Instructional design refers to the use of methods and techniques to create learning content that is engaging and effective. A skillful use of these principles helps render education material that is applicable to learning needs and ensures enhanced learning experiences. Value is added to information to not just impart it to the learners but to ensure that it is suitable for the intended target audience. As learning and training moved out of the confines of a classroom so did instructional design. The coming of the digital age brought with it a dynamic way to learn that was not just limited to gaining information but expanded to hands-on experiences, explorations and active engagement with content and concepts. With the change in learning methodologies, the methods of creating learning content also underwent changes.
There was a time when emphasis was laid on rote learning and memorizing of content. The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of concepts like cognitive psychology and with it, emphasis started being laid on problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Instructional design theories saw a shift in this period and strategies that encouraged active learning started becoming more widely accepted. Some of the tools that gained popularity include:
Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation is what ADDIE is all about. It is a linear designing model with each step being thoroughly taken care of before moving on to the next. It provides a structured approach to creating learning content.
Robert Gagne, the educational psychologists, was the person who proposed this model. These consist of nine events that are related to the cognitive process of learning. Gain attention, inform about objectives, stimulate recall, provide guidance, elicit performance, provide feedback, assess performance, and enhance retention.
Proposed by David Merrill, this principle laid emphasis on the idea that engagement with learning content is higher when learners get to solve real-world problems. Merrill’s principle of instruction design focused on task-based learning with the complexity of the task increasing gradually.
While these are not the only principles or models of instructional design, they have been playing a significant role in providing designers and instruction design services with a framework to work with and create effective and engaging learning material.
The need to learn and grow is consistent across the ages. Trainers have been training and learners have been learning. The shift has taken place in the manner in which learning content is consumed. This has prompted and made it necessary for an instructional design company to rethink their principles and adapt them to the changing times. With the coming of online learning, distance learning, virtual reality, and augmented reality training strategies have been updated to adapt to the change.
The transition to learning material from paper to digital has brought in the element of flexibility and variety. Now content can be presented in various ways, allowing designers to offer learners the best possible means of understanding and learning a concept. Digitization also allows updates to be incorporated as and when required. As opposed to books, when new editions were expected to carry updated concepts, digital media can make these changes immediately, helping provide updated content to learners.
Digital media provides the facility to provide learners with immediate feedback, helping them analyze their own performance instantly and work towards improving upon them. Trainers can also view these performance reports and provide students with the necessary help to rectify mistakes, clarify concepts and enhance outcomes.
Instructional design services, in the present scenario, focus on creating learning content that is learner-centric. Lessons are designed keeping in mind how the learner will be accessing and absorbing it. The trainer is now a facilitator, and learners are becoming drivers of their own learning journey. The evolution of eLearning, VR, AR, and MR content is giving learners the power to learn and enhance their knowledge, maybe with or without a facilitator.
Evolving education theories are showing that learning material served in small amounts helps understand and retain concepts better. It is not necessary to attend 2-hour lectures to understand something. This has given rise to the concept of micro learning, and this has been made possible with digital means of learning, especially the phone. Small doses of learning can be taken between breaks or during commutes or when there is just a little time to grab a little small ‘bite’.
Every learner approaches a course and engages with it in their own manner, depending upon their unique requirements and learning. Adaptive learning systems make adjustments to content to make it suitable for every level of learner. With personalized learning, learners are able to better understand in non-judgemental environments and improve upon their understanding and knowledge retention.
In the age of the internet, the world borders are becoming blurred. Learners can collaborate from any location on the globe. A person sitting in one hemisphere can communicate with another learner in the other hemisphere; they can discuss using online forums like chat rooms, discussion forums, virtual classrooms, collaborative documents etc. This form of learning further helps encourage critical thinking and analytical skills.
The most recent development and a very exciting one has come in the form of artificial intelligence. It is causing ripples in every industry, learning and development has not gone untouched. It is changing the way learning content is created and the manner in which learners are engaging with it.
By analyzing large amounts of data, AI is helping create content suitable to specific learning objectives and target audiences. While AI does the analysis, instructional designers can focus on the creative part.
Integration of AI leads to adaptive learning. The complexity of a course is determined based on the ability and knowledge level of a learner. This ensures that every learner is exposed to challenges appropriate to their level. Complexity increases as their level of understanding develops.
AI is also serving as a tutor in many cases. AI-powered virtual characters help learners navigate through a course, identify gaps in learning, provide targeted instructions, and provide feedback. The fact that they are virtual makes it possible for learners to take these courses at their convenience, which would not be possible with a real trainer.
Realistic training scenarios like those offered by AI-Humans provide learners an opportunity to engage in real-world like scenarios. Learners get to interact with human-like virtual characters and develop valuable life skills.
Detailed and analysis of user performance done with AI helps provide a deep and comprehensive feedback. This minutely points out the plus and minus of how a user fared and can provide areas of improvement to help a learner perform better in future.
Technology is changing the way we are engaging with learning content – the manner in which instructional designers are giving shape to content and how learners are absorbing and consuming learning material. AI is bringing out significant changes in this domain. Ethical questions are also being raised but when used with responsibility, these evolving changes mean this integration of AI in the learning and development field can bring about promising changes. Instructional designers will have to adapt to the changes as, get innovative and leverage this piece of technology to create impactful learning experiences.
