What is an instructional-design theory?

Gagné and Dick (1983) described the characteristics of instructional theories in terms
their functions and foundations.

• Functions: Instructional theories are prescriptive in nature. They relate specific

instructional events to learning processes and learning outcomes, identifies
instructional conditions that optimize learning outcomes, and provides a rational
description of causal relationships between procedures used to teach and their
behavioral consequences in enhanced human performance.
• Foundations: Instructional theories are derived from learning research and theory.

Reigeluth (1999) used the term 'instructional-design theory', which is defined as a theory
that "offers explicit guidance on how to between help people learn and develop. The
kinds of learning and development may include cognitive, emotional, social, physical and
spiritual."

Reigeluth (1999) explain instructional-design theory from several aspects:

Its characteristics
Reigeluth (1999) described four major characteristics of instructional-design theory:

1. It is design-oriented: it focuses on means to attain given goals for learning or

development à it provides direct guidance on how to achieve their goals. Design-
oriented theories are very different from descriptive theories, which describes the
effects that occur when a given class of causal events occurs, or which describes
the sequence in which certain events occur
2. It identifies methods of instruction, i.e. ways to support and facilitate learning, as
well as the situations in which those methods should and should not be used.
3. In all instructional-design theories, the methods of instruction can be broken into
more detailed component methods, which provide more guidance to educators
about different components and different ways to perform the methods; different
kinds of methods; offering criteria that methods should meet.
4. The methods are probabilistic rather than deterministic: focusing on control
instead of description and explanation à In other words, instructional-design
theories intend to control variables in the learning environment to achieve certain
results

Its components
There should be two major components in instructional-design theory:

1. Methods of instruction: methods for facilitating human learning and development

 2. Instructional situation: indications as to when and when not to use those methods
and descriptions of the conditions under which the instruction will take place

• The nature of what is to be learned

• The nature of the learner (prior knowledge, learning strategies, motivation)
• The nature of learning environment
• The nature of the instructional development constraints

Its focus on value for decision making

Both values and empirics are important for making decisions about how to teach as well
as what to teach. All the instructional-design-theories state explicitly what values guide
their selection of goals and what values guide their selection of methods.

Its importance
It provides guidelines for practitioners. It transforms descriptive theory into methods of
how to work, developing techniques and determine implementation details that are
applicable to most conditions

Reigeluth provides (1999) three questions to examine what an instructional-design theory

can offer:

1. What methods best facilitate learning and human development under different
situations?
2. What learning-tool features best allow an array of alternative methods to be made
available to learners and allow them to make decisions (with varying degrees of
guidance) about both content (what to learn) and methods while the instruction is
in progress?
3. What system features best allow an instructional design team (that preferable
includes all stakeholders) to design quality learning tools?

What instructional-design theories are discussed?

The instructional theories discussed in this knowledge base are classified as follows
based on the different theoretical foundations about learning.

References:

Reigeluth, C. M. (1999). (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: An new

paradigm of instructional theory, Volume II.. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.

Behaviorism

• Skinner's Programmed Instruction

• Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI)
 Cognitivism

• Gagné's Nine Events

• Reigeluth's Elaboration Theory
• Component Display Theory (CDT)
• Instructional Transaction Theory (ITT)

Constructivism

• Anchored Instruction
• Case-Based Reasoning
• Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT)
• Jonassen's Constructivist Learning Environments (CLEs)
• Mayer's SOL
• Open-Ended Learning Environments (OELEs)
• Perkins and Unger's Teaching and Learning for Understanding (TfU)
• Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
• Situated Learning