The Proper Study of Instructional Design - David Merrill

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Merrillthe primary role of instructional technology as a field to train instructional designers?Will instructional technology as a field survive if we continue to see our primary role astraining instructional designers? And if training instructional designers is not our primaryrole what is? To use Wayne Hodgins analogy (reference) ice delivery companies sawtheir mission as delivering ice and even though they had sophisticated refrigerationequipment, they failed to see their mission as keeping things cold and went out ofbusiness when domestic refrigeration replaced ice boxes. What is the mission ofinstructional technology? If it is not training instructional designers, then what?If you obtain a masters degree in instructional technology and go to work in thetraining department or business university of a large company what is your role mostlikely to be? It most likely won’t be developing instruction. It is far more likely, becauseof your education, that you will be atraining manager. What does a Most college trained instructionaldesigners become managers whotraining manager do? You are likelytrain and direct the work of designersby-assignment.to hire designers-by-assignment toactually develop the training productsyour company will use. Is learning how to develop courses sufficient to be a trainingmanager? Will you be equipped with the management skills you will need? Will youhave had experience in helping subject matter experts develop instruction themselves?Will you have tools and materials designed to assist you in training your designers-byassignmentto create the necessary training materials for your company? The answer toall of these questions, if you graduated from one of the many instructional technologymasters or PhD programs in the United States, is most likely no. Your time in schoolconcentrated on learning to design instruction. Your time on the job will most likely bespent in management and training others to design instruction.Unfortunately many instructional products currently designed for corporateAmerica fall far short of their potential. They are inefficient and often ineffective. Manyof these products just plain don’t teach. Of what use is a training course that fails to helpthe learners acquire the desired knowledge and skills? Many of our students suffersignificant frustration when they realize that the products produced by their trainingdepartment, especially if they are in charge, fall far short of the quality instruction they4
Merrilllearned to design in school. How can you be better equipped to assist lay designers tocreate more effective and efficient training products? What is the proper study ofinstructional design?The Proper Study of Instructional DesignFigure 1 suggests that the discipline of instructional design involves both scienceand technology. Science is the pursuit of understanding, technology is the creation ofartifacts. The goal of science is knowledge about the physical world. Scientists areinteresting in understanding and predicting. The goal of the engineer or designer is thedesign of useful artifacts and predicting the performance of the products they design(Vincenti, 1990).SCIENCETECHNOLOGYRESEARCH THEORY TOOLS DEVELOPMENT EVALUATIONExperimentalResearchProduct orResearchReviewOutcomesConceptsPropositions,models,theoriesTechnology-BasedToolsConceptualToolsInstructionalProductsFieldResearchFigure 1 The Science and Technology of Instructional DesignThe science of instructional design involves both theory and research. Theory isabout describing phenomena and predicting (hypotheses) consequences from givenconditions. Research is applying appropriate methodology to test these predictions.Instructional design theory is about understanding what conditions are necessary for alearner to acquire specific instructional goals, specific knowledge and skill, or specificlearning outcomes. Research is the method by which these predictions are empiricallytested and verified. A major role for instructional technology should be the study ofinstruction and instructional design. Instructional design theory involves the carefulspecification of the instructional conditions necessary in order for a student to acquire the5
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The Proper Study of Instructional Design - David Merrill

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