Instructional Design Models

Instructional design similarities:
Both the Instructional Systems Design model as well as the (ADDIE) Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation model have many key features in common. First, both of them encourage the user to evaluate the student or customer prior to completely designing the points that you will need to teach. The ISD and ADDIE model both require you to take into account the conditions under which the model will be utilized as well as what constraints may be in place under those conditions. Second, both of the models suggest putting in place criteria beforehand so the student/customer will know what the final outcome should look like. Third, both models encourage the use of test or evaluative instruments of some kind to evaluate the student/customer. Finally, both of the models encourage the use of self-evaluation of the delivery method to determine if what you were trying to teach was what was actually learned.

Instructional design differences:
There are also slight variations between the two instructional design models. First, the ISD model assumes that you are aware of how to get through the process of developing the materials, tests, curriculum structure, and reinforcement activities with the somewhat nebulous instructions that they are to be valid, reliable, and consistent. As a new teacher I would look at this shorter version of an IDM and ponder where I was supposed to find all of this material. I would feel compelled to develop it but I would be at lost trying to figure out where to start. Second, the ISD model implies total control over the curriculum as well as the method for evaluating the end product. Lastly, the ADDIE model spends significantly more time developing the awareness of the student and customers, as well as going step by step through the development phase. I particularly enjoy the concept of storyboarding (as tedious as that can be at times) so that you can then visualize the process as you intend it to be to check for major oversights or “squeeze points.”

The ADDIE model, as mentioned above, spends more time in the planning phase. I probably tend to move faster than I should sometimes believing that it is necessary to cover all of the items I need to cover in the period of time I have been allotted. Since I have taken the SEI training I have learned the error of my ways and I have slowed down considerably. The emphasis now is on discovering where my students are “technologically” then trying to adjust my curriculum to incorporate most of the learning levels in my room. Then the concept/product is evaluated for its relevance to the student in the world of today then, I get around to deciding how I will be teaching the concept/product. Second, the ADDIE model sets up a specific time that the model should be evaluated for its’ effectiveness and when to concentrate the feedback to the student/customer for maximum results. Lastly, the ADDIE model encourages evaluation from the student/customer. This last item is the most important in my mind because it removes the sense that you are done merely because you have “taught the concept” indeed you have to prepare to find out that your well-laid plans may actually be in need of a major overhaul! Education is a process not an end point and this model strengthens that mentality.

Designing my own lesson (in this case the Class Animal Pie Chart) now begins with the understanding that some of my students have not had an opportunity to create a chart on a computer in the past five years of their schooling. Many of the other students are completely capable of creating a chart so I chose to develop a sense of commonality based upon the subject matter not the process at this point in the quarter. This activity is done with the sixth grade classes to introduce the creation of charts to graphically demonstrate compiled data. The motivation for the students is the ease with which they can create a chart that will display data in an easy to read and comprehend method. Lastly, I take into account the general audience and the vast variation of socio-economic and educational expectations that I have in the classroom. There are students in my room for whom school is merely a free daycare; clear across to the other end of the spectrum, students who will earn every point you throw at them. Then they will ask for more! My school is also in a relatively itinerant area with a majority of the students receiving free or reduced lunches. So I tend to identify concepts/products that will give them as much of a leg up in the real word as I can possibly manage.