“Working with Jordan and Jeanette at the CCDE on translating a face-to-face course to its online version was invaluable. I went into the process thinking that writing up our course would be pretty straightforward, and that while the instructional designers may be able to answer a question or two about the online format, we’d be able to whip it up pretty quickly. After the first couple of meetings with the IDs, I think we all realized that translating a course to its online version is no easy matter if you haven’t done it before. Jeanette and Jordan have worked so hard with us, have been very patient with us, and have given us good guidance. The quality of the course is much better than it would have been, and it’s safe to say that the deeper thinking about the course — spurred on by the IDs — is going to make the face-to-face version of the course much better, too.”
– Liv Marken
Lecturer, College of Arts and Science and University Learning Centre
University of Saskatchewan
Innovative Instructional Design (ID) is the paramount goal of every distributed learning project we support. Innovation, however, relies on a solid foundation of educational principles and practices that are designed into the processes and templates developed by the ID team at CCDE. The processes and templates below offer course authors simple to use guidelines for creating pedagogically sound modules of instruction with the flexibility to make the course as unique as the subject matter experts (SME’s) we work with.
Instructional Design Principles
Source: CCDE, U of S
The fundamental principle of instructional design, that is inherent in the CCDE development templates, states that the Learning Objectives are achievable based on the Content provided and that the Evaluations measure the achievement of the Objectives. Simply put,
Tell them what you’re going to teach them, teach them, and then test them on what you’ve taught.
The ADDIE Model
To see this principle in action when designing we often look to the ADDIE model.
Source: CCDE U of S
Our interpretation of the ADDIE model of Instructional Design suggests 5 phases of a project that are being evaluated throughout the process.
- Analysis: Needs analysis, Learner analysis, Goal analysis, and Task analysis
- Design: Setting objectives, sequencing and chunking, getting the big picture
- Development: Curating and Creating content to match the objectives, writing materials and assessments, developing media and activities
- Implementation: Piloting the course, live support and “tweaking” of the design
- Evaluation: Evaluation should take place throughout the process, but at the end of the pilot delivery there is an opportunity to evaluate the course as a whole and decide if there are ways to improve what has been created and make adjustments as needed.