Design Frameworks

Are you a sage on the stage, or a guide on the side?

Over many years, researchers and practitioners have made meaningful contributions to the development of instructional design. As knowledge has become democratized since the advent of online technologies, and as we learn more about cognition and learning itself, the models of instruction that emphasize the bestowing of knowledge upon empty minds have given way to a learner-centred approach. This Learner-centred design assumes students already have some expertise in the domain or subject area (however limited) and that an instructor’s role is no longer to impart knowledge, but to facilitate the learning process. This means facilitators support collaborative and creative experiences that encourage students to make their own connections based on prior knowledge, and create their own meaning in what they are are exposed to. This page presents a few different models of instructional or learning design – frameworks that inform how to develop courses and learning experiences for any modality.

 


Working Backwards

Backwards design, while still technically an instructor-centered approach, was first outlined by Tyler in 1949. In this model, instructors first think about what they would like to achieve in their teaching, then they identify acceptable evidence for ensuring these objectives are met, then they plan instruction to ensure that learners are able to provide this evidence.

Backward Design is now around 70 years old, and its contemporaries form the modern basis of instructional design, starting not with content, with learner outcomes or objectives. By taking this approach, instruction can be targeted towards measurable knowledge, skills and abilities that learners will achieve, instead of what they will read or how many lectures they attend.

References: Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Identify Desired Results

In this stage, the instructor looks to their aims for the course and how the course fits into the degree, program or stream (the curriculum). The instructor then captures what they hope their students will achieve in terms of concepts, ideas and themes in terms of what they want students to know, understand or do.

Determine Acceptable Evidence

The instructor then thinks about what they would consider acceptable evidence for meeting the above results, and how they may go about collecting this evidence. This forms the basis of what types of assessment tasks are given to learners and how these can be taken together or independently to provide this evidence.

Plan Activities and Instruction

Lastly, the instructor considers what knowledge, and learning activities may contribute to supporting students towards providing the above evidence. This includes using specific teaching strategies, the selection of learning materials and activities that may foster further understanding of the topic and related concepts.


ADDIE

ADDIE Model Diagram

ETS’ course design and development process is rooted in the ADDIE model, with several key steps built in to ensure learning experiences are planned and implemented with an alignment to outcomes in mind. Working with instructors and course authors is a reflective process. ETS’ learning designers work together to design the learners’ pathway through a course, from how assessment tasks will support learning outcomes, to how learners acquire specific knowledge and skills to support successful mastery of outcomes.

ADDIE is a cyclical model which takes a start-to-finish, practice-based approach to the development of courses. It starts from a needs analysis and goes all the way to evaluating the effectiveness of the learning design, from the perspective of the learners. Below, every step of the ADDDIE model is outlined, with further readings embedded.

Analyze

ETS will work with Course Authors/Instructors in looking at previous iterations of the course and revisiting what worked and what didn’t, from both a teaching and learning perspective. Following a review of learner feedback from previous iterations, a timeline of development is established to ensure timely completion of the project, including peer reviews and alignment with design standards.

Design

This is where the majority of the work will take place, including revisiting learning outcomes for the course and units, ensuring alignment of formative and summative assessments, embedding learning activities and content, and choosing appropriate technologies to support each step along the way.


Read more about Elements of Design »

Develop

Usually initiated as the Design phase comes to a close, development involves building the course within a chosen online learning platform, integrating any supporting technologies and creating any custom content for the course. All this is done with the support of ETS’ learning designers with guiding documentation on how a course should be structured, with a peer review process built in.

Implement

The implementation of a learning experience means that it is taught. By the end of the Development phase, the course is ready to go, and the teaching and learning process moves forward. ETS staff are available for any support issues that arise from technology integration, and any last minute changes based on early learner feedback.

Evaluate

Evaluation can contain two steps. First, learner feedback is gathered to inform future changes needed for the next offering of the course, and the experiences of an instructor is considered. Second, an evaluation of the course development process is conducted. This will both inform teaching practice, while at the same time assisting ETS with revising their support services to better serve the faculty.


RASE diagram

Churchill, D., King, M, & Fox, B. (2013).

A Pedagogical Model

RASE is a pedagogical model, first designed for science educators and adopted to a variety of other contexts. It was developed in 2013 by Churchill, King, and Fox to transform how instructors think about the relationships between learning materials, learning activities and assessments, asserting that content and resources are not enough for full achievement of learning objectives.

Reference: Churchill, D., King, M, & Fox, B. (2013). Learning design for science education in the 21st century. Journal of the Institute for Educational Research, 45 (2), 404-421.

Resources

Resources can take the form of anything students will use to engage in the learning process including content, such as lectures, videos, readings; and materials and tools, such as objects they may use in class, software or even paper templates used in the classroom.

Activity

An activity is anything the learner does to help them understand and make connections between theory and practice and is essentially the situation in which learning happens. These characteristics in their most effective form are both:

  • Learner-centred – Focused on what learners will do, as opposed to what they’ll remember; learners may produce artefacts that demonstrate their progress ; learners interact with resources; teachers participate in.
  • Authentic – replicate professional practice, including scenarios that involve competencies, not just knowledge.

Support

Support involves providing a scaffolded experience to learners, helping them in gaining new competencies and practicing mastery of those skills. Support should also anticipate the needs of learners, and this can take the form of the creation of resources to assist in their learning or clarification of complex topics, or building activities that ensure learners support each other either through in class or online discussions or even in the shared creation of a glossary or other resource.

Evaluation

Evaluation sometimes referred to Quality Assurance (QA) processes and reflection on the actual design of learning experiences on the part of the instructor, but for RASE, Evaluation refers to learner evaluation, including their own self reflection on the completion of tasks, what they learned, the feedback the instructor provides during the course of activities and assessment, all with the goal of allowing students to improve upon their work, and grow in their mastery of practice.


OAR Diagram

Joeckel III, Jeon, & Gardner, 2010

OAR: Objectives, Activities, Resources

The OAR model is a visual tool developed by Joeckel III, Joen and Gardner, instructional designers at Utah State University, which specifically applies to instructional development for courses housed within an online learning platform. It emphasizes the relationships between Objectives, Activities and Resources, to ensure that this dynamic is faithfully represented within an online learning experience.

Reference: Joeckel III, G.L. & Jeon, T & Gardner, PhD, CPT, Joel. (2009). Instructional challenges in higher education online courses delivered through a learning management system by subject matter experts. 273-283. 10.4018/978-1-61520-672-8.ch016.