), Quality Matters, and EDUCAUSE. You can add to your list of quality indicators by reading instructional product reviews, analyzing award-winning instruction, and by viewing and evaluating a wide variety of courses and instructional products for face-to-face instruction, online instruction, and blended instructional deliveries. (A simple Internet search with the terms eLearning and examples will get you started.)

THE FIELD OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Imagine that you are attending your high school reunion. Having sent previous, numerous emails to correct the reunion coordinator’s records (explaining that you work as an instructional designer, not an industrial or interior designer), you arrive at the event to face yet another challenge. You meet an old friend and she asks you, “Now, can you tell me just what an instructional designer is? What do you actually do?” Would she understand and be able to accurately convey what you do to others? What if you called yourself an instructional technologist? Would your friend be able to distinguish your career from that of an information technologist at her company?

If you were ultimately unsuccessful in conveying the essence of your work, you could take comfort in knowing that you are not alone. Those working in the field of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) frequently remark that answering questions about what they do is difficult; even with their relatives! This is tr...