Instructional Design: Crafting Effective Learning Experiences - Essay Sample

Introduction

Instructional design refers to methods used in creating learning experiences that help in effectively acquiring knowledge and new skills, efficiently, and in a manner that is enjoyable to learners. A curriculum that is well designed is very beneficial in helping students achieve. Instructional designers are tasked with designing, creating, and developing course materials. The materials include handouts as well as guides. After designing the course materials, the designers assess to establish whether the solution was effective in achieving the right behavior.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The common model used in instructional design and development is Analysis, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation abbreviated as ADDIE (Lee, Lim, & Kim, 2017). In the analysis stage, the designer seeks to comprehend learner needs. In the organization, for example, it may be established that the reason for poor performance is not lack of training. In this case, it means that there no need for creating a training program as it will not solve the problem.

The second step is the design and development of materials, as well as coming up with establishing the methods that will be incorporated (Lee, Lim, & Kim, 2017). In this stage, the designer comes up with learning materials such as e-learning, job aids, guides as well as lesson plans. The next step is an evaluation, which is conducted to establish whether the solution adopted was successful. Some of the methods used in the evaluation are Brinkerhoff's Success Case Method and Philips ROI Methodology.

Instructional design is an effective method of enhancing the learning experience as it is less costly and optimizes performance because it is customized to meet the needs of learners (Lee, Lim, & Kim, 2017). The designers further evaluate the learning materials and programs to ensure that they were effective in achieving the goals that they were set for. This means that the success rate is maximum, and learners succeed after training.

The inquiry-based approach is the best learning approach because students can ask questions on areas that they don't understand while learning and get instant clarification (Lee, Lim, & Kim, 2017). The students can also develop scenarios that they believe are complicated then pose them to their teachers for clarification. The inquiry approach helps when teaching and learning complex materials that are complex. When learning to design, it can also be applied because the designs have room to be improved. While learning how to design games, I used the inquiry approach to seek clarifications.

My experience was a case-based learning where the inquiry-based approach was used during in a learning environment. The inquiry-based approach reduces the role of the instructors because the trainee is responsible for putting efforts into areas that need further clarification (Lee, Lim, & Kim, 2017). The structured process outcome theory structures the processes that are structured and followed when engaging in various types of tasks. The theory fits the topic inquiry-based approach because it structures the materials that the students need to learn.

The project that I did of designing a game to be played by school kids was a problem project because it was designed for the students to develop a solution to the problem that arose. The game required the students to identify the best route that a lion should take to find the gazelle. The game development is challenging to develop and need to be complicated and give the students a hard time while playing. Problem projects are meant to find a solution to an existing problem. Learners need to have skills in solving skills that they experience while learning.

References

Lee, J., Lim, C., & Kim, H. (2017). Development of an instructional design model for flipped learning in higher education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65(2), 427-453.