Instructional Design

Instructional design addresses learning needs

Instructional design is a process of designing, developing, and delivering learning/training content to address the learning needs. Learning needs is the gap between the learner’s current level of knowledge and skills, and the level of knowledge and skills required to perform a task or a set of tasks. Learning needs can be knowledge (information), skills (practice) and attitudes (belief and values). 

ADDIE is one of the most commonly used model in instructional design, provides a framework for instructional design process. ADDIE is the acronym for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate.

Analyze is to identify the learning problem and establish the learning goals 

The RAM approach for needs analysis

RAM is the acronym, stands for Relevance, Alignment and Measurement, which was developed by the Chartered Institute forPersonnel and Development (CIPD). It speculates that to assess learning needs, we need to consider the 3 conditions… 

  

Learning needs are related to learning domains, can be knowledge or thinking/mental skills (cognitive), physical or operational skills (psychomotor), and attitude or emotional growth (affective).

The SMART approach for setting goals

After identifying the learning needs, it is time to formulate a feasible, appropriate and clearly stated instructional goal, a SMART goal. The SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. 


Tools and Strategies for Design 

Instructional goal analysis - mapping learning actions and interventions

The  instructional goal is to meet the learning needs. The next phase is to determine how to reach the goal through a series of actions. This is entering the design phase of ADDIE. The tool we can use here is called instructional goal analysis. The goal analysis is a visual display of the specific steps that a learner would need to do when performing the instructional goal (Dick & Carey). To conduct an instructional goal analysis, one needs to first classify the learning outcomes regarding the learning domains (knowledge, skills or attitudes), then determine the steps and sub-steps to reach the outcomes, and finally put the steps and sub-step together in a diagram as an example below. Entry level behaviors are the skills and knowledge that the learners must know or be able to do before they begin the instruction.    

 ( An instructional goal analysis for drawing Lewis structure of molecules in a chemistry course)

Resources
Dick W, Carey L, Carey JO. The Systematic Design of Instruction. 6th ed. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon; 2005. 

Kirkpatrick's model - alignment of learning intervention and evaluation 

The evaluation of learning outcomes needs to be considered during the design phase. Which intervention to be used is determined by its effectiveness. The Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model maps out four levels of learning/training effectiveness.   

 (Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model and assessment tools)

 

 

more to come...

Capability analysis for performance standards 

Design
Develop
Implement
Evaluation

 

 

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