Design
Text about Design
What is an Instructional Design model?
An Instructional Design (ID) model “…provide[s] guidelines and procedures that can be applied to a wide variety of specific situations" (Brown & Green, 2020, p. 9).
Why is it important?
It is important to approach an educational event systematically, whether it is a one-day workshop, a semester course, or anything in between. An ID model provides you a process roadmap and a checklist to make sure you are taking as much into consideration as you can for the design, execution, and analysis of your event.
Personal Perspective
One of the most important activities during my master’s program was to create my own Instructional Design model. My approach leverages a few different existing models, including: the Dick, Carey, and Carey model; the Morrison, Ross, Kalman, and Kemp Model; and Merrill's Pebble in the Pond model (Branch & Dousay, 2015). My model is a useful tool because it helps me visualize the big picture while giving myself a checklist for the detailed tasks that are needed in order to complete the design.
Resources:
Jason Forman ID Model
What are Learning Goals, Objectives, & Outcomes?
A Learning Goal is a high level description of what you intend the students to learn.
Learning Objectives are steps that the learners need to take to reach those goals (i.e., what we want to happen).
Learning Outcomes are evidence of learning (i.e., what actually happened).
(Barkley & Major, 2016)
Why are they important?
It is important to have an over-arching learning goal (or goals) in order to set the direction of the learning event and to organize the more detailed learning objectives.
Learning objectives provide the learner with specific expected outcomes and helps set the proper expectations for the event. They are also helpful for the educator to ensure they keep the program on track.
It is beneficial to compare the planned learning objectives with the actual learning outcomes; the difference between these two areas is where assessment analysis takes place: what we wanted to happen vs. what actually happened.
Personal Perspective:
"If you don't know where you are and where your learners need to be, you can't figure out how to get them there" (Dirksen, 2016, p. 102). This is a perfect reminder for me because I tend to get ahead of myself when I first starting thinking of designing an educational event. It is important to ensure that the goals and objectives are clear at the beginning of the process so you have a foundational roadmap and can make the appropriate decisions.
There are several ways to create a good learning objective, but the method I tend to lean on most is the ABCD method (Smaldino et al., 2019):
A - Audience
B - Behavior
C - Condition
D - Degree (optional, depending on the situation)
Example:
Upon completion (C) of the Beginning Photography Program, the learner (A) will be able to create a photo series (B) with exactly three photographs (D).
Resources:
Learning Objectives Builder
Learning Objectives Guide
What is a Way of Learning?
A Way of Learning is a specific categorization of learning, backed by theory and research, that helps match the learning objectives to an appropriate facilitation method. (Davis & Arend, 2013)
Why are they important?
Leveraging Ways of Learning in your practice places the emphasis on learning rather than on teaching. Furthermore, identifying an appropriate facilitation method that matches the learning objectives is very helpful to the facilitator of the learning event.
Personal Perspective:
I think of a Way of Learning as a lens that I see through in order to make appropriate decisions in regards to the facilitation method. The Way of Learning grid (see below) is a useful shorthand of the convergence of learning theory and research.
Recourses:
Ways of Learning Grid