Chapter 2, Question 1

How can an instructional design model help you develop your instructional plan? Identify the steps of the DID model and briefly explain each.

The Dynamic Instructional Design Model can be an important aspect of developing strategic educational planning. The intent of its development and utilization is to provide the educator with a critical tool, by which he may ultimately further enhance the students' learning experience. The DID explores many of the various aspects of the educational process and allows the educator to observe them and make planning decisions based on the information provided. The DID model's performance in this task is useful, as it enhances an educator's knowledge and consideration of his students, thereby allowing him to make better decisions involving the planning strategies, by which he intends to instruct his students.

Step 1: Know the Learners. The step of the DID model instructs the educator to know the people that he intends to instruct. In order to provide effective instruction to his students, the educator must have certain information regarding his students. He must insure that he is meeting the needs of the students in several different ways. Students vary in countless ways, including learning styles, developmental stages, and skill levels. All of these factors and more must be considered and accurately judged if the educator is to successfully maximize the potential of both the instruction and the learners.

Step 2: State Your Objectives. Objectives are the goal and the intention of the educational process. For instance, the objective of a literature lesson could be that the student is able to consistently recognize the use of metaphors in a given text. This is measured at the end of the lesson. It is important to note, that the performance of the student is the measured variable here, and not the performance of the instructor. The instructor must also insure that his objectives meet certain criteria. The objectives must be stated in a format that makes it possible to accurately measure the students performance. Without accurate measurements of objectives the data learned is invalid. The objectives must also target different levels of critical thinking. It is important to consider Bloom's Taxonomy regarding the objectives of one's instruction.

Step 3: Establish the Learning Environment. The learning environment consists of all the factors involved with the instruction of a given student. Naturally this includes the space in which the student is instructed, the materials used in the instruction, even the minor things such as lighting, and temperature. It is the instructor's duty to provide the best possible learning environment for his students. He must ensure that the space meets the needs of the diverse students that are likely to be using the classroom. The classroom must be nurturing and secure for all of the students, as well. If students do not feel safe, they will not be in a proper mindset to learn. The classroom management system within the classroom is integral to this. If proper order is not established within the classroom, the atmosphere can quickly degenerate into chaos, which is naturally not a favourable learning environment.

Step 4: Identify Teaching and Learning Strategies. Teaching strategies are the methods by which the teacher will assist the students in achieving the desired objectives. Learning strategies are the lessons and activities required for the students to master any given content. This step in the process seems to revolve primarily around the pedagogical cycle, which is in turn comprised of a several steps: provide a pre-organiser, use motivators, build bridges to prior knowledge, share objectives, introduce new knowledge, reinforce knowledge, provide practice experiences, and culminating review. These are all fairly self-explanatory; however, each step must be considered in the instructional process. In addition, the diversity of students in the classroom must again be taken into account as they are concerned with the steps of the pedagogical cycle.

Step 5: Identify and Select Technologies. At this stage in the process, the educator must decide which technologies are most appropriate for the intended instruction. Each technology has advantages and disadvantages, and each must be considered carefully before the educator makes his decision. All of the aforementioned things must be taken into account such as diversity, learning styles, and environment.

Step 6: Perform a Summative Evaluation. At this point, one must reflect on the appropriateness of each step and each decision that has been made thus far. Essentially all the parts are checked again to make sure the whole machine is in working order. It is important to ensure that the data to be gained from the instruction is appropriate for the current lesson's teaching strategy and also for the overall instruction provided by the course.