Instructional design models are helpful in planning and creating effective teaching experiences. Since there are so many instructional design models that have been created, it can be difficult to select an appropriate one for an instructor’s specific needs (Baturay, 2008). This blog post will examine some of the more well-known models and how they relate to my personal experience teaching in the computing field for higher education.
One of the most widely used and general use model for instructional design is the ADDIE model (Bates, 2018; Martin, 2011). ADDIE is a mnemonic that stands for Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. The ADDIE model is a macro model which explains the cyclical process of continually improving instruction by reviewing and revising how it is delivered. Even though I had not heard of the ADDIE model before my studies at Royal Roads, I have been using a similar iterative approach to teaching and assessing the efficiency of instruction. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the ADDIE model is so popular – it formalizes what we already know and do as effective instructors.
The ADDIE model is macro model because it deals with instructional design at a course or program level and it can be broken down into smaller micro models to help us design, develop and evaluate smaller lessons, topics, and activities. One such micro model, the Action Mapping model by Cathy Moore (Moore, 2017), resonates with me. There are 4 steps in the Action Mapping model, 1) clearly define the problem; 2) identify what people need to do to solve the problem; 3) create an activity to practice what needs to be done; and 4) provide the necessary information to complete the practice activity. This practical approach to designing lessons aligns well with me because I often take a backwards approach to teaching. I start with the learning outcomes for the course, identify what skills students need to do be the end of course, create activities for students to practice those skills and then provide students the background knowledge to support those activities. One potential downside that I can see with the Action Mapping is that it aims at providing only the minimum required information to complete the associated activities. I would be concerned that students may not be able to relate individual activities to one another to formulate a bigger picture and incorporate the smaller activities into larger tasks. With the minimal information they have, would students have enough background knowledge to understand the importance and significance of the activities as a whole?
To resolve the issue of the Action Mapping model being too focused, I might look to something like Reigeluth’s Elaboration Theory (Reigeluth & Stein, 1983). When teaching, Reigeluth’s Elaboration Theory suggests students will have better retention if instructors design courses by separating topics into layers, ordering those layers by complexity (from simple to complex), providing students with overviews showing relationships between the details and summarizing lessons for additional synthesis (Gordon, n.d.). In my opinion, the Elaboration Theory provides the necessary glue that holds each of the individual Action Mapping model activities together, which will provide students high level overview of the course and gives instructors a guideline for logical order of activities within the course.
Another micro model I looked at when researching for this blog entry was Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction (Gagné, 1985). I had not heard of Gagné’s Nine Events until taking this MALAT course. However, when I started teaching at BCIT, I was taught the BOPPPS model (Pattison & Day, 2006) for lesson planning. I found the similarities between the BOPPPS model and the Nine Events remarkable. BOPPPS is a mnemonic which standards for Bridge-In, Objectives, Pre-assessment, Participatory Learning, Post-assessment, Summary. First, the Bridge-In is equivalent to Gagné’s first event, Gaining attention. Second, comes the Objectives for both models. Next, both models have a pre-assessment or prior recall to prepare students to build upon their existing knowledge and to help the teacher gauge how much learners already know. In the middle the BOPPPS model has a Participatory Lesson and a Post-Assessment, and this is a collection of the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth events in Gagné’s Nine events: 4) Presenting the stimulus; 5) Providing learning guidance; 6) Eliciting performance; 7) Providing Feedback; and 8) Assessing performance. Lastly the BOPPPS uses a short summary which is very similar to Gagné’s last event, Enhancing retention and transfer.
In summary, I like and use the ADDIE model because it guides instructors to always improve their teaching materials. I use similar techniques to the Action Mapping model to help identify my learning outcomes and design my activities and organize them according to the Elaboration Theory providing activities from simple to complex and providing additional context to relate individual activities to other another. I also use the BOPPPS model, which is a modified version of Gagné’s Nine Events to capture student attention and increase knowledge retention.
References
Bates, A. T. (2018). Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning.
Baturay, M. H. (2008). Characteristics of basic instructional design models. Ekev Academic Review, 12(34), 471-482.
Gagné, R. M. (1985). Conditions of learning and theory of instruction. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Gordon, D. (n.d.). Instructional Design Models. Retrieved Nov 21, 2020 from http://www.damiantgordon.com/Courses/DT580/ID-Models.html
Martin, F. (2011). Instructional design and the importance of instructional alignment. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 35(12), 955-972.
Moore, C. (2017). Map It: The Hands-On Guide to Strategic Training Design. Montesa Press.
Pattison, P., & Day, R. W. C. (2006). Instructional Skills Workshop Handbook for Participants. The Instructional Skills Workshop International Advisory Committee, TAG, UBC: Vancouver.
Reigeluth, C., & Stein, R. (1983). Elaboration theory. Instructional-design theories and models: An overview of their current status (1983), 335-381.
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