Week 2: Overview
A quick review of learning theories, instructional design approaches and related concepts/ideas to help ground each design plan.
Instructional Design Approaches
Instructional design is a systematic approach to creating curriculum and courses, using learning and instructional theory. While most of the well-known (and widely used) approaches are not explicitly for online course design, they are still useful when thinking about designing your learning units for this workshop.
Starting from ADDIE
The most commonly used instructional design approach is the "ADDIE" model. An instructional design approach developed for the U.S. Army in the mid-1970's, this model is made up of five phases:
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Implementation
- Evaluation.
Although it has been criticized as restrictive and linear, it can be interpreted and applied in a wide variety of educational contexts and has proven to be flexible in application. For a further discussion of the benefits and limitations of the model, see section 4.3 The ADDIE model from "Teaching in a Digital Age" by A.W. Bates.
Current adaptations of the ADDIE model often include some form of rapid prototyping of course or program elements. Rapid prototyping is a product or software development approach that has been integrated into educational design to make the process more efficient and adaptive. By testing a component of a course design before the entire design is complete, design flaws or misunderstandings can be caught early in the process, thus saving time and resources.
Another attempt to make course design approaches more flexible was the development of agile design models. Agile design generally involves smaller groups, often only two people, who access other experts as required during the design process (Bates, 2015). In recognition of the emergent nature of knowledge and the changing needs of diverse learners, the content is flexible and adapts to changing tools and educational technologies as they become available. An example of agile instructional design is SAM - Successive Approximation Model.
Instructional design models vary in terms of their emphasis on the process, the products and the learning / learners. Some academic environments use a new term, "learning design" to emphasize the focus on the learner and the outcomes of the learning. The term "instructional design" is seen as representing a focus on teaching and a "transmission" of knowledge model of learning. Other educators seem to use the terms interchangeably. The important thing is for you to be aware of the perspectives you feel are most representative of your own values and those of your institution.
Instructional Design Approaches
For the purpose of this FLO-Design workshop, we're suggesting you consider one of three guiding approaches to your design project. Each of the three approaches can integrate the basic elements of ADDIE and prototyping to develop a more comprehensive design plan. You could consider:
Approach 1. a traditional (well-tested) Outcomes-based Approach;
Approach 2. a "Design Thinking" Approach; or
Approach 3. an "Open Practices" Approach.
These three approaches are described in the following pages.
References