Welcome to the Intentional Designer!
Greetings, and welcome to the inaugural post of our journey into the world of instructional design and teaching with technology.
Whether you are an educator, a student, or simply curious about how learning materials and technologies are created and selected, you are in for a treat.
This blog is written by members of the Center for Instructional Design and Educational Technology at Ithaca College. Our job roles comprise a variety of fields, skill sets, and foci, but what brings us together is our love of supporting and engineering high-quality learning systems. We are here to support the student-centered educational experience at Ithaca College by supporting best practices in educational tools and more.
We call our blog the Intentional Designer to draw attention to the importance of formulating clear learning goals and objectives as a prerequisite for any deeper instructional design or technological integrations into your teaching.
What is Instructional Design?
At its core, Instructional Design (ID) is designing, developing, and delivering instructional materials and experiences. These materials can range from classroom lesson plans and online courses to mobile learning applications, job training, professional development, and more.
Think of an instructional designer as an architect for learning. Just as an architect creates blueprints to ensure the structural integrity and utility of a building, an instructional designer crafts a plan to make learning effective, efficient, and appealing. Many of their roles and responsibilities overlap with those of a teacher. Almost all teachers do some instructional design work, although not all instructional designers teach.
In the same way an architect relies on physics and materials science to make beautiful and safe buildings, instructional designers use research-based principles to create learning experiences that align with how the human brain processes, absorbs, and retains information. So, how do people learn, anyway?
The Science Behind the Design
So, why can't anyone simply pick up a textbook, read a few chapters, and claim to be an expert in that field?
It's because learning is about more than just content delivery. Our brains aren't sponges that simply retain information when given it. Instead, the secret to making learning lasting and transformative is to make it meaningful, engaging, and exciting.
The ID field is rooted in cognitive psychology, educational theory, and instructional technology. Instructional designers use research-based principles to create learning experiences that align with how the human brain processes, absorbs, and retains information. In this way, instructional design shares commonalities with other fields that center human experience, such as UI/UX design (short for User Interface / User Experience design.)
For example, consider a simple principle known as "chunking." Our working memory can handle limited amounts of information at a time. So, instructional designers break down complex topics into smaller, manageable "chunks" to help learners process and retain information better. This helps reduce the "cognitive load" - that is, the amount of information a learner must process – making the learning experience more efficient and seamlessly.
What is Learning Technology?
Now that we’ve covered instructional and learning design, let’s address some different learning technologies in our world. Here are a few common ones you might not think of...
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Blackboard / Chalkboard
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Chairs with wheels
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Ballpoint pens
Although none of these tools have integrated circuit boards (by themselves,) when used in an educational context, they are still grouped under the category of learning technologies – defined as anything used to facilitate the process of teaching and learning other than the instructor’s voice and presence. By this definition, many tools, mediums, and technologies have the ability to be used as learning technologies.
A framework called SAMR explores different ways that the incorporation of technology can enhance a lesson. These ways are grouped into the following four categories:
Substitution – Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change. An example would be using a word processor to type a document instead of using a typewriter - the task (writing) remains fundamentally the same. This is the most superficial form of technological integration.
Augment - Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement. For instance, using a word processor that also provides spell check and grammar suggestions, which enhances the writing process.
Modify - Technology allows for significant task redesign. An example might be students using a blog to write and share their book reviews instead of writing a paper that would be read by the teacher only. This modification changes the task to allow for collaboration, feedback, and potentially a wider audience.
Redefine - Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable. An example of redefinition would be students creating a multimedia presentation that combines text, video, and interactive elements, possibly shared on a global platform where it can reach a worldwide audience.
A World of Possibilities
Today we’ve shared with you some of the frameworks that help ground and situate our understanding of high-quality teaching and learning design with technology. We’ve offered some simple answers to some very broad questions – what are learning technologies and instructional design? The final question we’ll attempt to answer is, how can our team help you meet your teaching and learning goals?
The CIE team maintains a set of core tools such as the Learning Management System, Canvas, and other tools such as VoiceThread, Padlet, Kaltura, and Perusall. We also maintain the Educational Technology Center, a place where faculty can explore the educational applications of Podcasting, Media Production, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality, and more. You can consult with our team’s instructional designers to meet a wide variety of goals, such as:
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Redesigning, or realigning, individual activities or your entire course with learning objectives
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Helping establish assessment strategies and grading workflows in Canvas
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Assisting with Canvas course design and layout
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Integrating new tools and technologies into activities or courses
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Designing and facilitating immersive learning experiences with emerging technologies
We are committed to helping you invest thoughtfully and intentionally in your teaching and learning. Whether that process includes one of these technological tools or not or means looking in a new direction we haven’t yet considered, we are excited to support you in the innovation you engage in here at Ithaca College. Don't hesitate to schedule a consultation with us.
The impact of instructional design stretches beyond the classroom – it is shaping the future of online education, mobile learning, virtual reality experiences, and so much more. So, if you're looking to understand how we learn and how to make learning more effective, you're in the right place.
Stay tuned to our blog and podcast as we delve deeper into the dynamic field of instructional design and learning technology – including new strategies, best practices, tools, and trends!
Until next time!
~ The CIE Team