instructionalDesign

"Instructional design lies at the intersection of three disciplines: Education, Psychology, and Communication. It arose from the necessity of developing effective training for large numbers of soldiers during and after World War II. The military was concerned that they were risking lives and equipment because they had no way of ensuring consistent, effective training for soldiers. They turned to experts in these disciplines to find a solution ...

From Psychology, they drew the best of what is known about how humans learn and develop (e.g., cognition, behaviorism, constructivism). From Communications, they drew from all that is known about message design and communication (e.g., readability, screen and page design). From Education, they pulled from all that is known about how people learn in formal and informal settings (e.g., instructional strategies, objectives, assessment) ...

... all (ID models) share the same underlying process of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation, also known as the ADDIE process. We tend to focus primarily on one model, the Gagne, Wager, Golas, & Keller model. Robert Gagne is widely considered the founder of our field, and this model is arguably one of the best known, along with the Dick & Carey and Smith & Ragan models." - http://idt.und.edu/WhatIsID.html

... there are several different types or levels of learning. The significance of these classifications is that each different type requires different types of instruction. Gagne identifies five major categories of learning: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes. Different internal and external conditions are necessary for each type of learning. For example, for cognitive strategies to be learned, there must be a chance to practice developing new solutions to problems; to learn attitudes, the learner must be exposed to a credible role model or persuasive arguments.

The following example illustrates a teaching sequence corresponding to the nine instructional events for the objective, Recognize an equilateral triangle: 1. Gain attention - show variety of computer generated triangles 2. Identify objective - pose question: "What is an equilateral triangle?" 3. Recall prior learning - review definitions of triangles 4. Present stimulus - give definition of equilateral triangle 5. Guide learning- show example of how to create equilateral 6. Elicit per formance - ask students to create 5 different examples 7. Provide feedback - check all examples as correct/incorrect 8. Assess performance- provide scores and remediation 9. Enhance retention/transfer - show pictures of objects and ask students to identify equilaterals - http://tip.psychology.org/gagne.html
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