Discovering Instructional Design, Part 1

At its heart, learning is about growth. The single, central reason for learning, training, and education is to facilitate peoples' need to acquire and develop new skills, knowledge and expertise.

The E-Learning Curve Blog focuses on the development and deployment of learning technologies, and I've been known to discuss approaches to cognition and Constructivism at great length. For one reason or another, I haven't really discussed the bridge between the theoretical and the practical aspects of education - the twin pillars if you like - so over the next few weeks, I'm going to spend some time discussing this in an occasional series of articles on instructional design .

Instructional Design (ID) is the practice of maximizing the effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility of instruction and other learning experiences. The ID process can be said to have a number of steps:

1. determine the current state and needs of the learner
2. define the end goal of instruction
3. develop a learning intervention to assist in the acquisition of new skills, knowledge or expertise.

Before we dive in to ID with much gusto, I want to begin by briefly outlining the theoretical basis for pretty much all contemporary approaches to instructional design.

1. Behaviorism

Based on observed changes in behavior, Behaviorism focuses on a new behavioral patterns being repeated until they becomes automatic. The theory emerged from work done by Ivan Pavlov in associative learning and classical conditioning. The theory of behaviorism concentrates on the study of overt behaviors that can be observed and measured (Good & Brophy, 1990). It views the mind as a "black box" in the sense that the response to a stimulus can be observed quantitatively, while totally ignoring the possibility of thought processes occurring in the mind.

In his 1953 text Science and Human Behavior B. F. Skinner developed the concept of operant conditioning and its application in education and training through the use of positive and negative reinforcement techniques. A behaviorist approach to learning was first implemented in educational technology in the 1960’s.

Main characteristics:

• Behavioral objectives (performance, condition, standard)
• Programmed instruction
• Individualized instruction
• Computer assisted instruction
• Systems approach

2. Cognitivism

Based on thought processes governing behavior, the theory of Cognitivism emerged from the inability of the Behaviorist Model to explain how children do not imitate all behavior. Similarly, the Behaviorist Model could not account for certain types of learning.

Bandura and Walters' 1963 text Social Learning and Personality Development led to Social Cognitive Theory, a concept further developed by Jean Piaget.

Main characteristics:

• schema
• 3-stage Information Processing Model (sensory register / short term memory / long term memory)

Cognitivism began influencing technology in education in the 1970’s. Its adoption led to a shift from measuring external behavior to focusing on the internal mental processes behind behavior, leading to a greater emphasis on task- and learner analysis. According to Cognitivists, tasks are broken down to move from simple to complex, based on previously-learned mental models, or schema. Cognitivism is currently the principal theory used in instructional design.

3. Constructivism

Based on individual perspectives addressing demand of the real world, The theory of Constructivism emerged from work undertaken by Bartlett (1932).

Merrill and Jonassen (1991) further developed the theory to postulate that our reality is perceived through a process of social negotiation.
First implemented in educational technology in 1980’s and 90’s. Led to a movement from objectively to subjectively focused learning, and the development of more open-ended tasks where results of learning are not so easily measured, and are not the same for each learner. Constructivism is not compatible with simple Systems Approach and outcomes of learning are NOT predetermined.

Main characteristics:

• Use of realia (real-world objects)
• Authentic tasks – task-based learning
• Reflective practice – learning to learn
• Use of hypertext and hypermedia – branched learning rather than a linear learning path

More...

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References:

Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1963). Social learning and personality development. New York: Holt

Bartlett, F.C. (1932). Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology. Cambridge University Press

Good, T. L., Brophy, J. E. (1990). Educational psychology: A realistic approach (4th ed.).White Plains, NY: Longman

Jonassen, D. H. (1991). Objectivism versus constructivism: do we need a new philosophical paradigm? Educational Technology Research and Development, 39 (3), 5-14.

Merrill, M. D. (1991). Constructivism and instructional design. Educational Technology, May, 45-53.

Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Macmillan.

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