Foundations | Sarah Schmidt

IDT Definition

AECT Definition (2023)

“Educational technology is the ethical study and application of theory, research, and practices to advance knowledge, improve learning and performance, and empower learners through strategic design, management, implementation, and evaluation of learning experiences and environments using appropriate processes and resources.”
— Association for Educational Communications and Technology

My Definition of IDT

Instructional design is the systematic and intentional process of creating effective, consistent, and reliable learning experiences. This learner-centered approach is dynamic and self-correcting, using empirical data and feedback to ensure specific goals are met through measurable outcomes.

IDT Emerging Trends

AI Enhanced Learning — Personalized learning pathways that provide automated feedback, predictive analytics, tutoring systems and content generation. This ranges from adaptave assessments to personalized, scaffolded learning tasks.
Microlearning — Focused and concise learning modules that are designed for easy and speedy consumption that hold immediate applicaiton and skill leveling.
Learning Analytics & Data-Informed Design — Systematic collecting and interpreting data on learner behavior, engagement and effective performance to guide the decision making process.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) — Designing learning experiences with expanded accessiblity at the forefront of planning. Multiple means of engagement is a means to center learner agency and allow for flexibility and assessment pathways.
Immersive Learning (XR/VR) — Creating authentic simulations and experiential learning opportunities using emerging technologies such as XR, AR and VR.
Networked & Social Learning — Utilizing digital communities, shared knowledge systems and databases, and participatory, collaborative culture to deepen understanding.

Key Scholars

Foundational theorists whose work continues to influence instructional design, learning theory, and educational practice.

Jean Piaget

Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist whose work provided the foundation for cognitive constructivism. He theorized that children actively build knowledge through engagement with their environment. They progress through four stages of cognitive development that mold and shape how they solve problems and make meaning in the world around them. Piaget brought us the ideas of schemas, assimilation, and accommodation, while providing an idea of how learners adjust their own mental structures to incorporate new knowledge. His research took the concept of learning from a passive process to an active internal process of reorganizing existing understanding. The impact on education, curriculum design, and instructional and design approaches was profound.

Jerome Bruner

Bruner (1915-2016) was an American psychologist whose work advanced cognitive learning theory and held a crucial role in shifting eduction to inquiry, discovery and meaning-making. He argued that learners were active participants in the construction of knowledge and learning and benefit from structured support labeled scaffolding. He also introduced the idea of spiraling curriculum which explores the idea that complex ideas can be revisted at increasing levels of sophistication as learners grow.

John Dewey

Dewey (1859-1952) was an American philosopher and proponent of educational reform whose ideas formed the groundwork for experiental and pragmatic constructivsm. Dewey theorized that learning occurs through experience, reflection and active participation in real world problem-solving. Central to his work were the concepts of democratic classrooms, a practice of inquiry, and instruction that leads to a deep and meaningful civic life. Dewey moved the learner from a passive state to an engaged participant by focusing on hands-on activities, collaboration and authentic contexts for learning.

History of IDT

A visual overview of key developments that shaped the field of Instructional Design & Technology.

Timeline of major events in the history of Instructional Design and Technology

Learning Theories & Educational Philosophy

Learning Theories

Behaviorism

Behaviorism emerged in the early 20th century as a scientific approach to understanding learning that is grounded in observable behaviors. It posits that learning happens when associations are formed between stimuli and responses, and the associations, or behaviors, are strengthened or weakened through positive or negative reinforcement. Punishment, repetition and conditioning also play in role in the quality of the association. Pavlov displayed this perfectly when he created an association in dogs between the sound of a bell and the appearance of food. When the positive reinforcement of food was removed, the canines response remained. Another key player in the field of Behaviorism was B.F. Skinner. Skinner's work propelled the field forward through identifying that internal mental states were not a reliable measure, so the definition of learning could be defined in observable and measurable behavioral changes. Behaviorism allowed the field of Instructional Design and Technology to leap into the 20th century by framing learning as a process that is scientific, measurable, and ultimately structured.

Cognitivism

Cognitive Learning Theory was born out of the limitations of Behaviorsm. The shift of the "cognitive resolution" argued that learning is internal and involves mental processes such as perception, memory, and reasoning. This shift took the field back to recognizing the mind as a legitimate object of study with an emphasis on how learners interpret and organize information, as well as integrate new knowledge into thier existing schemas, as defined by Piaget in his work on schema theory and the impact on growing knowlege structures through assimilation and accommodation. Teaching and instruction was seen as effective when it supprted attention, encoding, retrieval and metacognitive regulation. This meant that the focus of the field shifted from output to information processing. Durning this time frame, the field if IDT was revolutionized by Robert Gagne through cognitive psychology into a systematic instructional design model that brought the Nine Events of Instruction.

Constructivism

Constructivsm argues that learners are actively engaged in the construction of knowledge as opposed to passively receiving. Through the continued work of Piaget, the theory proposed that meaning is shaped through stages of development and often through experience, interpretation, reflection, and social interacion. Prior understanding, context, and culture were central to the success of integration of new information. Constructivism shifted from a primary focus on instruction to a primary focus on the learner. This period brought us communities of practice as learning models, where the teacher shifted authority and became a facilitator amongst the learners and engaged in inquiry and collaboration to solve authentic problems. Vygotsky introduced the Zone of Proximal Development and the concept of scaffolding instruction as core to the idea of social learning. Authenticy became a normalized concept in the field during this time period.

Connectivism

Connectivism is a 21st century learning theory based in digital networks and distributed knowledge. This theory argues that learning moves from an internal process to being shaped by the external connections to people, systems and technologies. Knowlege is both internal and external through databases, online networks and social communities. Siemens brought the pricipals of connectivism by emphasizing networked learning and the concept of digital cognition. Downes took it further with the development of personal learning environments and the idea of open access online courses to facilitate learning. One of the core changes found in this shift is the amount of accessible information which impacts the need for digital literacy and the ability to quickly and accurately evaluate the information. Due to the rapid change of this learning environment, connectivism sees learning as continuous, ongoing, and deeply invested in digital tools.

Your Educational Philosophy

My personal philosophy is to center the agency of learners, build community centered spaces that foster true belonging and connection, provide equitable access, and encourage autonomy through scaffolding, while thoughtfully using technology to enhance human relationality and cognitive development.

Artifact

As an aspiring Instructional Designer, developing your own voice in the form of a personal philosphy is a crucial step in growth and success. Your philosophy guides and directs your work, communication and values in the field. Please see the below artifact for the earliest version of my personal philosophy.

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Reflections

Beginning this journey with a mindset of engaging deeply with foundational principles of IDT has allowed me to develop a better, and more personal, understanding of the theoretical and methodological frameworks that shape the field. Exploring the history of instructional design, specifically the thoery, has impacted how I perceive the impact on learning environments and the influence each theory has held in the development and growth of new thoughts and ideas. These foundational concepts have also provided me with stronger internal conceptual structures that allow for more complete analysis and evaluation of learning problems, which in turn grounds my design process in thoughtful, intentional decision making grounded in evidence.

The foundational work this semester has shaped my sense of self and my professional identity. I have an increasing awareness of how my personal values, particularly my values of equity, transparency, and learner agency, align with the core principles of instructional design. As I move forward in the program, I intend to lean into the foundational concepts and my values to guide the choices I make in design, evaluation, and ethical consideration. My work will reflect the rigor and structure of the field of IDT, as well as my own ongoing committment to creating collaborative, accessible, community driven learning experiences.