Instructional Design Document

Ah, finally, you get to design your instruction. All of you have been thinking about how you are going to present and teach this material for some time. Here I want you to step back from it and approach it from a fresh perspective. Over the last several weeks you have probably changed and sharpened the focus of your instruction--sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Now it is time to take that deeper understanding of what you are going to teach (and why) and plan how you will teach it.

For this assignment, you should create a design for your instruction, but not the instruction itself. This is like an architect creating a blueprint before the building is built. The design should show clearly

  • The overall strategies and media you have chosen for the instruction.
  • How the objectives will be grouped and sequenced.
  • For each objective or group of objectives, how each of the events of
    instruction will be handled, with examples, samples, and so on as needed.
  • For each objective or group of objectives, how the ARCS model will be applied.

In other words, the design should show how you plan to teach this material, in some detail, without actually writing the teacher's guide, handouts, student materials, video scripts, or whatever it takes to deliver the instruction.

Key criteria for evaluating your instructional design:

  1. Effectiveness: Is the design likely to be effective in teaching the objectives?
  2. Congruence: Does the proposed instruction teach the objectives identified in the
    analysis phase? Could someone taking this instruction pass the post-test
    as designed?
  3. Grouping and Sequencing: Does the proposed instruction have clear and
    effective groupings and sequences of instruction?
  4. Grounding: Are the choices made for instructional methods, modes, media,
    strategies, etc. grounded in sound principles from the textbook, class, or
    other sources?
  5. Completeness: Does the design include instruction on all objectives identified
    in the analysis phase (but not entry behaviors/prerequisites)? Does the
    design address all nine events of instruction as well as the ARCS model?
  6. Creativity: Does the design show creativity in how the instruction
    is approached? Are the proposed examples/practice items/activities novel
    and/or interesting?
  7. Style: Is the writing style of the design clear and easy to follow?
  8. Presentation: Is the presentation of the design inviting and clear?

Grading Criteria

 


© Albert L. Ingram, Ph.D. Revised: February 13, 2008