Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Figure 1: An integrated design framework
Li Zhong Zhang
Instructional
Design
Pedagogy Learning
Technologies
The dynamic inter-relationship among the three components are indicated by the two-way arrows.
5.1 Instructional design and pedagogy
“Instructional design practices have been greatly influenced by a variety of different
theories of learning and instruction……. Behavioral learing theory, cognitive information
processing theory, Gagne’s theory of instruction – have had a major influence on
instructional design. In recent years, situated learning theory and constructivism have
offered a different view of learning and instruction and have influenced the practices of
many of those involved in the design of instruction” (by Reiser and Dempsey, 2005,
p.57).
The emerging trend with the emphasis on learner-centered instruction has impacted on instructional
design to become more focus on learners rather than on systems, on learning rather than on
teaching.
In any technology-based blended learning setting, instructional design process provides the macro
component of the design in
Identifying learning needs and outcomes
Specifying learning goals based on the learning needs
Formulating learning objectives
Providing structure for instruction and learning, which include the information on nature & scope
of domain knowledge, skills & attributes to be covered, course structure, course duration, prerequisites,
learning resources etc.
Assessing the learning
These fundamental elements of instructional design will continue to hold true in the future for
specifying the necessary structure and support for learning in any learning or training settings,
whether it is for technology-based or traditional classroom learning, for teacher-centered instruction or
learner-centered learning, for individual or group learning.
Based on the instructional input and framework gathered during the instructional design process, the
course instructor or designer will decide on an appropriate pedagogy to be deployed in designing
learning strategies, tasks and activities for units of lessons or modules of learning, with due
considerations on various theoretical frameworks on pedagogy as presented in the previous section.
The designer may choose Constructivism as the entire pedagogical framework or deploy a mix
approach of using Constructivism as the predominant pedagogical framework to be complemented
with instructive approach for creating the most appropriate learning environment for that particular
setting. However, the processes for both the instructional design and deployment of the most
appropriate pedagogical framework are not static in that both are iterative in nature. After completing
the cycle of development & implementation, the course designer or the team will be able to improve or
adjust the learning design based on the evaluation data collected. Hence, the inter-relationship
between the two components, instructional design and pedagogy is a complementary and dynamic
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