Instructional Design Primer

1. From Concept to Course
Designing
Developing
Evaluating

2. Why Design?
The target of any design is meeting needs when specific
situations, for users (human, animal and vegetable) and
products (space, component, contents…):
1. Among these needs, designing deals with the way it works internally
and externally.
2. We refer to situations, related to context and means: places,
devices, clothes, paper, webs…

3. The Process of Design Thinking

4. Creating Courses Is a Design Process
Goal: Assemble the Components into a Coherent Whole
1. Create a thematic structure for the course
2. Select or create an instructional strategy
3. Integrate the course structure and the
instructional strategy to create an overall scheme
of learning activities

5. Design Follows Logic

6. The Nine Events of Instruction
1. Gain attention
2. Inform learners of objectives
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning
4. Present the content
5. Provide "learning guidance"
6. Elicit performance (practice)
7. Provide feedback
8. Assess performance
9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job
The Principles of Instructional Design, Robert Gagne, 1985

7. The 4A’s of Learning Design
Attraction:
An attractive module draws the user in, engages them and leaves them satisfied.
Attraction will ensure the user wants to use this intervention instead of
another.
Attention:
This model shifts the focus to the content of the module. The first ‘A’ has already
attracted the user. Attention will narrowly focus the learning.
Availability:
Albert Einstein said with great wisdom, “It’s not what you know, but knowing
where to find it”. Availability will ensure the content is up to date and always
retrievable.
Application:
The most important stage of the learning intervention design is to entice
the user to apply what they have gained in knowledge to a real life situation.
Application will drive the motivation to use the new information.
Neil Lasher, 2006

8. Developing Technical Training
Requires a Structured Approach
For Developing Classroom and
Online Instructional Materials to
Teach the 5 Basic Content Types:
 Facts
 Concepts
 Processes
 Procedures
 Principles

9. The Content Performance Matrix
Apply
Remember
Facts
Concepts
Processes
Procedures
Principles
Ruth Colvin Clark, 1999

10. Facts
Consist of unique, specific concrete items, precise data, or one-of-a-kind
association among concepts.
Apply
Remember
the Facts
Remember
What is your
Windows
password?
Facts
Concepts
Processes
Procedures
Principles

11. How to Teach Facts
 When listing steps or guidelines for job tasks, look at each
step or guidelines to identify all related facts and
concepts.
 Facts can be processed only at the remember level. Recall
of information in isolation should be avoided. Learning
objectives should require applying facts to perform tasks.
 Display facts using statements, diagrams with labels, lists
or charts.
 Use paper-based or online cues to organize facts and
summarize them.

12. Concepts
Are classes of items that share common features and are known by a common name. All
concept groups include multiple specific examples. Most technical training involve many
concepts related to the procedures staff need to learn for effective job performance.
Classify New
Examples
Which file
name is valid?
A. 043MYFILE
B. MYFILE9
Apply
Remember
the
Definition
Remember
Define a valid
file name.
Facts
Concepts
Processes
Procedures
Principles

13. How to Teach Concepts
 Focus on critical features that all concepts of a class share
in common, not irrelevant features on which specific
examples vary.
 Concrete concepts have parts and boundaries. Abstract
concepts cannot be illustrated with a diagram.
 Memorizing key features or definitions of concepts helps
in learning and recall. Use activities that help with recall.
 Show definitions, examples, non-examples and analogies.
Rely on diagrams for concrete concepts and text or verbal
presentation of abstract concepts.

14. Processes
Are descriptions of how things work. There are two basic types of processes:
• Business – which describe workflows
• Technical – which describe how things work in equipment or natural systems
Solve a
Problem, Make
An Inference
Apply
Manager asks if
an employee has
fulfilled training.
Where should you
check first?
Remember the
Stages
Remember
Describe how
transcript
requests are
processed.
Facts
Concepts
Processes
Procedures
Principles

15. How to Teach Processes
 Write objectives that require knowing how things like




corporate functions, software applications, or clinical
operations work, not how to do things.
Identify essential processes and write objectives at the
application level.
If processes are extensive and detailed, treat them as a
single lesson or module.
Use processes as a course framework and embed lessons
that require tasks for each stage.
Include problem solving or inference creation for testing
at the application level of learning.

16. Procedures
Are series of clearly defined steps that result in successful completion of a job task. Linear
procedures consist of a single stream of steps. Decision procedures contain two or more
linear procedures that are chosen based on clearly defined criteria.
Perform the
Procedure
Apply
Log on to the
computer
Remember the
Steps
Remember
List the steps to
log onto the
computer
Facts
Concepts
Processes
Procedures
Principles

17. How to Teach Procedures
 Procedures are taught most effectively at the application




level of learning by hands-on activity.
Action tables and decision trees in manuals, job aides and
wall charts enhance learning procedures.
Demonstrations and practices accelerate learning
procedures.
Include scenarios and simulations in OLT along with
prompts that display details of required steps.
Assess learning of procedures through performance tests,
in-person or online.

18. Making It
Come to Life
Learning
from the
LearnerEye-Level

19. Framing a Scenario
 List a purpose for the
scenario
 Imagine some user
characters
 Explore what is/could be
working/not working
 State how and what you
want the employee to
learn

20. Concept to Scenario
A concept helps define an underlying or guiding
principle for the learner, one that will be employed
by the learner to discern appropriate behavior.
Concept or Principle
Drives What Behavior?

21. The Story
What should the nurse
do first?
What should the nurse
do now?
Is the consent valid at
this point?
 A patient arrived for ambulatory surgery from a group home with group
home caregivers accompanying. The surgical consent was signed on
behalf of the patient by her grandmother.
 There was no paperwork on the chart to indicate that the grandmother
had legal guardianship. The group home caregiver gave the nurse a
document with the group home logo that stated the grandmother had
guardianship.
 The nurse asked the caregiver to contact the group home director to
obtain court documents to support the claim of the grandmother.
Anesthesiology starts to interview the patient, who is known to have
epilepsy, seizure within past 48 hours, brain tumor, mild MR, diabetes M,
and she was previously PEC’ed within 24 – 48 hours of this on Psych 1.
Her left wrist had a very thick bandage placed after excessive biting and
possible suicide attempt. Surgical residents were attentive to progress
being made but were not overbearing. Anesthesiology attending
contacted grandmother before any paperwork arrived and they obtained
consent.
 Nurse raised issue up chain of command to her supervisors, in case any
legal paperwork was present from the recent admission. In the
meantime, the GH director repeatedly denied possessing any documents
proving guardianship. The nurse asked the GH director to contact probate
court to obtain legal documents and send them here. ANM noted
Anesthesiology attempting to leave preop area with patient prior to
paperwork on chart and intervened to stop transfer into OR. Scott called
Judy, who intervened with probate court to obtain the documents that
did prove the grandmother’s guardianship status.

22. The Story as Scenario

23. Your Objectives and Evaluation . . . .
Are Bookends That Hold Up the Content of the
Course, Set Its Boundaries and Define Its Success.