Instructional Design

What is instructional design?

Instructional design is the planning and orchestration of those activities that make up our curriculum and instruction. Such design follows principles we commonly believe produce desired learning outcomes. Those activities can be varied and often address a broad range of interactions that include the live or virtual lecture, writing assignment, examination, live or virtual field trip, live or virtual lab experience, peer review or any experience that intends to instruct.

A recommended sequence of principles of instructional design

(Robert Mills Gagne)

1. gain attention

2. state intended outcomes

3. stimulate recall of prior learning

4. introduce new information or concept

5. provide learning guidance

6. elicit performance

7. provide feedback

8. assess performance

9. enhance attention and transfer

How can instructional designers help you and your students?

It is a college instructor's first responsibility to be a subject matter expert. It is also the instructor's responsibility to create or adopt instructional resources, and to devise and employ practices that deliver those resources in the most effective way. Community colleges pride themselves on their quality of teaching. To this end, North Idaho College provides its instructors with resources to effect well-designed instruction.

Consulting, which often includes all phases of course design:

  • defining instructional goals and specific outcomes
  • tasking and resources planning
  • assessment planning
  • mapping of instruction

Designing instructional products or learning objects that help anchor or supplement a specific curriculum.  Often these objects can be shared among colleagues:

  • lesson activities and sequences
  • attention devices
  • assessments
  • mediated materials (audio, video, art, maps, diagrams, animations, etc.)
  • resource bibliographies
  • learning management system constructs and templates