Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

10 – General Principles of Instructional Design
Sample verbs: Break down, differentiate, determine,
relate, analyze
Example: Given a properly written learning outcome,
identify the learning outcome’s conditions,
skill, and criteria.
Evaluate
Evaluation entails using personal values to judge knowledge.
Evaluations are hard to grade objectively.
Figure 10.6 Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
Remember
Remembering skills entails recalling information as it
was presented.
Sample verbs: State, describe, label, list, name
Example: List the different types of media that
online courses can include.
Understand
Understanding skills can include restating knowledge
learned earlier in one’s own terms, translating ideas and
concepts, and recognizing inferences and assumptions.
Understanding skills can be tested by repeating questions
and problems in a different form.
Sample verbs: Convert, estimate, explain, summarize,
locate
Example: Explain why online courses should not
necessarily include all types of media.
Apply
When applying skills, learners apply knowledge to new
situations. Learners must decide how to solve the problem.
For application skills, you can use fictional situations,
material learners have not seen, or modify old problems.
Sample verbs: Relate, compute, change, apply, use
Example: Using Bloom’s taxonomy, write complete
learning outcomes at the appropriate level.
Analysis
Analysis breaks down existing knowledge into meaningful
parts. Analysis can require learners to detect relationships
and draw conclusions. You can use experiments
or supply data to test analysis skills.
Sample verbs: Appraise, compare, conclude, criticize,
assess, evaluate
Example: Evaluate the effectiveness of an online
course.
Create
To create is to produce something new, or to modify a
thing that already exists. Creating can also take the form
of a speech, proposal, project, or theory.
Sample verbs: Summarize, revise, compose, construct,
create, synthesize
Example: Create an online course that includes all
of the instructional events.
Summary
Instructional design is the systematic process of activities
that solve an instructional problem by identifying
the instructional goal, conducting a goal analysis, conducting
a subordinate skills analysis, identifying entry
skills and characteristics, and writing learning outcomes.
An instructional goal is broad learning outcome that
can be broken down into specific measurable skills. To
identify the instructional goal, you must first define the
actual problem through conducting a needs assessment.
Once you have determined the instructional goal, the
goal is refined through a goal analysis. This will lead to a
statement of what the learner will be able to do. The
emphasis is on what learners need to be able to do,
rather than on what learners need to know.
The goal analysis is refined into smaller components
through a subordinate skills analysis. The subordinate
skills analysis ensures that each component is small
enough to teach, and shows what information a learner
needs prior to learning each component. Verbal information,
intellectual skills, psychomotor skills, and attitudes
each need a different type of subordinate skills
analysis.
With verbal information, conduct a cluster analysis in
which you have identified all of the information needed
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