Instructional Design Process
Instructional Design, Educational Strategies, and Hybrid Instruction
The purpose of this course is to provide faculty an opportunity to design a lesson applying the instructional design process to the development of hybrid courses. Restructuring your course as a hybrid is more than just shifting some of your content to the web or creating a video to augment your classroom instruction. It is identifying learning outcomes and determining how best to achieve these outcomes given the range of technical tools and educational strategies available. By following the instructional design process, you will be able to analyze your content with a focus on learner outcomes.
Instructional design is a process that we follow when we develop a course. This process is typically divided into these stages:
- Analysis
- Design
- Develop
- Implement
- Evaluate
| Stage | Purpose | Considerations |
| Analysis | Determine the need, the content, the context (learning environment), and the learner characteristics that will influence the course. |
Why are you developing or revising a course or lesson? What content should be included in this course? What content are prerequisites? How does this fit into a curriculum or larger body of knowledge? Are you limited in any way in how you deliver the course? What factors of the learning environment will impact the course? What learner characteristics should you consider when you design the course? |
| Design | Create an instructional design document that includes objectives, activities, feedback, assessment, and Instruction. |
Are your objectives, activities, feedback, assessment, and instruction aligned with the desired course outcomes? How does your orientation to educational theory shape the design of the course? |
| Develop | Based on the design document, create the materials
for the course.
Determine the optimal delivery method(s) for the course. |
Are there existing materials available that match your objectives? If so, use them. What course content is best delivered in the classroom, the web, video, print, discussion, web casting etc. or through multiple representational modes? How can materials be developed so that they are accessible and match the characteristics of your learners? |
| Implement | Present the course to the students. |
What must you consider to ensure that this course is successful? How does the use of technology impact your instruction? How does the use of technology impact your students? |
| Evaluate |
Determine if the course is meeting the needs and objectives that were identified in the analysis and design phases. |
Can you pilot or test this course or
parts of this course before you present it to students?
What worked well? What needs to be improved? Which objectives have been met and which objectives have not? Are the students transferring their knowledge once they leave your class? Has the "enduring understanding" been transmitted to students? |
For this course, we will focus on the design stage of this process. After you complete all of your assignments, you will have a design document for one lesson.
Educational Strategies in a Nutshell
There are many learning models and educational strategies based on these models that have been reviewed in the literature. For practical purposes though, it is convenient to think of these strategies as on a continuum between a behaviorist approach and a constructivist approach to learning.
Behaviorists believe that knowledge is most efficiently acquired by having an expert chunk the information into appropriate sizes. These chunks are presented to the learner in such a way that the behavior of the learner is “shaped” from not knowing to having the knowledge specified by the expert.
Generally, the behaviorists’ approach to learning is more efficient (faster) in transferring knowledge than the constructivist approach. Behaviorists generally use a “teacher-centered” approach to instruction. The “teacher-centered” approach is characterized by teacher lecture and assessment based on lecture and teacher-selected readings. The term “sage on the stage” has been used to describe the teaching style typical of the behaviorist approach.
The constructivists’ approach to learning is based on the belief
that knowledge cannot be transmitted from teacher to student. Rather,
knowledge is constructed in the mind of the learner as a consequence of
solving problems, creating something original, or conducting research
based on the learner’s interests and needs.
Generally, the constructivists’ approach to learning provides the student with more enduring and potentially life-changing knowledge than the behavioralist approach, but is less efficient. This “student-centered” approach is characterized by students pursuing their interests, creating original works, solving problems, or conducting research under the guidance of an instructor. The term “guide-on-the side” has been used to describe the teaching style typical of the constructivist approach.
Orientation
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Instructional Design Process