Instructional Design Theory Research Articles

Research on Improving of Teachers Instructional Design Ability

So far, the research on instructional design theory has been influenced by behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism, forming a variety of researchs on positioning and orientation. In the aspect of teaching, theory of instructional design has not played the proper role. This paper analyzes the application status of theoretical ability of instructional design and instructional design of primary and secondary school teachers, and put forward some countermeasures for solving the current problems.

M. Spector, D. Merrill, J. Elen, M. J. Bishop (eds): Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology

The article provides a review of the latest (fourth) edition of the Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, edited by Spector, Merril, Bishop and Elen. Approaching the Handbook for its contextual relevance, the author provides a retrospective analysis of the book’s evolution from its first version, dated 1996, to its current form. The author points out a role of external factors in this process and highlights the book’s features that contribute a holistic shift of the field from “instructional” to “educational technology.” Building up on the two well researched domains of the field, instructional design and learning theory, the author explores the Handbook’s capacity for linking educational technology with its social realities as the way to dissolve the existing dualities and disconnects within the field.

Sequence limits in calculus: using design research and building on intuition to support instruction

This article is based on research completed within an ongoing project to develop a calculus course which serves as the foundation for the mathematical education of undergraduate students who are training to become elementary teachers. Several research-based activities have been developed, tested, and refined. In this paper we discuss how the design research approach was used to create and implement an instructional task that introduces the concept of limit of a sequence using popular characters from a children’s television show. We present the intuition that students brought to the instructional sequence, the development of the tasks based on the instructional design theory of Realistic Mathematics Education, and the evolution of the intuition that students displayed after instruction. Results include the instructional task developed and student work which reveals that students use context, informal notions of limit, and the notion of “arbitrarily close” to write about their limit understandings.

Level of interactivity and executive functions as predictors of learning in computer-based chemistry simulations

High school students’ learning outcomes was examined comparing exploratory vs. worked simulations. The effects of added icons and students’ executive functions were also examined. In Study 1, urban high school students (N=84) were randomly assigned to one of four versions of a web-based simulation of kinetic molecular theory that varied in instructional format (exploratory vs. worked simulation) and representation (added icons vs. no added icons). Learning was assessed at two levels: comprehension and transfer. For transfer, a main effect was found for instructional format: the exploratory condition yielded greater levels of transfer than the worked simulation. Study 2 used the same conditions and a more complex simulation, the ideal gas law, with a similar sample of students (N=67). For transfer, an interaction between instructional format and executive functions was found: Whereas students with higher levels of executive functions had better transfer with the exploratory condition, students with lower levels of executive functions had better transfer with the guided simulations. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of instructional design and learning.

An Exploration and Verification of Structure Factors of Expressive Activities Based on Instructional Design Theory of Constructivism

An Exploration and Verification of Structure Factors of Expressive Activities Based on Instructional Design Theory of Constructivism

Interview with John M. Keller on Motivational Design of Instruction

John M. Keller is one of the most recognized and respected scholars in the field of educational technology and instructional design. He has worked at the junction of psychology, education, and technology. Along with many other contributions, he has developed an instructional design theory that can be used successfully both with traditional and emerging technologies to enhance instructional processes. Much of his work has focused on motivational aspects of instruction, which is a special area of concern for many instructional designers who aim to provide truly satisfying educational experiences for all learners. This indeed makes his contributions very unique and worthwhile. Although he had to build a convincing argument about the appeal of instruction in the beginning years of the Motivational Design Theory, it appears that his efforts have turned out to be fruitful so that now everybody talks about motivation as a vital component of instruction.

Competency-based engineering education

The Indian economy has been witnessing high growth rates in the last two decades, creating a sudden spurt in the demand for talent especially engineers. In today’s highly competitive environment, the engineering education system in the country requires a major revamp if it has to offer programmes that equip students with employable skills to corporate. This would call an in-depth understanding and appreciation of the competencies required for the target roles in industry, and designing contemporary practices of teaching, learning and evaluation to prepare students with these competencies. This article studies the practices of universities in the UK and USA, along with literature survey for understanding the theory of cognitive learning process and instructional design. It describes a pilot project the author has been involved in and recommends an appropriate model for Indian engineering education.

Beyond The Flipped Classroom: Redesigning A Research Methods Course For e3 Instruction

The "flipped classroom" has gained in popularity as a new way to structure teaching in which lectures shift from in-class events to digitally-based homework, freeing up class time for practice exercises and discussion. However, critics note such a teaching strategy continues emphasis on the less effective techniques of the lecture as transmission-based knowledge dissemination. They urge rethinking from single instructional tasks to learning environments that promote not just assignment goals but also knowledge application and broader learning outcomes. What do we want students to be able to do? Instructional design is a formal body of theory that has years of testing and evidence for effectiveness that may provide a framework for re-envisioning course design. A 2013 book by M. David Merrill, First Principles of Instruction, attempts to examine the body of instructional design theory for commonalities and develop a set of general principles and processes that can guide the development of such learning environments for instructors. The emphasis is on project-centered learning with a focus on students applying knowledge in ways that "reverse" action from the end of a course to the beginning to implement effective, efficient and engaging (e3) learning. This paper examines some of the key principles and provides an example of e3 implementation from a research methods class.

Domain-Specific Knowledge and Why Teaching Generic Skills Does Not Work

Domain-general cognitive knowledge has frequently been used to explain skill when domain-specific knowledge held in long-term memory may provide a better explanation. An emphasis on domain-general knowledge may be misplaced if domain-specific knowledge is the primary factor driving acquired intellectual skills. We trace the long history of attempts to explain human cognition by placing a primary emphasis on domain-general skills with a reduced emphasis on domain-specific knowledge and indicate how otherwise unintelligible data can be easily explained by assumptions concerning the primacy of domain-specific knowledge. That primacy can be explained by aspects of evolutionary educational psychology. Once the importance of domain-specific knowledge is accepted, instructional design theories and processes are transformed.

Facilitating Clinical Reasoning in the Skills Laboratory:Reasoning Model Versus Nursing Process-Based Skills Checklist

The need for nursing education to shift from an em- phasis on critical to an emphasis on clini- cal reasoning and multiple ways of that include critical thinking has been well documented (Benner, Sut- phen, Leonard, & Day, 2010, p. 84). The application of effective reasoning is especially important when teaching psychomotor skills. Traditional approaches to skills acqui- sition that focused on nursing-process-based skills check- lists have emphasized content retention without ensuring that understanding and reasoning are taking place (Baxter & Boblin, 2008).The ability of the student to perform psychomotor skills without understanding the associated reasoning is often revealed when the student is questioned about a skill during a return demonstration or in the clinical set- ting and cannot provide a rationale for a skill. The neces- sity for teaching clinical reasoning during the application of nursing skills is underscored by the need to provide safe and appropriate care in an increasingly complex health care environment.Much has been written about developing reasoning in the clinical and classroom setting, yet few studies have used the clinical skills laboratory as a testing ground. In an editorial, Tanner asked, Where and how will students learn to connect the evidence they have found and ap- praised to their clinical reasoning and the many judgments they make in practice? (2008, p. 335). Nestel, Groom, Eikeland-Husebo, and O'Donnell (2011) completed a sys- tematic review of studies investigating the use of simula- tion for teaching procedural skills. The emphasis in these studies was on skills acquisition, knowledge, attitude, and learner satisfaction. The authors noted the need for instructional design and educational theory to be consid- ered in simulation programs and identified the need for more high quality research designs. Lapkin, Levett-Jones, Bellchambers, and Fernandez (2010), in a systematic re- view on the usefulness of simulation manikins to teach reasoning, found only two studies that focused on the ef- fectiveness of simulation to assess and evaluate clinical skills performance; neither study integrated the use of a reasoning model when teaching skills.There is a need to investigate the effectiveness of cur- rent teaching methodologies used to enhance reasoning in students. Lasater's (2007) clinical judgment rubric, based on Tanner's clinical judgment model (2006), was tested in the clinical simulation area in an effort to provide students with insight into their clinical judgment performance. Webber's IRUEPIC reasoning model, introduced in 2000 and revised in 2010 (Johnson & Webber, 2010), contains seven steps that build progressively, resulting in actions based on effective reasoning: Identify, Relate, Understand, Explain, Predict, Influence, and Control (IRUEPIC). The model seeks to develop effective reasoning by showing stu- dents how assessment data can be put into relationships that, in turn, guide understanding of the relationships and result in appropriate interventions.When using a teaching method that incorporates the scientific rationale behind the skill, the why becomes integral to the specific skill, and the skill is seen as part of an entire process that now has meaning. The purpose of this study was to determine if application of the IRUE- PIC reasoning model when teaching psychomotor skills was more effective than the nursing-process-based skills checklist method in facilitating student reasoning as mea- sured by intellectual performance in the campus learning laboratory. Intellectual performance was defined as the application of the reasoning process to the performance of psychomotor nursing skills.MethodThe university's institutional review board exempted the study. Using a quasi-experimental approach, two sections of the campus skills lab were taught using the traditional nursing-process-based skills checklist (n = 14), and two were taught using the IRUEPIC reasoning model (n = 16). …

The Multilayered Peer Coaching Model and the In-Service Professional Development of Tertiary EFL Teachers

The increasing need to learn English worldwide leads to the rapid development in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Teachers in this profession are required to reach a much higher level of professionalism now, and their in-service professional development can be an effective approach to updating their professional learning and practice. However, many existing programs for in-service professional development could not always reach their goals as expected. Therefore, this study aimed at developing and evaluating the Multilayered Peer Coaching Model (the MPC Model) for the tertiary EFL teachers to have their in-service professional development. Five phases based on the instructional system design theories were followed for developing this model, and the data for its efficiency were collected from such instruments as tests, observations, teacher’s logs, researcher’s field notes, and questionnaires which were responded by the EFL teachers and the students at Guiyang University in China. The results from this study showed that the MPC Model had positive impacts on the tertiary EFL teachers’ in-service professional development.

Improving police training from a cognitive load perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework, which describes how police training programs can be developed in order to improve learning retention and the transfer of skills to the work environment.Design/methodology/approachA brief review is provided that describes training strategies stemming from Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), a well‐established theory of instructional design. This is followed by concrete examples of how to incorporate these strategies into police training programs.FindingsThe research reviewed in this paper consistently demonstrates that CLT‐informed training improves learning when compared to conventional training approaches and enhances the transferability of skills.Originality/valueRarely have well‐validated theories of instructional design, such as CLT, been applied specifically to police training. Thus, this paper is valuable to instructional designers because it provides an evidence‐based approach to training development in the policing domain.

A Proposed Multimedia Cone of Abstraction: Updating a Classic Instructional Design Theory

A Proposed Multimedia Cone of Abstraction: Updating a Classic Instructional Design Theory

Interview with Charles M. Reigeluth: Applying Instructional Design to Educational Reform

Charles M. Reigeluth is one of the most contributing and certainly the leading scholars in the field of educational technology and instructional design. His early contributions were about developing instructional design theories such as Elaboration Theory and Component Display Theory. He has also edited monumental books as collections of major ID theories and models. His recent work has focused on designing educational reform or transforming educational systems with a comprehensive instructional design perspective, which he calls it “informationage paradigm of education.”

CALL Evaluation for Early Foreign Language Learning

This paper provides a critical review of the literature between 1980 and 2005 on the evaluation of resources for computer-assisted language learning (CALL) with a particular emphasis on elementary education. An analysis of that literature indicates that there are a range of approaches to evaluation that have been somewhat monolithic and possibly linked to a postpositivist approach to research in education. Today's elementary classroom, where foreign languages are learned, requires a more interpretivist approach to the evaluation of CALL resources informed by the principles of second language acquisition (SLA) theory, instructional design theory, early foreign language (FL) teaching methodologies, and the connection of FL curriculum with other curriculum areas to promote meaningful student-centered interactions. A critique of the literature using factors of multivocality, contextualization, and interpretation is followed by the proposition that these may provide a framework for future CALL evaluation. The evaluation of CALL has a complex relationship with elementary education and therefore CALL evaluation may best be integrated within teacher education programs.

Instructional Design Theory on Teaching Delivery and Evaluation Online for Graphic Design Courses

This research identified the perusal of instructional design theory on teaching delivery and online evaluation for Graphic Design courses. For this online teaching and learning development, lecturers and students must be able to access a teaching and learning framework, which is effective, easy to use and accessible. Through a conducted teaching and learning program which involved a series of online and offline delivery trials to a small group of students located in the Graphic Design Department, Faculty of Art & Design Universiti Teknologi MARA UiTM) attempted to achieve a new approach of how the teaching and learning environment for Graphic Design normally using face-to-face teaching, can be appropriately instructed into online delivery. A website was established which provided the students with a series of lessons according to the instructional design theory which included formative appraisal. Each topic was accompanied by multimedia element in order to have better understanding and learning experience. Hyperlinks to various related resource materials were provided throughout the program to encourage non- linear access to knowledge, to enhance repetition and to encourage independent learning. The study was able to conclude that, the perusal of instructional design theory will drive online learning as an effective medium for delivering graphic design course is successful.

Instructional Design and Learning Theory on the Development of C++ Programming Multimedia Content

This paper discusses on the possibility of taking advantage of the well-served Gagne's theory of learning and combining it with the benefits of instructional design. Such potent combination can surely be extended further with the integration of advance multimedia is undoubtedly helpful in today's education realm. The best off all these factors may have positive impact on the teaching and learning scenario. Hopefully it has an optimistic bearing on the study of computer programming for non-computer science students when an interactive multimedia application is developed based on Gagne's theory of learning.

Use of instructional design theory and an individualized hybrid strategy for assessment in library-based instruction

Since 1996, a librarian at the University of Florida, Gainesville, has partnered with a professor to develop and implement a term project in PCB3063, an undergraduate genetics course with first-day enrollment of approximately 120 students. Evaluative studies suggest that the class and project represent successful collaborations between the library and an academic unit [1, 2], and students report a high level of satisfaction with the course on standard course evaluations. One unique aspect of the course project is that topics are individually assigned to students, and assessment, including assessment of database searching skills, is tied to that specific topic. While course instructors are convinced (and the literature supports [3]) that such individualized assignments enhance student learning, grading the assignments for this large service course required approximately 45 hours of effort per semester for the collaborating librarian. In 2008, the instructors (professor and librarian) explored ways to decrease grading time without compromising student learning and with the intention of retaining the individualized assessment. ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES AND ORIGINAL FORMAT

Measuring the Effects of Team Resource Management Training for the Fire Service

Applications of Crew Resource Management training outside of the aviation industry, such as in anesthesia (crisis resource management) or the fire service (team resource management, TRM) are becoming increasingly popular. However, the effectiveness of such training and its suitability for the different target groups is seldom evaluated. In this study, TRM training for a German fire service was developed based on a needs assessment and instructional design theory. Fifty-nine firefighters participated in this study and received a half-day training intervention. The TRM training itself was evaluated and its impact on knowledge acquisition and attitude changes was measured at three different measurement times, before the training (T0), directly after the training (T1) and seven months later (T2). The TRM training was judged as enjoyable and useful and the participants stated a positive knowledge acquisition. Results regarding the declarative knowledge showed a significant knowledge acquisition from T0 to T1 and a significant decrease in knowledge seven months later; nevertheless, the participants still had significantly more knowledge at T2 than before the training. For three of the seven measured teamwork-relevant attitudes, significant positive changes from T0 to T1 could be demonstrated and the attitude changes remained stable over seven months. Further research is needed to investigate the application of TRM in different professions and also the effectiveness of recurrent training in these fields.

Web‐based learning design tool

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a web‐based tool that enables the development and provision of learning designs and its reuse and re‐contextualization as generative learning objects, aimed at developing educational materials.Design/methodology/approachThe use of learning objects can facilitate the process of production and delivering of educational material and their reuse and re‐contextualization in different scenarios – such process is due to the current development stage of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which allow easy access to products and services related to them. ICTs combined with instructional design theories, lead to the emergence of new generations of distance learning, which add educational content to web‐based services. From this combination rises a hybrid mode of education, which combines tools for face‐to‐face and distance learning (blended learning).FindingsThe use of the web as a platform for production and management of learning objects comes as a solution for storage and sharing. The utilization of objects is justified when its reusability is facilitated. This gives rise to possibilities in a client‐server environment, where information is centralized and available anywhere in the network.Research limitations/implicationsThe combination of ICT and instructional design theories has potential and could result in hybrids which are yet to be fully understood and explored. This can enhance blended learning provision.Originality/valueThe paper presents a tool in which the learning designs work as structures built on XML, based on concept maps, which act as an interaction layer between the learning objects, organizing the content to be available.