Week 3 - Module 4 - Instructional Development Process
Gagné’s instructional theory has been used by many instructional designers and it has a big influence in current discussions. After reading the extensive analysis that Driscoll made about Gagné's theory, she kept me thinking when she mentioned that “the purpose of instructional theory is to be prescriptive, to provide principles by which teachers and instructional designers can assure learning” (Driscoll, 2000, p.345). I personally feel that following Gagné’s theory can be very useful for new teachers and for environments where it is important to have a teaching routine. Even when you have a great instructional theory, different teaching styles could be or could not be aligned with a particular theory. I think that it is also important to take into account the teaching styles, in a specific context, during the design process of a new instructional system.
According to Merrill (2002), several instructional theories and models have common prescriptive principles "that are similar, regardless of theory or philosophical orientation" (p.58). This is why it is not surprising to find instructional models that have their foundation in the popular ADDIE model. For instance, the Business Impact ISD Model has some similarities with the approach applied to the ADDIE model. The evolving situations in the education and business field are requiring that "instructional designers expand the boundaries of their traditional ISD models to features of the corporate and societal environments" (Molenda et al., 1996, p.292). Nowadays, there are still educational technology companies that follow or adapt the ADDIE model. For example, Rachel Koblic, VP of Learning Experience at 2U, mentioned that the company is trying to be more iterative and agile, but their approach is based on the ADDIE model, as well.
As a result of recycled principles, some instructional models share similarities and have reinvented previous approaches. I have to confess that I am a huge fan of the ADDIE model and I have more chances to navigate smoothly through models that are built on the same foundation. However, after going over this week’s readings, I have found new theories that could be useful in scenarios where educators have similar teaching styles.
Driscoll, M. P. (2000). Gagné’s theory of instruction. Ch. 10 in Psychology of Learning for Instruction, 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 341-372 (see also a Tribute to Robert Gagne (57:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJ1-AjlGeE).
Merrill, M. David. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research & Development 50(3), 43-59 (see in 2012 video interview with David Merrill (53:56): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7COb2aZDrcs).
Molenda, M., Pershing, J.A., & Reigeluth, C.M. (1996). Designing instructional systems. In R.L. Craig (Ed.), The ASTD Training and Development Handbook 4th ed. (pp. 266-280). New York: McGraw-Hill.
As heuristic methods, I agree that Gagne + ADDIE is a really good approach to teaching and instruction. At least in this week's readings, the combination seems to be a starting point for researchers' discussion, which seeks to address weaknesses identified within the methods. Like Rachel discussed in her presentation, ADDIE provides a blue print for scalable instructional design despite following a waterfall project structure. I do think that ADDIE can be treated like the standard project management model and allow for tailoring to make it more responsive and rapidly iterative. That would come down to implementation and agreement by the instructional design team.
ReplyDeleteI have used the ADDIE model many times in instructional design. I have found it quite useful to help organize a project and complete tasks. There are definite similarities between ADDIE model and Dick and Carey model. I do like the ADDIE model but prefer backward design. I find it more useful in constructing curriculum especially online if they are to meet certain standards like Quality Matters.
ReplyDeleteChanika
In the past few years that I have been in the field of instructional design, I have found that the ADDIE model is poplar after speaking about models they prefer to use. At my workplace, it is rare when we are able to use the ADDIE model for anything since it is so fast paced. Last week, I learned a hard lesson on how it is important to ensure that all stakeholders are involved prior to the analysis piece of the model. Reason being is that after the analysis, design, and development was finished, another stakeholder came in late to share that everything needed to be changed which resulted in providing the incorrect training to the wrong group along with the incorrect content.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you pointed out how models have been created based on the ADDIE model. Sometimes I forget how much of an impact it has made on other models that are successfully used. I never took teaching styles into consideration. In my workplace, since we train on software with standards, it is assumed that there needs to be one style to administer training when in fact, that is not realistic. Thank you for your post.
-Chris