This glossary lists many terms associated with Instructional Design and Technology to help understand the field and commonly used vocabulary.
Addie Model
Noun
The generic process traditionally used by instructional designers and training developers including five phases—Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.
Behaviorism
Noun
The theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior patterns.
Bloom's Taxonomy
Noun
Bloom's taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity.
Cognition
Noun
The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.
Curriculum
Noun
The subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.
Design Process
Noun
A structured framework for identifying challenges, gathering information, generating potential solutions, refining ideas, and testing solutions.
Diagnostic Teaching
Noun
The process of discovering individual student abilities, needs and objectives and prescribing requisite learning assessments.
Eclecticism
Noun
The practice of deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
Educational Psychology
Noun
A branch of psychology that studies children in an educational setting and is concerned with teaching and learning methods, cognitive development, and aptitude assessment.
Evaluation
Noun
The making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment.
Instructional Design
Noun
The creation of learning experiences and materials in a manner that results in the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills.
Instructional Games
Noun
Software designed to increase motivation to learning by adding game rules and /or competition to learning activities.
Instructional Media
Noun
Materials and physical means an instructor might use to implement instruction and facilitate students' achievement of instructional objectives, including but not limited to, computer labs, classroom technology, Blackboard, and audio and video conferencing.
Learning Objective
Noun
Brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by the end of school year, course, unit, lesson, project, or class period.
Learning Style
Noun
Overall patterns that provide direction to learning and teaching or a set of factors, behaviors, and attitudes that facilitate learning for an individual in a given situation.
Model
Noun
A system or thing used as an example to follow or imitate.
Needs Assessment
Noun
A systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or “gaps” between current conditions and desired conditions or “wants”.
Negative Space
Noun
The space around and between the subject of an image.
Positivistic
Noun
Any system that confines itself to the data of experience and excludes a priori or metaphysical speculations.
Prototype
Noun
An early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process.
Scaffolding
Noun
A variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process.
Storyboard
Noun
A sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a movie or television production.
Systems Theory
Noun
Systems theory is a conceptual framework based on the principle that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of the relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation.
Typeface
Noun
The design of lettering that can include variations, such as extra bold, bold, regular, light, italic, condensed, extended, etc.
Universal Design for Learning
Noun
An educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that guides the development of flexible learning environments and learning spaces that can accommodate individual learning differences.