Instructional Design
Instructional design may be defined as a systematic process used to develop educational programs in a consistent, reliable manner. This reflective and iterative process generally involves aligned and congruent analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (Reiser & Dempsey, 2014). More broadly, instructional design includes “a collection of activities to plan, implement, evaluate, and manage events and environments that are intended to facilitate learning and performance” (Spector & Ohrazda, 2004, p. 687).
Instructional design emerged from general systems theory, the intent of which was to apply the concept of interdependent system elements to efficiently train military and aerospace personnel. Education is conceptualized as a set of organized and regulated systems that need to deal with change: of students, academic disciplines, and contextual environments. To this construct, learners bring their past experiences, which reflect a complex network of concepts, and interact with the education system learner to process information that impacts their own existing networks. This instructional approach is now used in many higher education institutions and fits particularly well in online education. Using a systematic instructional design model has several benefits for instructors: it focuses on the learner, it supports effective instruction, it provides a systematic way to address learning problems, it fosters coordination among all the instructional components and stakeholders, and it facilitates diffusion and adaptation (Smith & Ragan, 2004).
Newer instruction design practices focus more on learner experiences to the point that learners co-construct knowledge. Reigeluth, Beatty, and Myers (2016) synthesized these practices into principles of learner-centered instructional design: attainment-based instruction rather than time-based, task-centered rather than content-centered, and personalized rather than standardized. These principles change the roles of learners, teachers and technology. Furthermore, it changes the nature of curriculum to focus more and relationships, critical thinking and action, and accomplishment.
Reigeluth and Dempsey (2018) asserted that almost all instructional design processes displayed the following characteristics: student-centered, goal-oriented, creative, focused on meaningful performance, assumed measurable outcomes that are reliable and valid, processes that are empirical and self-correcting iteratively, and collaborative.