Intergenerational Learning Styles, Instructional Design Strategy, and Learning Efficacy

Instructional designers must appeal to a variety of audience members both in terms of competency and preferred learning style. Though many factors may influence learning style, generational preferences may provide instructional designers a broad base of understanding undergirding strategic educational design choices. While it would be naive, and even inaccurate, to assume that Millennials constitute the only unique generational challenge for instructional designers, their sheer presence in organizations and their education expectations have changed the game—so to speak. Thus, in an attempt to clarify generational uniqueness, this chapter will explore general generational instructional trends while positioning instructional design as a necessary answer to 21st century learning efficacy challenges.

The Respective Roles of Broad and Deep Research in Instructional Design and Development Work

The work of instructional design (ID) requires new content learning, which often requires various types of published or secondary research as well as direct elicitations from the cooperating subject matter experts (SMEs) about the topic. For instructional design projects, both design and development, a range of information is required: who the target learners are; what content knowledge is required (as knowledge, skills, and abilities); what pedagogical designs may be most effective; what technologies will be required for the build; what learning sequences, objects, assignments, and assessments are needed; what legal and technological standards need to be abided by. This work describes research strategies for instructional design, research documentation, research citations, and applying the many acquired research insights to the instructional design and development work.

Optimizing Static and Dynamic Visual Expressions of Time-Based Events, Processes, Procedures, and Future Projections for Instructional Design

Time-based visuals are used to depict time-based events, processes, procedures, and future projections, among others. These come in 2D, 3D, and 4D types, and they may be static or dynamic, non-interactive, or interactive. A simple process or procedure may be expressed visually as a timeline, a flowchart, a stacked diagram, a node-link game tree, a workflow diagram, dedicated-type sequence diagrams, or some other sequence-based visual. With the proliferation of more complex time-based sequences—with multiple paths, multiple actors, decision junctures, conditionals, and other forms of dimensionality, and with multimodal expressions and interactive digital interfaces, with processes as descriptions, theorized steps, directional procedures, projections, and other types—the visual depictions of processes and procedures have become much more complex and layered. This work describes some efforts to optimize these visual expressions through proper design, development, testing, and revision.

Cognitive Load Theory, Spacing Effect, and Working Memory Resources Depletion

In classroom, student learning is affected by multiple factors that influence information processing. Working memory with its limited capacity and duration plays a key role in learner ability to process information and, therefore, is critical for student performance. Cognitive load theory, based on human cognitive architecture, focuses on the instructional implications of relations between working memory and learner knowledge base in long-term memory. The ultimate goal of this theory is to generate effective instructional methods that allow managing students' working memory load to optimize their learning, indicating the relations between the form of instructional design and the function of instructional design. This chapter considers recent additions to the theory based on working memory resources depletion that occurs after exerting significant cognitive effort and reverses after a rest period. The discussed implications for instructional design include optimal sequencing of learning and assessment tasks using spaced and massed practice tasks, immediate and delayed tests.

Defining Salient Features of “Boutique” Instructional Designs and Implications for Design, Development, and Deployment

“Boutique” instructional design (ID) projects are fairly common across verticals, especially in higher education, open shared learning, government, and some commercial enterprises. In general, boutique-designed learning is small-scale, with narrowly targeted learners, limited development funding/access to information/development and deployment technology/human resources, and other aspects. The strategies and tactics for successful boutique projects differ in some ways than those used for mid-scale and full-scale/general ID projects. This work explores some of the dimensions of boutique ID projects and the implications of those dimensions on design, development, and deployment strategies and tactics. This work is informed by decades in the profession, a review of the literature, and analyses of related open-source and closed-source online learning objects.

Recognizing Curricular Infusions in Extant Online Learning Contents by Types and at Varying Scales

Online learning exists in a dynamic environment, with changing research, applicable laws and policies, pedagogical approaches, and technologies. The changing external environment necessarily informs the curriculum given the need for learning relevance. Curricular infusions (CIs) occur as a practical method of integrating new elements into extant learning: values, ethics, thinking, knowledge, worldviews, practices, tools and technologies, and other elements. These infusions may occur at the most granular level of the learning object all the way to learning disciplines and domains. The method of curricular infusion enables adaptivity to occur with online learning without having to rebuild learning from scratch, so infusions could be additive to particular learning sequences or integrated with the learning objects, and other aspects of designed online learning. This work explores some of the prior research into curricular infusions and introduces some basic ways to reverse engineer curricular infusions in extant online learning.

Designing Integrated Learning Paths for Individual Lifelong Learners and/or Small Groups

Curriculum design is often applied to creating formal learning sequences to ensure that learners pursuing accredited coursework experience the proper learning contents, activities, life-building, and fair assessments in the proper order. In a lifelong learning context, learners will engage in a combination of formal (accredited), nonformal (byproduct learning from structured unaccredited learning contexts), and informal (unintentional) learning. For the latter two contexts, and for individual and groups of learners, there may be benefits in constructing a backwards curriculum design to enable target complex-skill capabilities (even those that require years of effort). This work explores how to create a backwards curriculum design from target complex-skill capabilities, using manually created data tables and related mind maps as early design tools. These enable advancing targeted learning by skill branches or by sequential approaches towards the target skillset.

Some Basics to the Initial Setup and Maintenance of Serialized Online Learning

Optimally, the learning sequence experienced by learners is addressed in the instructional design plan. So too is the sequencing of learning objects in the modules, related modules in the course, related courses in a degree program, and so on, from granular objects to larger ones. A variety of learning contents may be conceptualized, at a zoomed-out level, as “serialized” or a part of a series. Serialized online learning refers to any number of types of large-scale sequenced learning, such as endeavors that continue over extended time (such as a number of years), that involve a number of interrelated learning objects (like podcast series), and that serve both new learners and continuing learners. The instructional design for serialized online learning requires front-loaded design considerations and approaches that consider the continuing nature of such learning.

Applying Uses and Gratifications to Promote Cognitive and Affective Learning via Online Instructional Content

Instructional design benefits from integration and application of communication theory to help guide practice. Uses and gratifications (U&G) is a useful approach for developing, evaluating, and selecting fully integrated, interactive course materials. U&G has assumptions related to individuals, uses, and effects that apply to a myriad of communication channels, including instructional materials. There are four considerations derived from U&G that the authors address in this chapter: user motives, platform affordances, user activity, and user outcomes.