Major disciplines that influenced ID

What are the major disciplines that influence professional practice in ID?

1)Systems Thinking
2)Learning Theory
3)Communications and Communications Theory
4)Technology

Systems thinking - Instructional designers believe that the use of systematic design procedures make instruction more effective, efficient and relevant than less rigorous approaches to planning instruction. A variety of systematic instructional design processes has the core elements of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation to ensure congruence among goals, strategies and evaluation and the effectiveness of resulting instruction.

Learning Theory - Depending on the learners and situation, different learning theories may apply. The function of ID is more of an application of theory, rather than a theory itself. We must allow circumstances surrounding the learning situation to help us decide which approach to learning is most appropriate. It is necessary to realize that some learning problems require highly prescriptive solutions, whereas others are more suited to learner control of the environment. A behavioral approach can effectively facilitate mastery of the content of a profession. Cognitive strategies are useful in teaching problem solving tactics where defined facts and rules are applied in unfamiliar situations and constructivist strategies are especially suited to ill-defined problems through reflection in action.

Communications & Communication Theory - Wilbur Schramm’s communications model featured the concept of feedback as integral to the communications process. As did Aristotle, Schramm noted that communication always required three elements, the sender, the content, and the receiver. This conversation is a two way iterative process that recurs until the sender is assured that the receiver understood the intended message. Schramm also noted that the sender and recipients prior experience with the content and the media had an effect on how the message was encoded and decoded.( Schramm 1971). Schramm’s communication model became one of the most widely referenced communication theories in ID research. This led to the development of Instructional design that integrated feedback throughout the learning process.(Smith& Ragan 1993).

Technology -There has never been an age in which the practical applications of science have applied so large a portion of talent and enterprise of the community, as in present. Technology included the scientific investigation and the systematic application of scientific knowledge to the process of commodity production.

Strong ties and parallels between industrial technology and educational technology were established early in this century (Finn 1957; Heinich 1984). The predecessors of educational technology borrowed terminology and images from industrial technology.

Definition then and Now

In my first semester at the edtech program, I was asked to define what I thought Edtech was and this what I defined it.

Then - When I say then, it means it was at the beginning of the semester in Edtech in Spring 2002. When I was asked to define Instructional design at the beginning of the semester I defined it from an Engineer’s point of view, as I did my under graduation in Engineering. This is how I had defined it.

I agree with Coldeway when he states, “Instructional Design is actually a hybrid made up of concepts in Learning Theory, Systems Engineering, Instructional Technology and Organizational Development. It is a systematic attempt to organize procedures and methods of demonstrated effectiveness in the educational context.”

Now - When I said now, this was the definition I came up with at the end of my first class in Edtech in 2002.
The field of Instructional design and technology encompasses the analysis of learning and performance problems, and the design and development, implementation, evaluation and management of instructional and non-instructional processes and resources intended to improve learning and performance in a variety of settings, particularly educational institutions and the workplace.

Elements of Instruction

The last two years I've spent a lot of time researching on the effects instructional events in Computer based learning.

Gagné and Driscoll (1988) defined instruction as “the set of events designed to initiate, activate and support learning in a human learner.” Furthermore Gagné et al. (1992) defined it as "a deliberately arranged set of external events designed to support the learning process."

I prefered to call these events as elements of instruction and the ones that I researched on were Objectives, Practice with feedback, Examples and Review. In my investigation in a couple of experimental studies, I found that Practice was one element that had the most effect. Not that the others weren't useful, but just with the presence of practice the effects of the other elements were minimized. So I have become this big advocate for designing Practice in any instructional material.

If you would like to read more about my studies, I would love to share them with you. I have a couple of conference presentations and one journal article - with the other on the way. I thoroughly enjoyed the research process, even though I was disappointed when I heard from reviewers "what is new in your study?", they did not get the point that I investigated a combination of elements in a single study which not a lot of others have done.

To sum the studies in a single sentence, it was a research in depth and not too wide. What can you benefit from research if you do not include the main instructional elements in a module but test for the all the other external variables which might add on to it...........

Educational technology vs Technology Integration

It was 4 years ago, while I was researching on the edtech graduate programs, I realized that Educational Technology to me always meant Technology in Education or Technology Integration. Ofcourse, I did change my view about the field once I realised that I was wrong. It does mean more than the words "Education" and "Technology" by itself. It is an entire world of Instructional Technology and Learning Technology. It is also not limited to education for children but also includes adults.

When I tell people that I am an educational technologist or an instructional designer, not a lot of them do know about the field. I have always tried to explain in the simplest words I can ....

It is a field where we help people learn better by designing effective instruction and use the appropriate technology

Welcome to Edtecker

Finally I have an Edtecker Blog....which I wanted to create for a while. In this blog you will read my thoughts in the world of Educational Technology. I am an Edtech graduate from Arizona State University. I have been fascinated with this field and love the area of instructional design, human performance technology, online learning and teaching, educational evaluation, corporate training and distance education