The purpose of this glossary is to build a resource of terms used when learning Instructional Design.
ADDIE model
The ADDIE model is the generic process traditionally used by instructional designers and training developers. The five phases—Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation—represent a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools.
assessment instruments
An assessment instrument is part of the assessment tool. The assessment instrument is the documented activities developed to support the assessment method and used to collect the evidence of student competence. An assessment instrument could include: oral and written questions. observation/demonstration checklists.
behavioristic
A school of psychology that confines itself to the study of observable and quantifiable aspects of behavior and excludes subjective phenomena, such as emotions or motives.
cognitive learning
Cognitive learning is an immersive and active process that engages your senses in a constructive and long-lasting way. It teaches you to maximize your brain's potential and makes it easier to connect new information with existing ideas, deepening the memory and retention capacity.
content sequencing
Sequencing is defined as the efficient ordering of the content in order to improve the learners' understanding, and help them achieve the objectives (Morrison, Ross & Kemp, 2007). While some contents may be sequenced in several ways, some should be sequenced in one way for better presentation of the content.
curriculum
The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools.
educational psychology
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. ... The field of educational psychology involves the study of memory, conceptual processes, and individual differences (via cognitive psychology) in conceptualizing new strategies for learning processes in humans.
formative evaluation
Formative Evaluations are evaluations FOR learning. They are often ungraded and informal. Their aim is to provide both the students and instructor with a gauge of where their level of understanding is at the current moment, and enable the instructor to adjust accordingly to meet the emerging needs of the class.
instructional analysis
Instructional analysis, as distinct from task analysis, identifies the type(s) of learning involved in acquiring a new performance capability and the structure of that learning in terms of component skills and their relationships. The product of the instructional analysis process is a learning map.
Instructional Design
Instructional design is the creation of learning experiences and materials in a manner that results in the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. The discipline follows a system of assessing needs, designing a process, developing materials and evaluating their effectiveness. In the context of workplace learning, Instructional Design provides a practical and systematic process for effectively designing effective curricula
instructional development
Instructional development is a process with compelling internal logic and proven appli- cability to the management of academic systems. ... It is not a movement to sponsor wider use of audio visual aids, or television, or computers, or independent study, or any other specific instructional methods.
instructional evaluation
Evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of a learning or training process by comparing criteria against a set of standards.
instructional goals
An instructional goal is a clear statement of observable behaviors that learners are to demonstrate as a result of the instruction. Creation of instructional goals is separate from how the instruction will be carried out. That is, avoid thinking about your teaching as you are doing this task.
instructional implementation
Implementation is preparation and putting elements of the strategy into place. Execution is the decisions made and activities performed throughout the company, with the objective of meeting goals outlined in the strategy.
instructional objectives
An instructional objective is a statement that will describe what the learner will be able to do after completing the instruction. ... Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, short-term, observable student behaviors. They indicate the desirable knowledge, skills, or attitudes to be gained.
instructional problems
An instructional challenge is a difficulty or obstacle that hinders students as they attempt to achieve a specific learning outcome. Instructional challenges can be motivational, cognitive, or even logistical in nature.
instructional strategy
Instructional strategies are techniques teachers use to help students become independent, strategic learners. These strategies become learning strategies when students independently select the appropriate ones and use them effectively to accomplish tasks or meet goals.
learner characteristics
The concept of learner characteristics is used in the sciences of learning and cognition to designate a target group of learners and define those aspects of their personal, academic, social, or cognitive self that may influence how and what they learn.
needs analysis
The needs analysis identifies the core problem(s) to solve, target audience, current state, desired outcomes, and training recommendations. A needs analysis sets the stage to design and develop an effective instructional design experience.
performance objectives
A performance objective is a specific end result that contributes to the success of the unit or organization and that an employee is expected to accomplish or produce.
positivistic
Positivism is a philosophical theory which states that "positive" knowledge (knowledge of anything which is not true by definition) is exclusively derived from experience of natural phenomena and their properties and relations. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, as interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all certain knowledge.
postmodernism
In the postmodern instructional design process, instruction should be designed based on individual needs. Constructivist theory emphasizes the individual learner. ... Although Instructional Design is based on a scientific, systematic and quantitative paradigm, postmodernists perceive it as an art as well as a science.
project management
Project management is the way a person organizes and manages resources that are necessary to complete a project. People that manage projects are known as Project Managers. A project is a piece of work which is not a process or an operation. It has a start, an end, and goals.
rapid prototyping
Rapid prototyping is an instructional design approach that combines the design, developmental, and evaluation phases of the ADDIE model. ... It is created to test the instructional efficacy and/or usability of concepts or processes, such as the user experience and navigational framework before the actual course is built.
SAM model
Successive Approximation Model (SAM) is an Agile Instructional Systems Design model that has been introduced as an alternative to ADDIE that also emphasizes collaboration, efficiency and repetition.
The biggest difference is that SAM is an agile method - meaning that multiple steps are often taking place at once with room for a lot of collaboration with the customer while the ADDIE is linear and often requires one step to finished and reviewed before moving on.
summative evaluation
Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period—typically at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year.
task analysis
A task analysis is a systemic collection of data about a specific job or group of jobs to determine what an employee should be taught and the resources he or she needs to achieve optimal performance (DeSimone, Werner, Harris, 2002).