Capstone

Instructional Design Process

This capstone thesis represents the culminating experience in the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education’s Master of Education in Learning Design and Technology program. The capstone requires the application of learning science and instructional design principles towards the design and development of a learning module or course materials. This section will outline the instructional design process undertaken for this experience.

According to Smith and Ragan (2005) instructional design is “the systematic and reflective process of translating principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials, activities, information resources, and evaluation” (p. 4). Essentially, instructional designers resolve learning needs by using their expertise in principles of instruction and learning to create instructional content, learning activities, and evaluation materials. Smith and Ragan (2005) assert that, at the most basic level, an instructional designer’s job is to answer the following three questions:

1. What is the purpose of instruction?
2. What instructional strategies and mediums need to be used to fulfill that purpose?
3. What evidence is there to prove that the purpose has been fulfilled?

These basic questions were answered in the course of this capstone experience. For this capstone, the instructional design process was applied to the redesign of the Educational Psychology and Technology (EDPT) 502 Learning and Individual Differences course at the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education (RSOE). After careful review of previous iterations, the instructor determined that the already successful course could be improved further through a redesign of its structure, which required the development of new instructional content. This was accomplished through an instructional design process known as ADDIE, which stands for analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate (Branch, 2009).

Reflection

This capstone experience has been challenging, rewarding, and invaluable to my growth as a learning designer. I am extremely appreciative of Dr. Rebecca Lundeen and Dr. Helena Seli for giving me the opportunity to work on EDPT 502. It was an honor to work with and learn from experienced and insightful practitioners. I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to undertake the entire ADDIE process, applying all the knowledge and skills taught throughout the Learning Design and Technology (LDT) program over the course of this capstone. The extra challenge presented by this opportunity also served to greatly enrich my experience.

The most challenging aspects of this capstone project were its timing and scope. Given that the course was set to be implemented with revisions in the Spring 2018 semester, most of the analysis, design, and development work had to be accelerated. This presented a challenging reflection of a real-world instructional design environment. Deadlines are an inextricable aspect of instructional design work and it is vital that one know how to produce high quality, timely work. Though projects are often rushed, it is still important to conduct through analysis. Design and development are certainly essential and time-consuming, but the analysis phase took the longest to complete, as it was important for me to have a thorough understanding of the course, its learners, and the environment. This allowed me to undergo thoughtful and deliberate design and development processes.

This capstone’s design and development processes were especially rewarding. It was an honor to develop learning content for graduate students who are themselves seeking growth in an area that will enable them to help others. This process enabled me to transfer my knowledge relating to principles of learning science and multimedia to a real-world learning environment. For example, in developing recorded presentations, I considered the learners’ cognitive load and utilized multimedia principles such as signaling to bring their attention to important information. This was a truly invaluable experience that has contributed greatly to my growth as a learning designer.