Top i c X Instructional 

2 Design 

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Accurately explain the definition of teaching, learning and
instructional design;
2. Correctly describe instructional design concepts;
3. Accurately state the importance of the instructional design process;
and
4. Compare traditional instructional design with instructional system
development.

X INTRODUCTION
There is awareness among instructors from both academic institutions and
corporate industries on designing their own teaching and learning materials for
students and workers. But how are these instructional materials designed?
Designing instructional materials is not easy as it involves many aspects such as
instructional design theories, learning theories and instructional media.
Instructional design may guarantee effective teaching and learning.

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2.1 LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION

2.1.1 Definition of Learning

Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviours,
including skills, knowledge, understanding, values and wisdom. It is the product
of experience and the goal of education.

Learning may also be defined as the process of acquiring knowledge, attitudes or

skills from study, instruction or experience (Miller & Findlay, 1996). In short,
learning is said to occur when there is a change in studentsÊ behaviour due to
their interaction with their surroundings.

Examples:
• A child fixing a bicycle tyre with the help of instructions from his father. He
is interacting with his surroundings ă the bicycle and his father. Learning is
said to happen here.
• You are baking a cake with help from your mother. She explains to you the
ingredients used and the temperature needed to bake a cake. You are
involved in the learning process.

2.1.2 Definition of Instruction

Instruction is the act of instructing, teaching or furnishing with knowledge or
information. It may also be defined as methods and processes by which pupils'
behaviours are changed. Instruction is arranging conditions and contingent
relationships, by using materials or media, whereby learning occurs according to
plan.

The term „teaching‰ refers to methodology or strategies chosen in arranging the

information, activities, approaches or media in order to help students achieve
their objectives.

Examples:
• Mrs Lee, a Physics teacher, is preparing a lesson plan for her class the next
day. She decides to use the demonstration method as the lesson involves a
dangerous experiment. The teaching process is happening here.

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• Mrs Ravi discusses with her husband the best strategy to educate their
daughter on sexually transmitted diseases. Considering this is a sensitive
issue, they decide to use the discussion method.

2.2 INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

2.2.1 Definition
Montague, Wulfrek and Ellis (1980) stated that „the best design doesnÊt
compensate for the lack of skills needed to develop quality instruction.‰ An
instruction is a set of events that facilitate learning while design means a creative
pattern or a rational, logical and sequential process to solve problems. Thus,
instructional design can be defined as „the systematic process of translating
principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials and
activities.‰ However, there are many different definitions for instructional design
and all of them are an expression of underlying philosophies and viewpoints of
what is involved in the learning process (Siemens, 2002). According to Albion et
al, instructional design can be defined as a process, discipline, science or reality
as shown below:

Instructional Design as a Process: ID is the systematic development of

instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the
quality of instruction. It is the process of analysing learning needs and goals and
developing a delivery system to meet those needs. It includes developing
instructional materials and activities as well as trying out and evaluating all
instructions and learner activities.

Instructional Design as a Discipline: ID is the branch of knowledge concerned

with research and theory about instructional strategies and the process of
developing and implementing these strategies.

Instructional Design as a Science: ID is the science of creating detailed

specifications for the development, implementation, evaluation and maintenance
of situations that facilitate the learning of both large and small units of subject
matter at different levels of complexity.

Instructional Design as Reality: ID can start at any point in the design process.
Often, a glimmer of an idea is developed to give the core of an instruction
situation. When the entire process is done, the designer looks back and examines
it so that all parts of the „science‰ have been taken into account. Then, the entire
process is written up as if it occurred systematically.

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Instructional design is a systematic process where elements such as teachers,

students, media, teaching aids and learning environment are taken into
consideration and given specific purposes in the teaching and learning process.
The process involves a systematic instructional design sequence ă beginning with
analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation.

However, all of them share some basic features as follows (Thompson, 2001):
• Needs assessment;
• Goal and objective identification;
• Audience and setting analysis;
• Content and delivery development; and
• Evaluation.

2.2.2 Importance of Instructional Design

The greatest objective of ID is to serve the learning needs and success of students
through effective presentation of content and fostering of interaction. Thus, a
systematic process of instructional design enables an educator or instructor to:
• Identify the performance problem;
• Determine the goals and objectives;
• Define learners and their needs;
• Develop strategies to meet needs and goals;
• Assess learning outcomes; and
• Evaluate whether the goals, objectives and needs are met.

The practice of instructional design process can help to:

• Improve teaching efficiency;
• Enhance teaching effectiveness;
• Ensure studentsÊ interest in the lesson taught;
• Ensure that the teaching and learning process is cost effective;
• Ensure that the learning content matches the intended objectives;
• Ensure that the teaching can be applied to various suitable scenarios; and
• Ensure that the teaching plan adheres to the time allocation.

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2.3 TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

Imagine that in your first week as a teacher, you are asked to create a course or
teaching material for the class or school. What would you do?. Some might go
home and think about the syllabus, content, objectives, media, presentation,
strategies and activities related to teaching and learning. Then, they might ask
themselves: „How do I get these materials?‰ Others might approach former
teachers and obtain materials from them or visit the bookshop to buy relevant
books.

Then, the teacher must decide on how teaching is to be presented. Presentation is

usually influenced by previous teaching practice or what had been done before.
For example, if the „chalk and talk‰ method is the usual practice in the school,
the teacher might think it is the best method. In most cases, all students are
assumed to start at the same point, so the content is the same for everyone.

Do you grasp the scenario of the teacherÊs task of preparing learning materials?
We can see that it is done unsystematically and haphazardly. Of course, some
learning materials were created but materials developed using traditional
instructional designs might be ineffective.

2.3.1 Instructional System Development

Studies in instructional design and delivery have created a knowledge database
which allows us to view instruction as a science, or as stated by Glaser (1976), „a
science of instruction.‰

A number of researchers have supported efforts to create effective teaching. The

information and implication gathered towards this idea were mainly contributed
by Gage, Berlinger and Gagne, who were educators themselves. Their research
resulted in approaches which are now applied in the design and development
process for learning materials as well as teaching materials, modules,
programmes and systems.

The new approaches are often referred to as systematic teaching (Dick and Carey,
1978), instructional design (Gagne and Briggs, 1977; Wager, 1981) and
instructional system development or ISD (Branson, 1975). The main components
of these approaches are a sequence of planning, design, develop, execute and
evaluate.

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„⁄ISD is a general systems approach used to produce an instructional

system. The phases are a sequential set of activities called analysis,
design, development, implementation and control.‰

Figure 2.1: Example of An Instructional Design Model

2.4 TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

VERSUS SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTIONAL
DESIGN
Instructional
Traditional Instruction Systematic Instruction
Components
Based on: Based on:
Traditional curriculum Evaluation needs
Aims
Or previous syllabus Task analysis
Internal reference External or global reference
Stated based on evaluation
needs or task analysis
Stated as teachersÊ
Stated as behavioural
Objectives accomplishments
accomplishments
Identical for all students
Selected based on studentsÊ
needs

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Students are not told; Mentioned to the students

StudentsÊ awareness
Acquired intuitively from before the lessons or stated
about the objectives
textbooks and the lesson clearly in the presentation
Are not considered Taken into consideration
Previous All students have the Different set of objectives based
knowledge same objectives and on studentsÊ previous
activities knowledge and abilities
Expected
Normal curve Possibly skewed
achievement
Only a handful of
students master all the Almost all students master all
Mastery learning
objectives the objectives
Hit and miss
Norm-referencing (based
Criterion referencing (based on
Grading on comparison with other
mastery of the objectives)
students)
Planned for students who need
Usually are not planned assistance
There are no amendments A different suitable objective is
Recovery
to the objectives or set
teaching approach Opt for an alternative teaching
approach
Instructional
Traditional Instruction Systematic Instruction
Components
To evaluate studentsÊ progress
To identify mastery of skill
Testing Mainly to give grades To identify problem learning
areas
To evaluate oneÊs teaching
Teachers have to modify and
Interpretation to
Students are weak improve teaching techniques
objectives failure
and approaches
Objectives are stated first,
Course Materials are chosen first
followed by selection of
development Created unsytematically
materials
Based on objectives and
Based on priority and
studentsÊ characteristics
Selecting materials easiness to obtain
Based on theories and studies
and teaching aids Effectiveness is not known
Effectiveness is known
and secondary
beforehand
Based on content logic Based on previous knowledge
Learning sequence
and the list of topics and teaching principles

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Selected based on teaching

According to teacherÊs objectives
preferences Utilise different types of
Teaching strategies
Based on priority and strategies such as behaviourist,
familiarity cognitive and constructivist.
Based on theories and studies
Usually never takes place
Systematically planned and
Evaluation Usually not systematically
often
planned
Review of the Happens only once in a
Takes place almost all the time
teaching materials while

ACTIVITY 2.1
1. Give two examples of situations of instruction and learning.

2. Differentiate between traditional instructional design and

systematic instructional design.

3. Discuss the purpose of giving tests in traditional ID and

systematic ID.

2.5 NINE EVENTS OF INSTRUCTION

Nine events of instruction

Gagne's nine general steps of instruction for learning are:

(a) Gain attention
To gain studentsÊ attention, the teacher should present a good problem, a
new situation, use multimedia and ask questions. This helps to ground the
lesson, and to motivate students to remain focused.

(b) Describe the goal

The teacher should state the goals or objectives explicitly e.g. state what
students will be able to accomplish and how they will be able to use the
knowledge.

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(c) Stimulate recall of prior knowledge

The teacher reminds the student of prior knowledge relevant to the current
lesson (facts, rules, procedures or skills). Show how knowledge is
connected, provide the student with a framework that helps learning and
remembering. Tests can be included.

(d) Present the material to be learned

Present the information using e.g. text, graphics, simulations, figures,
pictures, sound, etc. Chunk information (avoid memory overload, recall
information).

(e) Provide guidance for learning

Presentation of content is different from instructions on how to learn. Use
advanced organisers.

(f) Elicit performance "practice"

Let the learner do something with the newly acquired behaviour, practise
skills or apply knowledge. At least use MCQs.

(g) Provide informative feedback

Teacher shows correctness of the learnerÊs response, analyses learner's
behaviour and may present a good (step-by-step) solution of the problem.

(h) Assess performance test, if the lesson has been learned. Also sometimes
give general progress information.

(i) Enhance retention and transfer

For example, inform the learner about similar problem situations and
provide additional practice. Put the learner in a transfer situation. Perhaps
let the learner review the lesson.

These events are intended to promote the transfer of knowledge or information

from perception through the stages of memory. Gagne bases his events of
instruction on the cognitive information processing learning theory.

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• The relationship between learning and instructional design is showed in the

topic by looking at the definitions of learning and instruction.
• The systematic process of instructional design enables an educator or
instructor to basically improve their way of delivering the subject matter to
the respective recipients.
• The practice of instructional design process can basically improve the
teaching and learning processes and benefit both teachers and students.
• A comparison between the traditional and systematic instructional design is
focused on the aims, objectives, studentsÊ awareness on the objectives,
previous knowledge and also the expected achievement.

Systematic instructional design Traditional instructional design

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