The best instructional design models for today...

"What are the best instructional design models for eLearning today?" I was asked this recently, and it gave me pause. It's a hard question to answer, because the question is somewhat... tangled.

Considering that the art and science of instructional design has been around since World War II and the "Training Within Industry" initiative, and considering that lesson design has been shown to directly impact learning since at least Robert Gagne in the 1960s, I continue to be impressed by how few of the basics are broadly understood.

So let me unmuddle the question just a bit, then provide an answer. First, the term "instructional design model" refers to the process used to design instruction. The big kahuna of ID models is ADDIE, of course--Assess, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. When you want to build instruction, if you do each of these things in order, and do them carefully and well, you will likely end up with a serviceable result. But ADDIE flies at 30,000 feet and leaves much detail obscured, so there is plenty of room for pilot error. So I like to blend ADDIE with Rapid Prototyping, in which you quickly get learning chunks out to a slice of the target audience and let them provide feedback. It can only help, and sometimes it can save the day.

But my inquisitor in this case was actually unconcerned about instructional design models. It turned out the question was really about "learning models." A Learning Model is focused solely on what the learner does, in what order, when, and how. It has implications for everything else--instructor, technology, assignments, content, assessments--but it's not primarily focused on them. It defines a standard process for the learner. I put the Learning Model at the center of all instructional design because its heart and soul is the one thing that really matters... the learner.

Every learning event has a Learning Model, even if no one has defined it, and even if it's not very good ("Death By PowerPoint" is a common one, though not a personal favorite). But even the good ones can be all over the map, from variations on the case method to apprenticeship to more standard classroom lesson approaches. A good starting place for understanding what a Learning Model is would be Robert Gagne and his "Nine Events," which started the whole focus on structuring learning in order to improve outcomes, and which still holds a place of high esteem, because what he developed still works.

So, the best Learning Models for today... what are they? That answer has to be filtered through both the Instructional Model and the Delivery Model. And what are they? Well, to clarify terms, an Instructional Model defines the standard process and activities of the instructor, including such basics whether or not the instructor is human (self-paced online learning, for example, does not require the "instructor" to have pulse or respiration). It is to instructors what a Learning Model is to learners. Every public speaker has heard of at least this one: "Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them."

The Delivery Model then defines the platform, whether it is face-to-face (F2F), technology-enhanced, online, or any combination of the above. It also defines which specific technologies, by brand name, are being used to achieve the desired results. Hybrid models are popular, but not always possible. In fact, most technology platforms severely limit the Learning and Instructional Models. The unhappy result is that often the Delivery Model, which should be the last one chosen after the other models are defined, wags the dog.

And speaking of the dog, the answer to my questioner's question should also be shaped by the Assessment Model, the manner and mode of determining how effective the given learning opportunity has been. This could arguably be the most important model of them all, but in order to avoid that discussion I like to include it as a subset of the Learning Model. For this critical component, like many other practitioners I go straight to Donald Kirkpatrick's classic "Four Levels" of evaluation. Unlike the rest of the Learning Model, the Assessment Model can be, and too often is, completely absent. Those who pay little attention to Learning Models often ignore assessment as well (So if "Death By PowerPoint" is the Learning Model, I say don't bother with Assessment. The dead are notoriously poor test takers.)

So now, if I were to restate the question in its untangled form, I would put it like this: Given the wide variety of technologies now available, how would you go about recommending the appropriate learning, instructional, delivery, and assessment models for any given training or educational need?

Ah! That's a question I like!

But now I'll need another post to answer it.