Notes on how to design effective instructional messages.

1. Chapter 8:
Designing the
Instructional Message
By:
Mawar Magenta

2. Questions To Consider
(Before starting to design)
1) What is the best way to introduce the content
to a learner?
- Power Point Slides, Video, 2D or 3D Animation, etc.
2) What is the best way to implement your
‘Instructional Strategies’?
- Lectures, Discussions, Case Studies, Lab/Studio, etc.

3. Questions To Consider
(Before starting to design)
3) How can you cue your learner to the most
important information?
- Most important cues first. Less important later
4) Should you use pictures with your instruction?
- Necessary or not to use the pictures to aid the
instruction

4. Points To Be Pondered Before
Designing the Instructional Material
a) Defining Problem and Content;
- What are the contents of the instruction?
b) Defining Characteristic of Audience
- What is the level of the audience?
Eg: Children, teenager, adult, high-ability, low-ability, etc.
c) Specifying the objectives
- What is the target at the end of the lesson?
d) Designing the Instructional Strategies
- In what way the instruction should be conveyed?

5. Preparations On Designing the
Instructional Material
Develop Effective Instruction:
- Structuring and presenting the materials that both
signal and engage the learner to the important points

6. 1) Pre-instructional
Strategy
- Techniques for
preparing the
learner for the
instruction.
2) Message Design
For Text
- Strategies for
signaling the
structure of the
Text through
words and
Typography.
3) Pictures &
Graphic in
Instruction
- Discussion of the use
of the pictures and
graphics in the
instructional
materials.
Designing the Instructional Material
Elements
(Fleming1993)

7. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
a) Pre-test
- A set of questions/cues directly relevant to the
instruction as to help learner identify & focus for the
main ideas in the instruction.
b) Behavioral Objectives
- The objectives the designer has developed or presents
them as goal statements describing the behavior the
student must master.

8. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
c) Overviews
- Similar to summary, written as a paragraph(s) of prose,
rather than a list of items
d) Advance Organizer
- The kind of similar to overview but written at a higher
level of abstraction.

9. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
(Hartley & Davies 1976)
STRATEGY FUNCTION LEARNER
CONTENT
STRUCTURE
TASK ATTRIBUTES
1) Pretest
Alert student
to what is
expected
Above average
IQ, older, or
more mature
learners
Length of the
instruction is
relatively
short &
loosely
structured
Learners should
have some
familiarity with the
content if the
questions are to be
meaningful
Table of Structures:

10. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
a) Pre-test Guidelines:
i. A pre-instructional pretest should be relatively
short so as not to delay the start of the
instruction
ii. Questions are open ended:
Allowing for a spontaneous, unstructured
response
iii. Pretest items are the general overall points of
the instruction’s content

11. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
a) Pre-test Example
Chapter 2: Webpage Evaluation
1. What should a good webpage look like?
2. What type of information should you see on a good webpage?
3. What are some examples of things NOT to put on your
webpage?
4. If you could design your ideal webpage, what are some
features you would include?

12. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
(Hartley & Davies 1976)
STRATEGY FUNCTION LEARNER
CONTENT
STRUCTURE
TASK ATTRIBUTES
2) Behavioral
Objectives
Precisely
inform the
student of
what is
expected
Middle
ability
students
Used to
preface a
passage of
fewer than
2,500 words
Works best with
traditional methods
such as lectures

13. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
b) Behavioral Objectives Guidelines:
i. Use a statement that clearly indicates the behavior
the student needs to master excluding the condition
& criteria (Klauer 1984)
ii. Avoid being too detail but just be general to keep the
list shorter, thus resulting mastery of the material
convenient to achieve

14. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
b) Behavioral Objectives Guidelines:
iii. Understandable & suitable writing style.
Eg: “At the end of this unit, you will…” is better than:
“ At the termination of this unit, you will…”
iv. Objectives are less effective if it is more than 2,500
words (Klauer 1984)

15. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
b) Behavioral Objectives Example:

16. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
(Hartley & Davies 1976)
STRATEGY FUNCTION LEARNER
CONTENT
STRUCTURE
TASK ATTRIBUTES
3) Overviews
Prepare
the
learners
for the
learning
task
Lower-
ability
Higher-
ability
Little or no
structure
Facts
Concepts

17. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
c) Overviews Guidelines:
i. Three general approaches to an overview:
- Provide a summary to a content.
- Create a problem requesting the learner to solve by
referring to the unit
- Describe how the content will help the learner
ii. An overview should be short; less than a page. A
longer one will ruin everything!

18. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
c) Overviews Example:

19. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
(Hartley & Davies 1976)
STRATEGY FUNCTION LEARNER
CONTENT
STRUCTURE
TASK ATTRIBUTES
4) Advance
Organizer
Conceptual
framework
needed to clarify
content for
learner
Above –average
ability, maturity,
and sophistication
Should have
a dominant
structure
Factual
information

20. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
d) Advance Organizers Guidelines:
i. Use general terms which are easy to understand &
remember.
ii. Ideas presented inclusive all the content covered.
iii. Use Expository Organizers if the learner is unfamiliar
with the content. (Relevant knowledge of the learner
which relate to the content)

21. 1. Pre-instructional Strategies
d) Advance Organizers Example:

22. 2. Message Design For Text
(Chambliss & Calfee 1989)
Three essential Text Design Elements to good text
instruction:
a) A set of distinctive words or typography
- Eg: The headings in the book signal The Chapters while
italic/underlined/bold type signal keywords
b) Coherence of the Text
- Logical, orderly, and consistent relation of text which helps
learner to recall the information.
c) Match of the Content and Learner’s Background
- Which will make sense for the learner to comprehend the
content of the information.
-
* See Figure 1

23. F
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g
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r
e
1
:
T
e
x
t
L
a
y
o
u
t

24. Criteria For Good Text Layout
Criteria of good layout for text units are:
a) Suitable Headings & Sub-Heading
b) Suitable white space
c) Coherence of the Text
d) Good & relevant Typographical Variations

25. Criteria For Good Text Layout
1. Suitable Headings & Sub-Heading
- Heading should represent the content
2. Suitable white space
- Correct white space will add mood to read &
easier in memorizing

26. Criteria For Good Text Layout
3. Coherence of the Text
- Logical, orderly, and consistent relation of text which
helps learner to recall the information.
- Different contents grouped together in different
paragraphs
4. Good & relevant Typographical Variations
- Signaling the structure of the information by varying the
type; boldface, italics, underline or font size, etc.
- Suitable & uniform type font, not more than 3 types of
font.
- Suitable colour usage

27. Figure 2: Good Layout

28. Figure 3: Bad Layout

29. 2. Message Design For Text
(Meyer 1985)
Explicit Signals: Pointer Words
- Words which alert the learners to what to
expect on the following sentence,
paragraph and chapter

30. Text Structure Example Signaling Words
1) Lists
“Research shows that clothing
affects several kinds of
judgments people make. First is
credibility. Second is likability.
Third is dominance. Fourth is
kindness and last but not least is
empathy.”
First, second, third, etc. ;
subsequent; another
Combination:
Pointer Words (Meyer 1985) &
Content Structures (Armbruster 1986)

31. Text Structure Example Signaling Words
2) Comparisons
or Contrasts
“In 2015 educators and
commentators discussed the future
of learning and what new teaching
methodologies that could integrate
technology into the classroom in the
most productive way. However, in
some quarters the decision-makers
got a little ahead of themselves and
underestimated the value of
teachers in acting as guides,
curators and motivators in the
classroom.”
But, in comparison,
however, while, to
differentiate, a
distinguishing
Combination:
Pointer Words (Meyer 1985) &
Content Structures (Armbruster 1986)

32. Text Structure Example Signaling Words
3) Temporal
Sequence
“Preparations to attend an interview
are; First you must make sure you
dress properly as people will judge
book by it’s cover always. Second, be
punctual to the interview venue.
Advisably, be early as like 20 minutes
so that you can be calm and ready for
the interview.”
Beginning with, after,
next, first, second, etc.
Combination:
Pointer Words (Meyer 1985) &
Content Structures (Armbruster 1986)

33. Text Structure Example Signaling Words
4) Cause & Effect
“Sophisticated feedback devices
such as head-mounted stereoscopic
displays, gloves and suits with
embedded sensors could transmit
information to a computer about a
user’s movements, thereby making it
possible for students not only to
observe virtual worlds, but to
interact with them too.”
Consequently, as a
result, if/then, the
reason, thereby, one
explanation, etc
Combination:
Pointer Words (Meyer 1985) &
Content Structures (Armbruster 1986)

34. Text Structure Example Signaling Words
5) Definition &
Example
“In an active classroom
environment the role of a teacher
is often that of a facilitator,
supporting pupils as they learn
and develop skills in, for example;
assessing evidence, negotiation,
making informed decisions,
solving problems, working
independently and working with
others.”
For example, include,
another, etc.
Combination:
Pointer Words (Meyer 1985) &
Content Structures (Armbruster 1986)

35. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
Eg 1:
Computer System
A computer system is one that is able to take a set of
inputs, process them and create a set of outputs. This is
done by a combination of hardware and software.
The computer system has one or more inputs to
provide data. This data is then processed in some way.
The outcome of the processing is sent to an output or it
may be stored until some event happens to cause it to be
output.
For processing to take place, there needs to be a set of
instructions of what needs to be done. This set of
instructions is called a program.
This system is called a stored-program computer.

36. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
Figure 4: A flow chart showing the concept of the Computer System

37. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
The‘Diagram’, makes the understanding of what is
‘Computer System’ easier & better, right?
Conclusion:
Visual images aid & enhance the
understanding of Text Content.

38. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
There are 5 types of Graphic
Instruction:
a) Decoration
b) Representation
c) Organization
d) Interpretation
e) Transformation

39. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
The Function of Pictures
•Decoration
* The picture has a minimum
function as an image related to
the texts.

40. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
The Function of Pictures
•Representation * The picture has a simple
function to a simple
content.

41. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
The Function of Pictures
•Organization * A set of pictures function as
instruction/manual kit .

42. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
The Function of Pictures
•Interpretation
* The picture functions to explain
complicated cycles to make
comprehension easier.

43. 3. Pictures & Graphics In Instruction
The Function of Pictures
•Transformation * The picture functions as a mnemonic

44. Factors of Usage of Graphic
1. Enhance Learning
- Add interest & comprehension to the learners
2. Availability
- Which types of graphic available for your usage:
Original Art, Clip Art & Photographs
3. Cost of Reproducing
- Eg: Storage for large number of digital graphic/ pictures,
printing cost for digital graphics/ photos, cost of paper
materials, etc.

45. Reference:
• Textbook “DESIGNING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION” fifth
edition; 2007 by Gary R. Morrison, Steven M. Ross, Jerrold
E. Kemp & Howard K. Kalman

46. Thank You!