Four Step Readings
Overview of Unit 2 Readings
As covered in the previous unit, you are exploring the concept of instructional design and what it means to be an instructional designer. The comparison made earlier between an instructional designer and a puppeteer should help you start with a different perspective. As a puppeteer, you are not always on the stage; often your ideas are on the stage instead. In order to get to the point where you are able to act like a puppeteer you must consider a number of variables important for learning. A 4-step design process is introduced that will direct you through the rest of the the class. Before the process is shared you will learn the context of the 4-steps, which is just as important as the 4-steps themselves.
This chapter consists of 6 parts:
1. Part 1: why the 4-steps are needed
2. Part 2: analysis prior to the 4-steps, including a brief description of performance analysis, instructional intervention analysis, and intervention analysis
3. Part 3: the fractal nature of the 4-steps and why it help us learn about the larger design process (which explains how the 4-steps match other design models as well as work to create both micro and macro instructional units)
4. Part 4: ADDIE, the four steps, and the puppeteer (later chapters cover each step in detail) followed by a description of a number of instructional interventions that can be developed using the four steps.
5. Part 5: A review of information processing theory (which explains how cognitive load can be enhanced by helping people select, organize, and integrate information for meaningful learning
6. Part 6: Your job of a designer (which explains how to implement Parts 1 - 5)
A Study in Design Continued
This story follows the path of an instructional designer and the challenges she faces while working on a first-time design project.