Instructional Design Theories

Instructional design (ID) is concerned with discerning the methods of instruction that are most likely to work best for different situations. This entry will begin by exploring the idea of ID. Elaborations of the definition will include a description of the conditions-method’s-outcomes nature of ID theories and contrasts between ID and learning theories, between prescriptive and descriptive theories, between pragmatic (or eclectic) and ideological views of instruction, between validity and superiority as criteria for judging ID theory, between general and detailed theories, and between ID theories and ID process models. The entry will then present a brief history of ID theories and project their future evolution to meet the needs of a post industrial, information-based society. Finally, there will be a discussion of trends and issues relating to the emergence of a new paradigm of instruction to meet the needs of the information-age society, including the need to develop prescriptions for the use of adaptive strategies, advanced technologies, constructivist strategies, minimalist instruction, affective learning, and systemic change.

Any attempt to understand education is enlightened by the recognition that education is a system; namely, that it is comprised of many interacting elements, and that the effects of each element are dependent to a great extent upon other elements of the system. Banathy (1991) has identified four levels of educational systems: (a) the learning-experience level; (b) the instructional system that implements those learning experiences; (c) the administrative system that supports the instructional system; and (d) the governance system that owns, rules, and funds the entire educational or training enterprise. Separate fields have arisen for each level, including learning theory, instructional and curriculum and counseling theories, administrative studies, and policy studies, respectively. Interdisciplinary linkages are woefully deficient in most cases. This entry will focus on the instructional level of educational systems.

Within the instructional level, there are many theoretical approaches, each oriented around a different type of decision-oriented activity. Curriculum theory and theories of front-end analysis inform decisions about what to teach. Instructional design theory addresses decisions about how to teach it. Instructional mediation (or instructional development) theory is concerned with how to take the designs (or blueprints) for the instruction and make them a reality on the most appropriate media. There are also theories for instructional evaluation, dissemination/ implementation/ change, and management. This entry only addresses instructional design theory.

C. M. Reigeluth