Learning Design Philosophy

Informed Instructional Design

I believe that the instructional design process must be informed in its

• foundational understanding of how people learn,
• keen analysis of the learners and tasks to be taught,
• strategic design and development of learning activities,
• and purposeful improvement through evidence-based evaluation.

Instructional Design is Brain Science

Informed instructional design is founded in a practical understanding of cognitive psychology. In order to create effective instruction, it is vital that we understand how people think, learn, and remember. At its core, this is outlined through the information processing system, which consists of the sensory register (where new information enters our awareness), working memory (where information is attended to, rehearsed, and put to use), and long-term memory (where information is encoded with prior knowledge, creating knowledge schema) (Mayer, 2011). Thus, informed instructional design supports the cognitive processes of selecting important information from sensory memory, meaningfully engaging with it in working memory, and thoughtfully integrating it with previously established knowledge in long-term memory. This idea serves as the foundation for my philosophy of instructional design as it requires us to consider:

• the learners’ motivation in attending to essential information,
• how to best manage the cognitive load placed on the learners’ working memory,
• and meaningful strategies for integrating new information into long-term memory.

Thorough Analysis is Key

Informed instructional design is based on a thorough understanding of learners and learning tasks. Analysis of learners enables instructional designers to design and develop content that is catered to their cognitive, physiological, affective, and social characteristics (Smith & Ragan, 2005). This enables us to effectively utilize the learners’ information processing systems by answering the following questions:

• What would grab their attention and motivate them to expend mental effort? As Socrates would put it, what kindles their flame?
• What might distract or be distracting them from the essential content?
• What prior knowledge can we build off of?

Thorough analysis of learning tasks is essential for managing cognitive load and determining the most effective instructional methods. Thusly, it is the job of a learning designer to thoroughly decompose a task through cognitive task analysis (CTA). CTA is a systematic means for breaking a task down into each of its requisite parts (Smith & Ragan, 2005). It is essential for effectively designing and developing instruction around any given task’s cognitive load.

Meaningful Learning Promotes Transfer

Informed instructional design implements instructional strategies that support meaningful learning. Meaningful learning requires that learners make sense of new information according that what they already know (Dembo & Seli, 2016). It effectively organizes information in long-term memory, making it easy to retrieve. This enhances transfer of knowledge to novel contexts beyond instruction. A few strategies and theories that inform my instructional design philosophy are:

• Bandura’s social cognitive theory (2001), which emphasizes that learning occurs in a social context and that much of what is learned is gained through observation and modeling.
• Anchored instruction, which focuses on “domain-specific problem solving based on situated cognition” (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 232). This enables learners to practice in meaningful and realistic contexts, thus promoting transfer of knowledge beyond instruction.
• Bloom’s revised taxonomy for learning (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001), which puts forth a hierarchy of learning objectives in the cognitive domain, from lowest to highest-level learning outcomes: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create.

Purposeful Accountability Enables Improvement

Informed instructional design effectively holds itself accountable to learning objectives while constantly seeking improvement. This requires the creation of a thorough assessment and evaluation plan across all phases of instruction (Smith & Ragan, 2005). Essentially, an assessment and evaluation plan enables instructional designers to answer the following questions:

• Is the instruction accomplishing what it set out to do?
• How can the instruction accomplish its outcomes more efficiently and effectively?

Informed instructional designers asks these questions throughout the instructional design process, using data to better address learners’ needs and make improvements to their work.