Before we take a look at the Models, let’s revisit what we covered earlier – learning theories, content types, and listed a few strategies of learning and teaching.
- The Learning Theories describes how individuals learn and the factors that influence their learnings.
- The Content Types describes the type of content and how they need to be learned or taught.
- The Learning Strategies are techniques or approaches that learners use to learn and understand new information. These strategies are often self-directed and are used by students to help them process and retain new information. Examples include summarizing, highlighting, reviewing, or asking questions.
- The teaching strategies or technically called the Instructional Strategies are the specific techniques or approaches to present and facilitate learning. These strategies are used by the IDs and the teachers to help learners learn and understand new material in a classroom or in an learning environment. Examples include lecturing, demonstrating, providing hands-on experiences, using multimedia resources, or facilitating discussions.
The goal of ID is to create effective and efficient learning experiences that states the most optimum way the particular content type can be learned by the specific learner in the given context. The ID must facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes by engaging learners, facilitating understanding, supporting retention of information, enabling synthesize of new knowledge and more. And here comes the Instructional Design Models handy.
An Instructional Design Model or an ID Model is a framework or plan for how teaching and learning will occur. These Models provide a systematic approach to creating learning experiences. They involve a series of steps that guide the design process, such as needs assessment, learning objectives development, content analysis and organization, instructional strategies selection, and evaluation.
Remember that all these models are used to guide the development of learning artifacts and experiences. You don’t need to stick to one model, you can use a hybrid approach too. Say start with ADDIE Model or 5Di to do a thorough learner and business needs, and then switch to SAM to rapidly develop.
In here, I am not planning to spend time in explaining each model in detail, instead, I am going to talk about where and when should you use these models.
SAM
The Successive Approximation Model (SAM) is a linear and incremental model that focusses on building smaller successive approximations. It has three phases:
- Preparation phase: You begin with "Savvy Start", which completes information gathering using brainstorming, sketching, or prototyping and involves all interested stakeholders.
- Iterative Design phase: You design the prototype and artifacts so that they can be easily evaluated by the interested parties. The things that work are kept as is and the remaining things are changed to meet the requirements.
- Iterative Development phase: This is the finished prototype which is fully developed and implemented. The implemented prototype are tested by the end users and sent back to the Design Phase for refining the final product.
Each development phase is cycled through at least three times, and each cycle brings you closer to the final product. SAM’s iterations aims to make room for evaluations and changes to the project as needed and whenever something that isn’t quite right, instant feedback helps to quickly correct it.
SAM is most suitable for a small-scale, fast-paced learning project that requires quick iteration and adaptation. Use SAM when the projects has complex or poorly defined requirements and you are working with a limited budget and timeline. Remember for the success of SAM, all stakeholders must be flexible and responsive to changing needs and requirements.
Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction
Before I elaborate let's get clarity on Gagne’s Conditions of Learning (which is a learning theory) and includes condition of learning, association of learning, the five categories of learning outcomes and the nine events of instruction framework. Gagné relates learning outcomes to the events of instruction. The Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction (is a ID Model) that provides systematic description of designing the instructional events for each of the learning outcomes:
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- Gaining Attention (Reception)
- Informing Learners of the Objective (Expectancy)
- Stimulating Recall of Prior Learning (Retrieval)
- Presenting the Stimulus (Selective Perception)
- Providing Learning Guidance (Semantic Encoding)
- Eliciting Performance (Responding)
- Providing Feedback (Reinforcement)
- Assessing Performance (Retrieval)
- Enhancing Retention and Transfer (Generalization)
Gagné’s nine events of instruction Model is based on the idea that effective instruction should be structured in a way that engages learners and helps them progress through a series of steps that lead to learning. So it can be used to build a framework to prepare and deliver instructional content while considering and addressing conditions for learning. Remember the learning goals, objectives, and outcomes must be clearly defined before implementing the nine events.
You might use Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction when you are designing a specific instructional experience, such as a training program or a lesson plan, and want to ensure that you are covering all of the important steps in the learning process. A teacher or facilitator or corporate trainer can use to guide the planning process for a lesson/session plan and to ensure that the session/training is effective and covers all of the necessary information. As an ID use it to structure your course to be hosted on any learning platform to ensure that it is engaging and effective for learners.
Read Gagne’s Conditions of Learning in detail from here and here.
Dick & Carey Instructional Design Model
The Dick & Carey instructional design model (or the Systems Approach Model) is a nine step process for planning and designing effective learning experiences.
The Dick and Carey Model includes all the five phases of the ADDIE Model, but it breaks the five phases into 10 smaller components. It further adds more depth and structure as well as builds in iterative development through ongoing revision of instruction.
The 10 Components of the Dick and Carey Model
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- Identify instructional goals (Skills, Knowledge, Attitude)
- Conduct instructional analysis
- Analyze learners and contexts
- Develop performance objectives (the behavior, the condition, and the degree)
- Develop assessment instruments (pre-test- post-test, practice items)
- Develop instructional strategies (pre-instruction activities, content presentation, participations and assessment)
- Develop and select instructional materials
- Design and conduct formative evaluation
- Design and conduct summative evaluation
Read more about the model from here.
As IDs use this model for individualized learning (for a few hours of learning). The Model has more focus on the design rather than implementation. Further, it is more goal-oriented and takes the learners and their prior knowledge and preconceived notions into consideration. In turn, many of the learners' needs can be addressed and expectations can be met.
Along with this Model, you should read about the Kemp Instructional Design Model. Kemp Model also has 9 steps and is built on ADDIE. But it can be used for larger learning experiences. Maybe create the entire curriculum using the Kemp Instructional Design Model and create individual units of curriculum using the Dick & Carey instructional design model.
Another very important model is the Backward Design Model.