Concepts

Instructional Design Steps

  • Approach shifts from "what" to teach to "how" to teach it.

  • Importance of an instructional strategy that includes:

    • General components of instructional materials

    • Procedures for enabling student mastery of learning outcomes.

Learning Components of Instructional Strategies

  • Instructional Strategy: More than content outline; includes what to do before, during, and after instruction.

  • Cognitive Perspective (Gagné):

    • Based on conditions of learning, includes nine events:

      1. Gaining attention

      2. Informing learner of objectives

      3. Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning

      4. Presenting stimulus material

      5. Providing learning guidance

      6. Eliciting performance

      7. Providing feedback

      8. Assessing performance

      9. Enhancing retention and transfer.

Learning Guidance

  • Learning guidance has significance across instructional domains. Requires planning how to guide learners' mental processing to foster internal learning.

  • Instruction could be content-centered or learner-centered, depending on chosen strategies by the designer.

Major Learning Components of Instructional Strategy

  1. Preinstructional Activities: Focus on motivating learners, informing them about objectives, and stimulating recall of prior knowledge.

  2. Content Presentation: Deliver required information in a structured format with learning guidance.

  3. Learner Participation: Involve learners in activities relevant to objectives.

  4. Assessment: Evaluate learners through various criteria-referenced tests and assessments.

  5. Follow-Through Activities: Ensure retention and application of learned skills in practical contexts.

Preinstructional Activities - Motivating Learners

  • Issues with learner motivation addressed through Keller's ARCS model:

    • Attention: Capture and sustain interest with engaging materials.

    • Relevance: Connect the material to learners' personal goals and context.

    • Confidence: Build a sense of achievement among learners through constructive feedback on abilities.

    • Satisfaction: Provide both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for accomplishing tasks.

Keller’s ARCS Model of Student Motivation

  • Attention: Use emotional stories and interactive content.

  • Relevance: Align instruction with learner interests.

  • Confidence: Build self-efficacy through success experiences.

  • Satisfaction: Offer rewards and promote self-appraisals of learning achievements.

Content Presentation and Learning Guidance

  • Content Presentation Patterns:

    • Deductive Approach: Instruction begins with general concepts followed by specific examples.

    • Inductive Approach: Learners discover principles through exploration and examples.

  • The structure of learning materials (diagrams, outlines) aids retention of content.

  • Balancing content and cognitive load is crucial to avoid overwhelming learners.

Learner Participation and Feedback

  • Active Practice: Design practice opportunities directly related to objectives.

  • Feedback: Provide timely and constructive feedback, addressing both successes and improvement areas.

  • Types of Assessment:

    • Entry Skills Test

    • Pretests

    • Posttests.

Follow-Through Activities

  • Ensure context for performance is established, promoting retention of skills learned during instruction.

  • Reflect on which knowledge must be recalled and how it integrates into the performance context.

Instructional Strategies for Different Learning Outcomes

Intellectual Skills

  • Link new content to prior knowledge and ensure coordination of skills hierarchically.

Verbal Information

  • Emphasize retention strategies through organization and context cues.

Motor Skills

  • Focus on visual presentations for demonstrating how to perform physical skills with feedback on execution.

Attitudes

  • Use simulations, coaching, and role-playing to develop positive attitudes through direct experiences and reflections of behaviors.

Blending Cognitive and Constructivist Approaches

  • Combine cognitive instructional design (ID) with learner-centered, constructivist strategies to enhance educational effectiveness.

  • Ensure balance between guided instruction and discovery learning to maximize learner engagement.

Considerations for Designing Constructivist Learning Environments (CLEs)

  • Goals for reasoning, cognitive flexibility, self-regulation, and mindful reflection should be established to support student outcomes in CLEs.