Most learning platforms offer user-friendly templates and make instruction design seem very easy to do.
While very valuable, these ready-made outlines are based on many decades of learning science. For example, we know that dividing knowledge into smaller steps enhances learning because it enables learners to focus on each objective at a time, which in turn promotes retention.
So, it's crucial for course creators to understand these learning theories as they provide the foundation for effective online courses and motivated learners. They also help you choose instructional structures that have predictable effectiveness, as they are strategies for better online learning with positive (and measurable) learning outcomes.
Here are the four instructional design theories every course creator needs to know:
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical ordering of cognitive skills that help instructors teach effectively.
The model organizes learning objectives into three main areas: Cognitive, Affective, and Sensory/Psychomotor. Initially, Bloom developed the taxonomy to promote higher forms of thinking in education, such as analyzing and evaluating concepts, processes, procedures, and principles instead of simply memorizing facts.
Each higher level depends on the lower one and you can think of it as a pyramid. It includes six levels, each with their own objectives, starting with Remember (the first stage of learning) which then leads to the development of the other key elements such as understand and apply, going to the highest one: create.
The model itself is more complex, but this is a good visual representation:
Source: Bloom’s Taxonomy, Vanderbilt University
Bloom’s taxonomy is useful for:
Read more: 5 Tips for avoiding cognitive overload in your e-learning modules
Robert Gagné’s The Conditions of Learning, published in 1965, was groundbreaking. The author identified five significant learning categories: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills, and attitudes.
The model shows an effective learning framework and helps instructors develop strategies and activities for engaging and informative courses. Gagné also identified the nine events that are instrumental to the learning process:
While not all events are applicable to an online course, gaining attention, informing learners of lesson objective(s) and assessing performance should always be a part of your strategy.
Read more: Why every course creator needs to know the 7 learning pillars
ADDIE is one of the best-known instructional design models, partly due to the easily remembered acronym for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The model provides a universal framework for instructional design.
Many models that came after it was mainly built starting from this all-encompassing structure. In a nutshell, the stages are:
Read more: Don’t start designing courses before reading this [Part 1]
The Successive Approximation Model (SAM) is a simplification of ADDIE. It’s a framework for fast, reiterative design that doesn’t function linearly.
There are only three parts to SAM: Preparation, Iterative Design, and Iterative Development. The critical thing to focus on is the iterative nature of the model, meaning that each step is supposed to be repeated and re-evaluated.
Source: Successive Approximation Model (SAM), Kennesaw State University
Instructional design continues to evolve, incorporating what new technology has to offer. It also needs to keep up with major shifts in learner preferences and demand. However, these four true and tested instructional design models are timeless and help course creators design valuable online courses.