Design
Instructional Design is a methodical approach to developing impactful and effective educational experiences. It entails assessing the needs of learners, establishing clear objectives and learning goals, and crafting engaging materials and activities that promote learning. Through the use of diverse instructional strategies and technologies, instructional designers strive to improve learning outcomes and make the content accessible and pertinent to all learners. This field is crucial in both formal educational settings and corporate training, as it emphasizes the optimization of how information is presented and understood.
ADDIE Model is an Instructional Systems Design model. ADDIE is an acronym for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. This model is very popular in the instructional design and technology field. It is designed in a cyclical manner because each phase is designed to connect with each other.
Analysis Phase – the instructional designer identifies the problem, goals, objectives learning environment and the audience.
Design Phase – the instructional designer systemically creates the plan, method, storyboard, and the detailed means each element needs to be implemented.
Development Phase – The instructional designer creates and assembles the content from the design phase.
Implementation Phase – The instructional designer makes the learning application functional and that the facilitators, learners and equipment is all available and ready to use.
Evaluation Phase – There are two types of evaluation: formative and summative. Formative is evaluating the project as you are going through each phase. Summative is evaluating that occurs once all the phases are done and the product is available to be used. This consists of tests and feedback provided from users.
The Dick & Carey Model is an Instructional Systems Design model. This model is popular in the instructional design and technology field. It contains 9 steps and is designed to break down the learning process making each step work together to achieve specific learning outcomes. It's structure is a linear process compared to the cyclical ADDIE design. The 9 steps are included below as well as the infographic to the right.
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Identify Instructional Goals
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Conduct Instructional Analysis
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Analyzing Learners & Context
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Writing Performance Objectives
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Developing Assessment Instruments
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Developing Instructional Strategy
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Developing & Selecting Instructional Materials
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Designing & Conducting Formative Evaluation
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Designing & Conducting Summative Evaluation
ETEC 5440 - Process of Instructional Design and Technology I
Reflection
In ETEC 5440 my team and I created a Learning Management System (LMS) Job Aid to assist county employees working their way through certain tasks dealing with the newly implemented LMS. We followed the ADDIE model as the base of our instructional design. We began our project by conducting a needs assessment with county employees and identified an influx of calls to the main office asking for support to help with guiding them through the LMS. Office employees were found to be spending an excessive amount of time on these calls. During our design phase we formed our learning objectives and our project goals. We also decided to develop a website as our delivery system. During the development phase we developed our storyboard and designed how each tutorial was going to function. We developed the website and made it available to county employees. As well as created a quick Likert scale survey for the employees to answer a few questions helping us evaluate the project. The feedback was mainly positive just a few design/web layout adjustments to make it easier to navigate through.
ETEC 6440 - Process of Instructional Design and Technology II
Reflection
For my project I wanted to create an interactive lesson/procedure document to instruct staff within the registrar's office, but not limited to, on the graduation process specifically for students graduating in the Fall or Summer semesters. I wanted it to be simple but also effective and following the Dick & Carey Model made this process much easier. It allowed me to go step by step in my design process, to really think about each component of the course to try and minimize any mistakes or accommodations.. I really enjoyed doing the actual designing of the course and getting my hands dirty is a sense but the Formative Evaluation and the Summative Evaluation sections of the Dick & Carey Model really opened my eyes to their importance and I can see how these steps can really help. I decided to use Canvas as my LMS as I have not used it before to create a course, only experienced as a student. I have used a couple of other LMS such as TalentLMS, Blackboard, or Moodle. There was a bit of a learning curve initially but wasn’t too complicated and had many similarities as other LMS. Although I had planned to have more components such as videos and audio, I just didn’t have the time to fully complete the course to my liking.
During my time in the Instructional Design & Technology Program I was able to gain a deeper understanding of what an instructional design is. I had the chance to learn a lot about the process of completely developing an instructional design. Really focusing on each step that needs to take place and realizing how important each one of these steps are. I learned about the many different learning theories and which one of the theories aligned with my philosophy. I learned about the different instructional design models such as the ADDIE, SAM, The Dick & Carey Model, and Learning Circle Framework model. Having the chance to actually implement some of these models (ADDIE & Dick & Carey) and apply it to real work situations has really helped me understand the process more completely. It’s one thing to read and know the process but to actually apply it to a project really helps to “know” the process. Going through these models and understanding the purpose of each step. The time and effort that needs to take place in order for the instructional design to be effective and serve its purpose. Many times, people just want to jump and start developing and designing these different tools and get the final product done and out because that’s the fun part. I have come to realize that it is important to do a thorough analysis to gain the understanding of the needs for the project. Such as ask questions like, "Why is there a gap in the learning? Who is the target audience the product is designed for?". There needs to be an understanding of where the gap is so it can be filled the best way in order for the product to be effective. The Design phase of the model is where the creativity starts, coming up with the different ways to fill the need. With my learning philosophy being that not everyone learns the same way, there are many different ways to reach learners. So, coming up with different ideas and being creative is, for me, where the fun starts. The Development is when the actual product is created. Then there is the evaluations and this helps to miss anything that can be beneficial and make revisions. The process of instructional design helps to make sure products are serving their purpose effectively. During my time in this program, I also learned much about myself and that with determination, discipline and drive I can get the job done.
References
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Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2014). The systematic design of instruction (9th ed.). Pearson Higher Ed.
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Piskurich, G. M. (2015). Rapid instructional design: Learning ID fast and right (3rd ed.). Wiley.
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Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the online learner: Resources and strategies for faculty. Jossey-Bass.
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Mertler, C. A. (2023). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.