Instructional Design Methods and Practice

Abstract

The rapid introduction of powerful digital technologies in the last 20 years has made it possible to create innovative and engaging learning activities in nearly every subject domain at nearly every education level. As a consequence, however, the task of designing, developing, and deploying effective instruction has become ever more challenging. While the basic instructional planning competencies and skills remain about the same, the emphasis in instructional design has shifted to the technologies used to support specific learning goals and objectives. This shift in emphasis has had consequences that have yet to be properly addressed. For example, the prior emphasis in the instructional design community on evaluation and empirical research has declined while there has been increasing emphasis on innovation and specific technologies. Doctoral programs in instructional design have also experienced a shift in emphasis from research and scholarship to development and practice. Overall, instructional design is becoming more and more a craft industry and less and less a scientific enterprise. These generalizations might be overstated but they raise concerns with regard to how best to link together the design of instruction, educational research, and the deployment of technologies aimed at improving learning, performance, and instruction. This chapter presents an elaboration of these claims and a possible path to resolution that builds on emphasizing formative evaluation and fidelity of implementation studies.