Abstract
This nine-month study used mixed methods data and a qualitative analysis to examine the skill and perceptual development of 17 graduate design students. Individual differences, perceptions and preferences that apparently promoted rapid and productive development included: design efficacy, mastery goals, preference for cognitive challenge and tolerance for risk-taking. Novice learners benefited from content and context familiarity, but as they developed competence, they gained from choosing less familiar tasks and content. Features of the learning environment identified as contributing to novice designers’ knowledge and skill development were: authentic projects, detailed assignment specifications, multiple types and levels of feedback, and clear alignment with professional performance standards. These findings inform the strategic design of instructional opportunities for novice designers and similarly complex applied professional fields.
Highlights
Instructional design (ID) competence has alternately been presented as an art, craft, or scientific process or as some combination of these (e.g., Clark & Estes, 1998; Gibbons, 2003; Merrill, 2007; Parrish, 2005; Rowland, 1991; Smith & Boling, 2009)
In seeking to uncover individual difference characteristics that appear to influence students’ skill and competence development, we found that several types of individual differences appeared to be related to design students’ skill and competence development
Their content area familiarity and context-related background helped to scaffold them through the design process, as depending on content familiarity in early designs freed up their attention and energy for learning the ID content and principles
Summary
Instructional design (ID) competence has alternately been presented as an art, craft, or scientific process or as some combination of these (e.g., Clark & Estes, 1998; Gibbons, 2003; Merrill, 2007; Parrish, 2005; Rowland, 1991; Smith & Boling, 2009). Architecture and other design fields, ID calls on a complex applied skill set that must be used adaptively in everchanging contexts of professional practice (Hardré, 2003). In such a diverse field with myriad applications, how can foundational coursework in ID effectively prepare students for professional practice? This paper examines the effects of a subset of instructional, perceptual and environmental factors on the development of ID competence. Hardré & Kollmann the role of student perceptions in the development of professional competence toward expertise in a complex, applied design skill
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