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INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MODELS & THEORIES OF LEARNING.

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Presentation on theme: "INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MODELS & THEORIES OF LEARNING."— Presentation transcript:

Designing and Developing Online Courses. Course Life Cycle Design Develop Implement Evaluate Revise.

THE PROCESSES OF INSTRUCTION. Back in 1965, Robert Gagne detailed a nine-step instructional process that many teachers, trainers, and instructional designers.

Team 6 Lesson 3 Gary J Brumbelow Matt DeMonbrun Elias Lopez Rita Martin.

ONLINE COURSE DEVELOPMENT. WELCOME o Facilitator name Position at University Contact info.

King Saud University College of nursing Master program.

Personal Epistemology Michael Uttendorfer An Andragogical Constructivist NYIT School of Education.

Teaching and Learning If you don’t know anything about learning… You don’t know anything about teaching! Telling is not TEACHING Listening is not LEARNING.

ED 3501: Curriculum and Instruction Section GHI - Fall Understanding by Design Understanding and Creating Effective Instructional Design.

Introduction to teaching and assessing so students will learn more using learner-centered teaching Phyllis Blumberg Warm-up activity How can instructor’s.

Rationale for CI 2300 Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age.

/ 181 InstrutionalMethods. Aim The purpose of this session is to increase the effectiveness of the trainings that are prepared by the participants, by.

1 Robert Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction “Organization is the hallmark of effective instructional materials” Robert Gagné Art Wolfskill, ALEC.

Human Learning Adham Jad. Learning Theory Conceptual frameworks describing how information is absorbed, processed and retained during learning. Learning.

SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS TOOLS. WELCOME o Facilitator name Position at university Contact info.

Behaviorism-Cognitivism

Cheryl Denny. Behaviorism Cognitivism Constructivism.

Task A: Learning Theories & Learners

Instructional Design Presentation Instructional Design & Course Review by Christine Leake.

ONLINE LEARNING COMMUNITIES. WELCOME o Facilitator name Position at university Contact info.

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introduction to instructional design

slide presentation on the definition, core elements, and characteristics of instructional design.

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There is nowadays a lot of interest in the field of Instructional Design. The focus is still on theories and methodology of Instructional System Design (ISD), which are the fundamentals of the field and are absolutely important for its application. However, most professionals are involved in the daily practice of instructional design (ID). The practice of instructional design has a slightly different approach, which tend not to follow strictly the linearity of many ID Models that have been created over the past thirty years. Success in applying the ID methodology lies on a systemic validation and revision of all phases performed along the process of developing instruction. Another element to be considered in the practice of ID, aiming effectiveness and high quality results, is the synergy of all components and the team, which will be acquired by fully knowledge of the process by all.

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Educators and course designers may face great hurdles when designing courses if they include an online setting. Instructional design (ID) has played a vital role as a change agent in facilitating the pedagogical and technological transformation of educators and students. However, some instructors still find ID challenging and there are information gaps regarding instructional design models, categories, educational context, and recommendations for future work. This systematic literature review (SLR) analyzed 31 publications using PRISMA to address this gap. The results of this review suggest combining ID models with broader theoretical frameworks. Investigations and research on ID should include a bigger number of ID types. It is highly recommended that extra frameworks be added to the ID procedure. To explore and grasp all parties engaged in ID, including the role of the instructor, the ID designer, and the student, it is important for additional educational contexts to be amalgamat...

This review focuses on instructional design literature for the MACE project. It shows the plenty of research in instructional design era for more than 20 years, and offers various approaches, concepts and models in this field. The findings relate to the following keywords: Instructional design in teaching, design architecture, and construction engineering. This report is divided in four sections: “Literature Reviews”, “Articles, Book Chapters and Studies”, “Books”, and “Web Resources”, and is organized in a schedular view. Each section implicates the information about literature reference or website title, keywords, abstract and URL/resource if available.

Instructional design is a process whereby the designer uses the phases of analysis of the learner needs and learner context, the development of strategies both for instruction and its delivery, and an assessment or evaluation of learner goals and objectives for the purposes of accomplishing instruction and to possibly revise and improve future instruction. By following the key principles and assumptions of instructional design and knowing their interrelationships, the instructional designer is assured of designing instruction that is effective and efficient as well as technologically relevant in today’s educational arena.

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6 Instructional Design Principles

As schools and institutions adopt technology to evolve the learning experience, instruction must meet the needs of all students. At the core of effective teaching strategies, instructional design is the researched development of educational materials and methods to produce positive outcomes for learners. This structured approach organizes and manages the learning process to help students succeed. Implementing instructional principles allows educators to engage students with interactive lectures and lessons through valuable digital learning resources.

What is Instructional Design?

Instructional design (ID) is the systematic process of creating educational and training programs that lead to effective and efficient learning experiences. It involves the strategic creation and organization of content, assessments, interactions, and feedback mechanisms to foster effective and engaging learning experiences within technology. The main goal of instructional design is to make learning more effective, efficient, and engaging for learners.

At a glance, instructional design:

While there are various design models, every instructional design model should incorporate several key principles. Let’s dig in.

6 Key Principles of Instructional Design

Delivering instructional materials that are engaging, tech-integrated, and accessible can be challenging in an evolving academic landscape. With this goal in mind, the following key principles ensure that institutions and schools provide quality learning experiences.

Understand Learner Needs: Instructional designers implement the best strategies to address the learners' needs, tailoring content to optimize the learning experience. Adapt materials for K-12 and Higher Ed students, considering differences between base knowledge and objectives.

Identify Learning Objectives: Learning objectives set expectations for everyone involved in the learning process. Educators use objectives to guide instruction, placing specific, relevant, and measurable expectations. As a result, students are motivated to set their own learning goals and achieve personal outcomes.

Craft Learning Experiences: Implementing an effective strategy that benefits learners and increases material retention is at the core of instructional design. Educators use the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to create positive learning experiences. UDL addresses educational barriers by giving students a voice in how they want to learn.

Design Usable Courses: Usability assesses students' ability to interact with and navigate a course. The course interface appeals to its target audience and supports the academic experience. With efficient course design , educators can spend less time on technical challenges and prioritize instruction.

Ensure Equitable Access: Equitable and inclusive courses allow all students to learn. Course features include functions for students with auditory, visual, motor, or cognitive impairments. Accessibility in design ensures educators can support elementary students with IEPs, ILPs, and 504 plans and college students with diverse needs.

Evaluate Student & Educator Performance: Assessment rates the effectiveness of the learning strategies, providing opportunities for students to understand where they are on their learning journey and for teachers to build rapport with their students and reflect on their efficacy. Both educator and student feedback identify course strengths and areas for improvement, producing better learning outcomes in the future.

3 Essential Instructional Design Models

Systematic educational models are guidelines based on learning theory and psychology that influence instructional design principles. Here are three popular models that can enhance course design and student learning.

Addie Model: The Addie is an acronym and non-linear model with five important instructional design pillars.

Analysis: Define goals and objectives; identify the learner's prior knowledge
Design: Consider user interface and experience to support navigation for educators and students
Development: Collaboration between instructional designers and developers to make features functional
Implementation: Integrate instructional strategy into the course material
Evaluation: Use assessment data to gain insight into student progress

Bloom’s Taxonomy Model: Bloom’s framework highlights six categories of student understanding. Each type represents a student's stage in the learning process.

Remember: Students can recall and define basic concepts through memorization
Understand: Students can verbalize understanding of ideas and concepts
Application: Students can implement learning material in out-of-classroom experiences
Analysis: Students can organize ideas and concepts
Evaluate: Students can develop a personal stance or critique of the learning material
Create: Students can use the material to create something new or solve a problem

Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction: Merrill’s Model follows five principles of instruction. Each approach identifies ways for the learner to develop a deeper relationship with the material.

Demonstration: Provide examples and effective presentation of learning material to help students absorb the content
Application: Assign performance tasks allowing the student to problem solve and apply knowledge
Integration: Provide a further step for students to apply their studies in a real-world context
Activation: Build on students’ prior knowledge, allowing them to form connections
Engage: Find ways to motivate learners as they connect with the material

Combining Technique with Tool: Instructional Design + LMS

Combining instructional design with a learning management system (LMS) can yield learning experiences that are intentional and impactful, whether in-person, hybrid, or entirely online. The right LMS provides intuitive tools and features to support teaching and elevate learning.

Technology is integral to the modern classroom, requiring learning content to evolve. Instructional designers should integrate adaptive and collaborative learning into their plans to improve the user experience. Instructional design within Canvas LMS provides users with the following:

Adaptive Learning: Customize the learning experience, addressing unique student needs
Collaborative Learning: Pair and group students, encouraging participation and active learning
Multimedia Learning: Use media and digital tools to reinforce content and enhance the learning process
Microlearning: Deliver content in small increments, making the material digestible for learners
Mobile Learning: Support online learning, providing students accessibility and flexibility
Gamification : Engage learners through game element implementation, increasing focus and motivation

Working Together: Instructional Design + Teachers

Instructional design and teaching are interdependent to ensure students receive a high-quality education. Educators adopt instructional strategies and implement techniques in the classroom. Instructional designers generally have experience with or background in the subject matter and are often former teachers. By adopting instructional design principles, teachers can make applications for the courses and offer feedback for further ideation. Instructional designers and teachers both:

Set Learning Objectives
Design Curriculum
Create Learning Materials
Develop Effective Assessments
Integrate Technology

Set up for Success: Instructional Design + Learners

Learners benefit from evidence-based coursework, a usable course interface, and an effective instructional strategy. With strong course design and robust educator delivery, students are fully immersed in the learning experience, increasing outcomes for success. How effective instructional design benefits students:

Develops personal learning goals based on objectives
Provides a healthy balance of consistency and flexibility in coursework
Offers accessible features to benefit personal learning needs
Facilitates timely and personal feedback on performance
Increases opportunities for growth & achievement

Design and Educate with Digital Learning Tools

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9 Instructional design principles and how to use them

Robert Gagne’s instructional design principles were first proposed in 1965. Though the world has changed a lot in that time, the way we learn is fundamentally the same. Together, these nine principles are a science-backed framework for creating effective learning experiences, whatever your learning format.

Whether you’re creating elearning courses, training sessions or working in blended environments, this guide will help you understand how to deploy these instructional strategies and engage your learners. We’ll explore each principle in turn and provide practical examples and advice for applying them in your instructional design process.

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What are Gagne’s instructional design principles and why are they important?

Robert M. Gagne was an American psychologist whose worked centred on educational psychology. He is best known for his 1965 book The Conditions of Learning . There, he demonstrated a nine-step process for creating effective learning called the events of instruction.

The 9 instructional design principles (also known as Gagne’s nine events of instruction) as outlined by Gagne are:

Gain the attention of your learners
State the objectives
Stimulate recall of prior learning
Present the learning content
Provide learning guidance
Elicit performance from learners
Provide feedback
Assess learner performance
Enhance retention and transfer

You’ll find a detailed explanation of each of Gagne’s instructional design principles below alongside practical tips for implementing them in your eLearning course, classroom or live training session.

Instructional design principles are important because they provide a proven framework for designing an effective learning experience. They successfully incorporate the key concepts and psychological principles at the heart of learning into a practical, easy to follow process.

In my experience, these principles help concretize all the learning theory out there and make it easy for me to ensure the course I’m designing will engage students and achieve the desired learning outcomes. They provide a systematic process that is easy for any instructional designer to follow, repeat and internalize.

While most of these principles will occur in your course roughly in the order presented above, it’s worth noting that these events can overlap and you’ll revisit them at various points in your learning flow.

For example, it’s common that an eLearning course will present the content of one training block alongside an interactive game that gives learners an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and for instructors to gauge their progress.

Afterwards, you might then go into another learning block that repeats this process, perhaps even restating objectives at certain points and asking learners to remember previous learning when pertinent.

In most effective courses, many of these instructional principles are repeated throughout and learners will have multiple opportunities to receive feedback, interact with experiential content and practice their skills.

Try thinking of the list as both a rough skeleton of the points you will want to hit in your learning flow as well as practice advice for improving individual sections of your course or training programs.

When designing an eLearning course outline or instructional design storyboard , it’s helpful to detail how each training block aligns with your learning objectives.

In SessionLab, instructional designers can add colour-coding to training blocks to delineate the learning objective, activity type or even which stage of the learning process it touches upon. This can help ensure you have a balanced learning flow that will be engaging for your learners.

As Gagne writes, “organisation is the hallmark of effective instructional materials.”

Start by creating a simple course outline that meets your learner needs. Turn that outline into a storyboard by adding detailed text, timing and clear instructions. Attach learning materials, images, links and other multimedia to each training block so that your content team can easily find what they need.

By combining the following instructional design principles for course creation with SessionLab, you can quickly structure your online course and ensure nothing is missed.

1) Gain attention

Effective learning can only begin once learners’ attention is in the room or on the course provided. Gagne’s first event of instruction is all about getting the attention of your learners, sparking their curiosity and drawing them into the session.

In a live setting, gaining attention often means actually starting the session, asking for people to settle into the room and leave what’s outside of the session for later. While this can be as simple as raising your voice and saying, let’s begin, it can be especially effective to engage learners’ curiosity and help them be present in the moment with a game or activity. For a learning program or online course delivered via an LMS or course platform, getting the attention of your learners also needs to consider a combination of good design and simple, but engaging content.

How to gain attention in instructor-led training

Call the room to action by using your voice and presence . Often, this looks like standing up at the front of the room, raising the volume of your voice and calling the group to attention. In traditional learning environments, lots of learners expect some kind of formal signal to begin so don’t be afraid to lean into this.
Use an icebreaker game to help people mentally arrive in the room. Bonus points if it relates to the topic of the day and starts getting people engaging and learning with one another.
Don’t forget the body! A simple invitation to take a few deep breaths, stretch or do an energizer can help people give their attention to what’s happening in the room, rather than what’s happening on their phone or after the session.
Use music or other audio tool to signal the start of the session . One facilitator friend swears by the use of a Tibetan gong!
Create engaging visuals. Have a thought-provoking cover slide on your visual presentation or have posters or images relating to your topic around the room.
Place question cards, quotes or image cards on tables and chairs ready for when people come in . Pique their interest or invite them to start thinking about the session and their own understanding of the topic at hand while everyone arrives.

How to gain attention in eLearning courses

Share a short, engaging intro video. Video content that features the instructor behind the training can be very effective, adding a human touch to forthcoming material while also introducing the key points of the course.
Share a story relevant to the topic at hand. Good stories are highly engaging for us as people, whatever the medium. A real world example that engages with the topic of your course is also a great shout – if it’s personal, even better!
Have an interactive moment early on, preferably including some element of user choice. Picking an avatar, a favourite colour or simply answering a question in the first moments of the course can help get the attention of learners in this environment. Bonus points if it’s persistent!
Use compelling visuals. As above, attractive, thought provoking visual material can be a great way to get attention immediately. Good design can go a long way here!
Make a big claim or bold statement to grab learner attention and encouraging critical thinking. Something a learner strongly agrees (or disagrees!) which can be a compelling hook to move forward. On other occasions, using evocative language and restating the ideal goal state or benefit of the course can be a great way to gain learner attention. Let them know what real world problems they’ll solve after taking your course!

2) State objectives

In adult learning, it’s been shown that people learn better when they know why they’re doing a particular activity and what the goals or desired outcomes of a training program are. Gagne’s second event of instruction is all about outlining the goals and objectives of the training they’re about undertake.

Stating course objectives can help learners engage with each step of the learning flow, understanding what the overall goal is and how each step can help them reach that goal.

This stage is often about building trust too – giving your learners an overview of what they’re going to learn and some sense of how you’re going to help them learn it. Whatever your learning format and audience, try to use language that speaks to them and relates to their personal goals, as well as those of the wider training program.

Unsure about the learning goals or your audience? Check out this guide on how to run a training needs assessment to ensure you thoroughly understand your audience and their goals.

How to state objectives in instructor-led training

Let your learners know the objectives of the training session early in the process. Practically, this looks like having a slide in your presentation to present the objectives or a handout which includes learning objectives close to the top. For some sessions, you might even state the objectives of the training in the invitation email or in a shareable agenda so participants can come to the session fully prepared.
Try making objectives personal and aspirational. Statements such as “by the end of this training you will be able to:” can help the goals of a session more concrete. Aspirational statements that invite participants to consider their personal goals can also be effective ways to motivate learners.
In live environments, it can also be effective to ask learners and trainees what their own objectives are at the beginning of a training session. This can help ensure alignment, create a participatory environment and also create the potential to cover peripheral topics (if able) that learners will respond to.
Having learners share those desired learning outcomes with the rest of the group can also be an effective way to cover the objectives of the course and also begin the active learning process. Ask participants to share their own goals with the group and then add any core learning outcomes they’ve missed at the end.

How to state objectives in eLearning courses

A simple bullet point list or slide that tells learners exactly what they’ll learn on the course is a tried and tested method for stating objectives. This might also come in the form of a course outline where objectives are linked to the main sections of your course.
Outlining before and after states is also an effective way to sell the self-paced course they’re on and carry them through the first screens and into the training proper. What will it look like after the course has been completed? How will the learnings benefit their day-to-day work?
A short video where the instructor introduces learning objectives works well. The human touch can help demystify tricky objectives or help demonstrate an ideal future state. For example, if you were running a course on improving facilitation skills, a video where an expert facilitator tells trainees how achieving learning objectives has improved their personal practice can do wonders to get participant buy-in.
I’ve found that including an activity that asks participants to write down their personal objectives is a great way to start people on their learning journey. If you’ve gotten the right people on the course at the right time, most personal objectives will overlap with those of the course, but it’s an effective exercise to get participants thinking about what they most want to get out of the material ahead.

3) Stimulate recall of prior learning

In Cagne’s principles of instructional design, the recall of previous learning is an integral part of the learning process. By creating connections between new material and their existing knowledge and experiences, it’s easier for learners to retain what they learn.

In many cases, the recollection of previous material is also a great tool to allow a trainer to assess participants’ existing knowledge or skill level. You can use this to tailor the learning experience and to measure the impact of your course – for example, running a short quiz at the beginning and end of the training and seeing how the results change.

Remember that previous learning doesn’t just mean “what previous courses or training have you taken on this subject?”

If the subject of your training is conflict resolution, it might be more effective to ask participants about recent conflicts and how they resolved them. Personal experience and parallels to real life situations can be very effective at stimulating the recall of prior knowledge.

How to stimulate recall in instructor-led training

Group discussions where participants are encouraged to share their experiences around a core training topic is a highly effective method of stimulating recall. In my experience, 1-2-4 All provides the best structure of this kind of discussion. It allows trainees to have some personal time thinking about the subject before a pair and small group discussion. It also ensures that one person doesn’t dominate a whole group discussion and that multiple viewpoints are shared.
Experiential activities can also be a great way to stimulate recall. For example, a simple problem solving game might require participants to use skills they’ve learned in order to be successful. In my experience, using an energizer game as an opportunity for people to use problem solving skills related to the topic at hand can also help.
One simple way to stimulate recall is to simply ask all participants to summarize their knowledge on a chosen topic and present those summaries to the group.

How to stimulate recall in eLearning courses

Quizzes and other interactive content are highly effective in a self-paced format. A short quiz can help you engage learners early on, providing variation in your course content while also allowing you to gauge their level of knowledge.
Asking learners to recall prior knowledge and summarize can work in a self-paced format , though without peer feedback, it might not suit every training topic or learning format. That said, even as a self-reflection activity it can be effective. You can even begin the process of multimedia learning by asking participants to create a slide-deck or image to summarize their existing knowledge.
Referencing previous learning content or well known material in your course material can help gently nudge learner recall. If you know your trainees have engaged in a previous course or will likely have read a well known book on the topic, organically referencing these in your course is a good idea.
Sending preparatory reading material to your trainees in your invitation or prep materials can give participants an opportunity to prepare and also give you something to refer back to later. Be aware that not every trainee will do this reading, but don’t be afraid to refer back to it to help stimulate recall either.
A single great question can also pave the way for this kind of recall. Ask a question that invites participants to reflect (and take time to do so!) on a given topic or an inspiring subject can be all it takes to promote this learning principle.

4) Present the content

So this is the big one – actually presenting your learning content to your trainees. In most training sessions , this is where the bulk of time is spent. Here, you’ll organize your learning content into a methodical, engaging learning flow that will help learners understand and engage with the learning material.

In live training, presenting content can often look like a trainer running through a slide deck, asking questions from the group, encouraging reflection and perhaps including an experiential game to demonstrate some of the content in action.

In eLearning environments, content will likely live in an LMS or learning platform, and be a sequence of interactive slides, games and other material. Using the key principles of multimedia learning and varying your content style is a great place to begin, though you’ll want to go further in order to produce a truly effective instructional design.

In any format, there are some solid best practices for ensuring your learning content is presented in an engaging fashion that will help learners move efficiently to the next stage.

How to present content in instructor-led training

Try presenting your content in different ways to engage different learning styles. Standing at the front of the room and simply talking to your trainees without any variation or interactivity can quickly grow stale and lower engagement with your content. Use slides, videos, audio, handouts and images in your visual presentations to cater to different learning styles. You might also encourage active participation in the form of a training activity that involves your participants in presenting content.
Simplicity and legibility is important. Your content should follow a structured learning flow that makes it easy for learners to follow, understand and synthesize. Be sure to contextualize anything you present and that it’s suitable for the level of understanding your learners have. Using SessionLab to design your content flow and storyboards is one effective way of ensuring your content is well structured and follows a logical sequence.
Summarizing content and describing key points to learners either at the beginning or end of a training block can be helpful at switching your participants into the right mode for learning while also reinforcing the key takeaways.
Relating your material to real world contexts can provide learners with a way to relate this new knowledge to their own experience. Try using multiple examples or even ask for examples from your group.
Encouraging note-taking is another effective method of helping participants engage with the content you’re presenting. In some training activities, you might ask learners to share notes with each other between learning blocks or to summarize the content you just presented using their own notes.

How to present content in eLearning courses

Presenting content in different forms is especially important for keeping learners attention in self-paced eLearning. Using a blend of text, video, audio, infographics, slides and other media are all useful at creating engagement.
Interactivity can be an effective way of presenting your content in a more memorable and experiential manner. Simple learning games developed with the help of subject matter experts can make all the difference when it comes to helping learners actively engage with your content.
Ensure that any additional media or interactivity you add is relevant to the topic and learning goals. Making things visually appealing is a bonus, but adding heaps of images that aren’t relevant to your central content can distract the learner. As with everything in instructional design, balance is key.
Segment your content into digestible chunks and add simple, measurable goals to each section. This can help keep your learners on track and ensure they don’t lose sight of why they’re being given a particular piece of content.

5) Provide learning guidance

Gagne’s fifth event of instruction is where the instructor or trainer provides learning guidance. This guidance can come in many forms, though it should always have the aim of helping learners better understand the material provided and helping them learn how to learn.

In my experience, learning guidance comes in two main forms:

Learning guidance that is baked into the content
Learning guidance offered alongside main content by the instructor or course

Making learning guidance present on a content level is often a design decision. For example, instructional designers will often start with simple material before increasing in complexity in order to facilitate learning.

They may distribute handouts which help guide a learner towards answering questions on the training content or include step by step instructions that facilitate deeper comprehension. They might also include practical examples of what is being learned in the form of a case study or training activity .

Learning guidance offered alongside the main content is often about helping learners improve their own ability to learn.

Instructional designers might include a PDF on best practices for studying, taking breaks and keeping learning alive. In cohort based learning, that guidance might also look like providing office hours or online chat groups where participants can help one another learn too.

How to provide learning guidance in instructor-led training

Develop step-by-step lessons that start with simple, easy to understand concepts before moving towards more complex material. This allows learners to build on existing knowledge and develop their understanding as they go.
Break your content into small chunks and create opportunities for the group to ask simple qualifying questions at regular intervals. You might also solicit relevant experiences from the group or step to one side and talk about how to best internalize the content effectively.
Using an instructional design model such as the ADDIE model to thoroughly understand your learners needs can really help you choose the right method of learning guidance. Ensure you’ve investigated what will wok best for your learners in order to produce the most effective instruction.
Talking through a question and how you might arrive at an answer for the group can be really effective at demonstrating a learning mindset. You might do this yourself or by doing a pop-quiz and asking the correct respondent to talk more about the process they went through when finding the answer.
Practical examples are a great tool for providing learning guidance. You might include a real world example or case study in your content that shows how someone might deploy the knowledge being learned in your training. You might also use a training activity involving role play that gives participants an opportunity to practice in a safe environment where you as a trainer can also provide guidance.

How to provide learning guidance in eLearning courses

Most content authoring tools offer features like image hotspots or buttons that allow users to explore a subject in more detail. Add links to additional material where you can. Include tooltips on key terms and learning points so that those learners who may need extra help can find it without leaving your course and come out of their learning flow.
Add a section with advice on how to get the most out of the course. Set expectations for how long learners should spend on each section, how much extra reading they should do and how they should approach the material. Even something as simple as a reminder to silence phones and give learning material their full attention can help here!
Peer-support and activities can be effective, even in a self-paced environment. With cohort based learning, give opportunities for learners to discuss material or complete a group task to support your self-paced material. Blended courses are a great way to make this dance between self-directed learning and group discussion a reality – see more in this blended course template !

6) Elicit performance

Gagné’s sixth event of instruction is eliciting performance. This is typically where learners are able to practice new skills, demonstrate what they’ve learned and begin retaining information. Practical exercises, role playing simulations and quizzes are all common methods trainers and instructional designers will use in order to elicit performance from learners.

By tapping into experiential learning methods, this stage of the learning process can help learners retain information and file it in their long term memory.

This is arguably the most important step of the learning process. Whatever the topic or format of your training, you’ll want to ensure you give ample opportunity for participants to practice their skills and demonstrate their knowledge within your course – simply providing lots of informational content isn’t enough, however great that content might be.

Eliciting performance is also an important step for the instructor. If learners are having continually difficulty with a particular concept, the instructor may want to revisit that topic in greater detail. In a self-paced format, the input you get from participants at this stage can also be used for improving your learning experiences.

How to elicit performance in instructor-led training

Role-playing games and training activities where learners must deploy their new skills are great ways to elicit learner performance . In some scenarios such as soft skills training, participants are able to use what they’ve learned in a real-life situation immediately while in others, you may need to offer a simulation – such as for workers operating specialized machinery which may not be available on site. Wherever possible, consider how you can create opportunities to directly employ what’s being learned in a “as true to life” manner as possible.
Simple quizzes and Q&A sessions can also be an effective way to give participants a chance to show what they’ve learned. It’s often useful to go beyond repetition and ask learners how they arrived at an answer or how they might use their answer in the real world.
Giving participants an opportunity to present what they’ve learned and demonstrate their understanding is another common method of eliciting performance. Put folks into groups and ask them to discuss what they’ve learned, how they might apply it and then presenting those ideas to the rest of the cohort. This is an effective way of encouraging people to not only repeat what they heard, but to start putting those learnings into practice.
In a live session, it’s important to consider how a balanced agenda can pave the way for effective practice. Add breaks to your SessionLab agenda and use the automatic timing calculations to ensure participants haven’t been digesting content for 3 hours straight before then being asked to demonstrate new knowledge!

How to elicit performance in eLearning courses

Interactive activities are the name of the game for this stage of the learning process. Use quizzes and games where participants need to demonstrate their knowledge in order to proceed. You can gate progress or create fail states so that participants can only go to the next step when they provide correct answers and demonstrate their understanding.
Simulations are even better if they’re relevant to your learning objectives . For example, if you’re delivering a sales training course, you might simulate a few customer calls and ask respondents to select the best responses.
If you’re running cohort based training or a blended learning course, get participants to do an activity together or in a facilitated group activity . This provides a great opportunity to practice new skills with the guidance and feedback of peers and an instructor.
In some scenarios, using open-ended questions and giving participants an opportunity to respond creatively to a problem and use their new skills can be effective . This approach requires peer or instructor feedback to be effective, and so is best used in a blended format, or at the end of a larger unit of self-paced training.
It can also be effective to give participants some homework or ask them to practice what they’ve learned in a real-life environment between training content . Give participants a clear call to action on what to do next with some practical ideas for how to use what they’ve learned. Even with entirely self-directed learning, it’s possible to give direction for employing new skills between training content and then ask participants to reflect on what they did when they come back for the next block.
Allow participants to retake or repeat key sections , particularly if they’ve not satisfied performance expectations. You might link back to sections contextually or simply provide an index or course overview so learners can go back over what they need to whenever necessary.

7) Provide feedback

Gagné’s seventh event of instruction is providing feedback. This is where the instructor provides direct feedback on learner progress and how they’re performing in comparison to the desired learning goal. This kind of feedback is most often given in direct response to learner input, such as when they are answering questions about a new learning, conducting a practical exercise or practicing new skills.

In a training context, feedback is most effective when given immediately following learner action. It should also provide enough detail for the learner to understand what went well or what needs improvement. The idea is not to just tell the learner why they were wrong but also to help them make adjustments and move towards the desired learning goal.

The best kind of feedback to give your learners is often dependent on context, where they are in the learning journey and the relative importance of a given point. Here are some of the different kinds of feedback you might provide to your learners:

Confirmation feedback: this kind of feedback lets the learner know they did the right thing or gave the right answer. This typically includes a positive affirmation that futher encourages the learner.
Corrective feedback: the type of feedback tells learners that they did the wrong thing or an incorrect answer was given and explain why. Remedial feedback will typically direct learners to where they can find the right answer or prompt them to try again.
Evaluative feedback: this feedback method gives the learner a sense of how they performed, often in the form of a score. You might also include a description of what that score means, often in line with an assessment criteria document. This kind of feedback is often short and to the point, with learners expected to take some ownership of next steps based on the score they received.
Descriptive feedback: descriptive feedback can be used in both correct and incorrect scenarios, giving participants a deeper level of feedback that often includes suggestions, additional information and next steps that will help learners improve their performance and progress on the learning journey.
Peer feedback: peer feedback is an opportunity for learners to reflect on the performance of others and provide input to one another. This is especially useful during group activities or as a point of contact in a blended learning environment.
Self evaluation/self feedback: this kind of feedback method involves prompting the learner to self reflect on their progress or performance. Self reflection is a great habit to encourage at various points in the learning process.

How to provide feedback in instructor-led training

In a live environment, feedback is often given immediately following learner input or during a practical exercise. The faster you’re able to help learners correct their actions, the easier it is for them to make changes and incorporate the desired learning.
Create space for learners to ask follow-up questions. The best learning experiences are rarely one way and giving participants a deeper understanding of what to improve, change or why their answer was correct can help deepen the process.
In many cases, it’s vital for learners to understand why they were wrong, as well as being given the correct answer. Contextualize your feedback and where necessary, detail the process of finding the right answer. This can help ensure participants develop the skills they need, rather than just parroting the correct answer in a training context.
When learners are practicing their skills or conducting role-play exercises, ensure there’s an opportunity to course correct and practice the ideal behaviour. This can help switch context from a potentially negative to positive relationship with the training material and help reinforce the desired outcome.
Positive affirmation that helps reinforce ideal behaviour is as important as correcting undesired responses. Tell people when they’ve done well and explain why their response was ideal. In a group setting, it can also be helpful to share what a great response or effective application looks like.

How to provide feedback in eLearning courses

It’s worth noting that giving people a chance to learn from their mistakes is especially important during eLearning. Just telling people they were wrong and then moving on isn’t an ideal flow for learning. After providing feedback on a wrong answer be sure to then provide the opportunity for participants to give the right answer or demonstrate their knowledge some other way. You might also offer a simpler or adjusted version of the simulation or provide a quiz that offers additional hints or tooltips.
As with live training, any feedback should be given in a direct, immediate and clear manner. Your content authoring tool will have everything from tooltips, pop-ups, audio tools and more. Leverage these tools thoughtfully to congratulate participants on a correct response or gently let them know that the response was incorrect and provide them with feedback that can help them do better next time.
As a rule of thumb, try to ensure every point of learner input provides feedback of some kind. Whether it’s a positive affirmation of correct practice or an incorrect answer message, each point of input is an opportunity to guide participants to the ideal learning journey.
Achieving clarity in a self-paced training course isn’t just about the text. Visual design is a vital element of providing feedback that is easy for the learner to understand and doesn’t create friction. Think about how to make feedback visually distinct from other learning material and try to employ a consistent method of delivering feedback throughout your course.
Test your courts and explore how it feels to receive feedback to an incorrect response. If every incorrect answer triggers a warning klaxon and a wall of text, that’s unlikely to feel good for your learner, and may negatively impact the learning journey.
Remember that feedback is about guiding participants to the correct response and deepening the learning journey. Messages will want to let people know what went wrong but also guide them towards understanding. It’s not fun to be told you’re incorrect over and over again without context or support!
Providing links to additional material or opportunities to revisit content is easily achieved in most content authoring tools . Giving learners an opportunity to improve their understanding by linking to supporting material can help ensure they get the right answer while also reinforcing key points. This can be an effective way of helping learners gain an understanding of the material, rather than just brute forcing your quiz.

8) Assess performance

Gagné’s eight event of instruction is an assessment of learner performance. This is where trainers officially evaluate how well learners have performed against the desired learning objectives. In practice, this can look like a written or oral exam, practical demonstration, scored quiz or other form of assessment.

For most learning scenarios, it’s important that trainers do not offer additional guidance or help while assessing performance. Participant ability will typically be measured on individual performance and with a pass/fail model.

The results of these assessments are used in multiple ways. First, they’re often given back to participants to either congratulate them or provide an opportunity to retake an assessment or deepen their learning.

Assessments are also a great tool for trainers and instructional designers to improve the quality of their materials – if participants struggle with certain elements, it’s potentially a sign you need to make something clearer or cover certain topics in greater detail.

How to assess performance in instructor-led training

Demonstrations and practical activities that are supervised or observed by the instructor is a common method of assessment in live training. Typically, those assessing the performance will score or grade each trainee as they progress through a pre-defined scenario. This is especially useful when training participants in practical skills.
A formative assessment in the form of a written or oral exam is also common. These often include a series of questions that are scored by the trainer in order to determine performance.
Individual outputs such as essays, reports or creative products are another tried and tested assessment method – many university courses include essays and other personal outputs to assess learner progress and performance. Note that these can be more difficult and time consuming to assess, and require thorough assessment criteria used by every instructor in order to be fair and effective.
Be sure to outline how performance will be assessed at the outset of the course and again just before an assessment. Trainees should know exactly how they’ll be assessed and there shouldn’t be any surprise criteria that doesn’t relate to what they learned. Include it in your training agenda and provide links to supporting material where appropriate.
In some cases, it can also be effective to assess participants before the course begins and then assess them again at the end. Measuring the improvement in skills or knowledge can provide a finer degree of assessment and also help the trainer understand the true impact of their material.
Going further, it can also be helpful for learners to get used to being assessed in some small form throughout the course . You might sprinkle various assessment techniques such as quizzes and group questioning throughout your course to help you and your learners be aware of performance throughout the course.

How to assess performance in eLearning courses

Scored quizzes are a common feature of self-paced courses for good reason. They provide an opportunity to cover many learning events in turn and effectively assess the performance of learners.
Vary the format of your assessments so that they’re engaging and can’t be brute forced. Using a mix of multiple-choice questions, word games and other quiz formats can help you assess performance while avoiding burnout.
Challenges and simulations provide an experiential way to assess performance. Remember that even if your assessment method is gamified, participants still need to know how they are being assessed. Clear instructions and good feedback are key here.
Include links to assessment criteria and supporting materials in your course introduction and ensure participants can access what they need when preparing for assessment.
Clearly signpost when a section of your online course is part of the formal assessment of course progress. You might distinguish these sections visually while also clearly spelling out that this section is important.
Milestone tests or short assessments spread throughout the course are especially important in a self-paced environment where the instructor does not have the ability to organically gauge performance.
Pre-testing before the start of an eLearning course can be an effective way to tailor the experience for your learners. You might allow them to skip certain sections or draw more attention to others based on the results.

9) Enhance retention and transfer

Gagné’s ninth event of instruction is about enhancing the transfer of knowledge and helping learners retain what they’ve learned during the course so they can apply it in real-life . The goal of any learning experience isn’t to just help participants pass the course – it’s to equip them with skills and knowledge that will be used from here on out.

Instructional designers tend to achieve this in two ways. First, by using activities that improve retention and knowledge transfer throughout the course, often in the form of simulations and practice exercises.

They’ll also provide resources to help participants continue learning once the training is over. Static resources like PDFs, checklists and job aids are helpful, though you might go further and offer feedback loops with line managers or group forums for peer support.

How to enhance retention and transfer in instructor-led training

A summary of key points and core topics in the form of a one-pager can be a great resource to provide to learners at the end of a training session. A job-aid that helps demonstrate the connection between what’s been learned and how to apply it in day-to-day work is also an effective resource to share at the end of a course.
End your training session with a final opportunity to practice key skills or demonstrate knowledge. You might do a final group role play, quick-fire quiz or practical exercise.
Close the session with a group reflection or debrief. Giving everyone the opportunity to reflect on what they learned and share different perspectives how they’ll use what their new skills or knowledge can be a great way to ensure next steps are taken and that learning is retained. Closing activities like Letter to Myself or I used to think…Now I think are proven methods you can use here.
Create opportunities to check-in following the training session . You might have line-managers or trainers check-in with trainees to discuss progress and to reinforce key learnings. Alternatively, create an accountability group where a cohort of trainees can share experiences and tips while keeping what they learned alive.
Have trainees create an action plan for how and when they’ll use their new skills following the workshop. Setting an intention for a real-life application of what’s been learned can ensure trainees are in a good position to retain material following the course.

How to enhance retention and knowledge transfer in eLearning courses

The steps trainees take immediately following the completion of an online course are key. Encourage learners to think about how they’ll apply their new skills and knowledge throughout or ask them to create an action plan with next steps.
Ask participants to create their own artefacts related to the course. You might have an activity where they create a one-pager with key points or create a visual that would help others (and themselves) to remember the most important elements.
Remind learners of the journey they’ve been on and give them some guidance of what they might do next. If there’s a story at the heart of your training, you might use the end of your course to give that story a compelling ending or show how other learners have achieved great things following the course.
Links to further reading and interesting resources related to the course can encourage trainees to continue engaging with the material and go deeper.
Repeatable simulations which trainees can use to practice their skills are a great method of encouraging knowledge retention. You might allow participants to simply repeat previous practical simulations or include a more difficult version that encourages them to go further. How about creating a scored simulation where trainees in a cohort might be encouraged to achieve and share a high score?

Now we’ve explored these core instructional design principles, you might be wondering what’s next and how you might go about using these principles to design effective learning experiences.

Beyond these core principles, most instructional designers will use a tool such as the ADDIE model to effectively project manage the process of creating a completed learning experience.

It’s also worth acknowledging that alternative principles of instructional design are out there.

Some learning designers prefer David Merrill’s principles, which includes five principles : task-centered, activation, demonstration, application, and integration. The successive approximation model (SAM model) is also a popular method for creating a learning program.

I would recommend using these instructional design models to get a broader view of how you might progress from conducting a needs assessment to working with subject matter experts and sharing a completed course with participants.

Whatever instructional design model you use, a storyboarding and learning design tool like SessionLab is a simple and effective way to go from an outline to a fully realized learning design while keeping these principles in mind.

You can invite your subject matter experts to collaborate on your design and attach materials to each learning block, ready for your content team to recreate in your LMS.

Want to learn more? Explore how learning designers at Vlerick Business School use SessionLab to design instructor led training and eLearning courses at scale.

Working on a blended learning course? See how to apply instructional design principles in a blended environment with this in-depth guide to blended learning design .

Designing instructor led training? You might also find this step-by-step process for creating a training session plan helpful. You’ll find tips on creating engagement and realizing a live training session with the help of a detailed agenda.

We hope that the above guide and these additional resources will help you take a systematic approach to learning design that also leaves space for your personal touch.

Did we miss anything or is there something we should explore further? Let us know in our community of facilitators and learning professionals!

James Smart is Head of Content at SessionLab. He’s also a creative facilitator who has run workshops and designed courses for establishments like the National Centre for Writing, UK. He especially enjoys working with young people and empowering others in their creative practice.

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The Ultimate Guide to Instructional Design

Nov 08, 2022
20 Min Read

Our experts break down what instructional design is, what instructional designers do and share tips for creating engaging, inclusive educational content that learners will love.

In the 1990s, an interesting trend emerged. Personal computers were becoming more accessible, ushering in the era of online learning or e-learning.

Tools like interactive CDs and PDFs accelerated the e-learning movement, and as technology advanced, PowerPoints , educational games, widespread internet access and learning management systems (LMSs) only served to further e-learning capabilities for instructors and learners everywhere.

Now, estimates show that the global e-learning market, which was worth $215 billion in 2021 , is slated to grow to $645 billion by 2030.

What does this rapid digital acceleration mean for education today? Online and hybrid learning have the potential to break down educational barriers and democratize learning for good. But before e-learning can deliver on these promises, teachers everywhere must learn how to design effective, engaging learning experiences.

That’s when instructional design comes into play. In this guide, we’ll explore the basics of instructional design so that you can get started with designing impactful course content for your learners.

What Is Instructional Design?

Before getting into the details of course design best practices, it’s important to know the definition of instructional design. At its simplest, instructional design (ID) is the creation of learning materials and experiences to improve the learning experience and information retention.

Instructional designers study the cognitive processes behind learning acquisition in order to help individuals best absorb and retain material. At its core, instructional design is identifying the most effective materials and methods to help students achieve their learning goals. This differs slightly in scope from curriculum design, another key course creation aspect we’ll examine later on.

Why Instructional Design Matters

For learners, it might not be obvious just how much strategizing and planning goes into the course content they consume. But nonetheless, instructional design can make or break the learning experience for students.

What Role Does Instructional Design Play in the Learning Process?

Course content is only as powerful as its delivery method.

As you can probably imagine, asking a student to read a dense chapter of text has a very different result from asking them to participate in an educational game. If your aim is to encourage critical thinking and engagement with sophisticated modes of expression, assigning a text by Foucault might very well make sense. If, however, your goal is to convey main themes in a digestible, relevant way, you might want to consider alternative options. Each method has its own place, and it’s the job of instructional designers to determine the best fit for the learner and learning environment.

The goal of instructional design is to produce high-quality and efficient learning materials that address the objectives of both student and educator. While instructional design used to be handled primarily by educational publishing companies or school curriculum coordinators, that is quickly changing. With the proliferation of e-learning, for instance, course instructors worldwide now have the chance to design course materials themselves, directly influencing learner outcomes.

How Instructional Design Can Improve Learner Outcomes

Because instructional design considers learner needs, its primary goal is to make teaching more engaging, relevant and effective. This is especially important in the e-learning industry, where the digitalization of education boosts retention rates by 25–60%.

So, how does instructional design achieve good outcomes for learners? Instructional designers make it a priority to put learners first. They ask questions like:

Who are the learners in this situation?
How do they best learn?
What skills or knowledge should they possess at the end of the learning program?

Laying out a clear path for learning outcomes is an often-overlooked aspect of the educational process—one that encourages trackable progress and real-world application. Besides clearly planned objectives, program consistency and quality are key factors in the learning process.

Predictable workloads and regular feedback help course designers iteratively transform any educational program for the better. Also, it’s important for course designers to constantly assess and reassess their technological methods of course delivery. They’re constantly asking how they can best capitalize on the resources at hand.

Instructional design is the glue that holds together content and cognitive theories. The use of foundational learning frameworks means an increased emphasis on course materials that work with cognition rather than against it. It’s this addition of learning theories into the course design process that has the potential to forever change the educational landscape.

What Instructional Designers Do

Instructional designers work in a variety of environments, ranging from private companies to public universities to healthcare organizations.

Together with multimedia designers, curriculum designers, quality assurance teams and other course creation professionals, instructional designers develop a targeted approach to customized learning. That can be a tall order with so many learner styles and types at play. And the student must always be at the forefront of an instructional designer’s mind as they are developing course material.

However, one instructional designer’s tasks can look very different from another’s. One instructional designer might focus on course redesign, adapting raw materials to achieve better learning outcomes. Another might spend the day creating training materials for teachers.

Here’s a list of some typical responsibilities for instructional designers:

Although this list is far from exhaustive, it hopefully gives you an idea of what an instructional designer does on a day-to-day basis, as well as what you can expect to spend time on as you embark on your own instructional design journey.

The Difference Between Instructional Design and Curriculum Design

The difference between instructional design and curriculum design is the difference between the how and the what . In other words, curriculum design refers to what information the learner will be receiving, while instructional design focuses on what methods, objectives and learning techniques will help the student achieve their goals.

Curriculum design places an emphasis on the broader level of course design, including overall goals and content. Meanwhile, instructional design hones in on specifics, including the strategies needed to help students succeed. But instructional designers and curriculum designers also share responsibility for much of the course design process, including selecting course materials, concrete learning objectives and evaluation methods.

Curriculum design primarily involves:

deciding what content to cover
understanding what exactly is to be assessed

Collaboratively, curriculum and instructional designers:

make sure the content is clear
arrange content in the proper order and flow
differentiate between what needs to be taught and what can be left out

Comparing this list to the instructional designer list in the section above can help you better understand the difference between instructional and curriculum design. But in the end, they are two sides of the same coin and best understood in context.

Can Instructional Design Exist Without Curriculum Design?

Both types of design are instrumental in the course-building process. Curriculum designers and instructional designers often work hand-in-hand to deliver learning programs optimized for student and instructor needs. Sometimes, both roles are filled by the same individual or team. In fact, the two professions are so similar that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts instructional coordinators and curriculum specialists in the same occupational group.

While curriculum design is well-known in the educational sphere, instructional design is perhaps a less diffused term. It’s become more popular in recent years, however, with the introduction of artificial intelligence, gamification and real-time data analysis to the e-learning process.

But the consensus is that without solid curriculum design, you’ll seldom find a well-thought-out instructional design and vice versa.

6 Instructional Design Models

In building courses, instructional designers lean on a series of models. These instructional design models offer guidelines that help students achieve learning goals in a variety of scenarios. By better organizing and visualizing learning theories, instructional design models help course creators define the educational experiences they plan to incorporate into e-learning projects.

There are several types of instructional design models out there, with some being more linear and others more circular; some more systematic and others more cognitive. To keep things simple, we’ll focus on a handful of the most relevant here:

Widely regarded as the standard model for instructional design, ADDIE was developed at Florida State University in the 1970s.

ADDIE is an acronym that stands for:

Analysis: Identify the challenge and goals, as well as the learners’ needs and existing skills.
Design: Decide on the instructional techniques, assessments, exercises and materials you will use.
Development: Assemble the content and materials, then make adjustments based on learner and institutional needs.
Implementation: Develop training for instructors, test technology and prepare for launch. Use feedback to evaluate the design as well.
Evaluation: In this final stage, the project will be tested, it will be determined if the initial goals have been met, and plans will be made to ensure the program is successful.

Gagne’s Conditions of Learning Theory

Robert Gagne’s Conditions of Learning Theory concentrates on intentional learning. Gagne believed that learning was built upon prior knowledge and individual cognitive abilities—meaning no two people learn in the same way. Gagne’s theory is composed of two main elements, the first of which outlines the different kinds of learning, while the second lays out how to prepare and deliver instructional content:

Five Categories of Learning Outcomes:

discriminations
concrete concepts
higher-order rules
cognitive strategies
verbal information
motor skills

Nine Events of Instruction:

gaining attention
informing learners of the objective
stimulating recall of prior learning
presenting the stimulus
providing learning guidance
eliciting performance
providing feedback
assessing performance
enhancing retention and transfer

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Although Bloom’s Taxonomy is more of an educational model than an instructional design model, it’s still an important part of training for most teachers and trainers.

This framework is a hierarchical classification of different levels of cognitive learning: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956, Bloom’s Taxonomy is often depicted as a pyramid, with knowledge as the base of the pyramid and evaluation as the tip.

In 2001, a group of curriculum theorists, psychologists, and researchers published a revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy based on action words rather than static nouns. However, their framework—remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create—follows the same concept. The authors of the Revised Taxonomy also created a separate taxonomy identifying the four types of knowledge used in cognition: factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive.

The RAT model is unique because of its focus on bringing technology into the classroom—and not just as distractions for bored pupils, but rather as powerful learning tools.

RAT stands for:

Replacement: In this initial stage, technology replaces traditional teaching materials but fails to spark true change. You might have swapped out a paper book for an iPad or e-reader; or traded in a whiteboard for a smartboard, but the fundamentals of classroom instruction remain the same.
Amplification: Many instructors and course designers find themselves at the amplification stage. Maybe they’ve gone to the effort of encouraging interactive student presentations or used a learning management system to administer quizzes or remind students of upcoming due dates. But when push comes to shove, they’ve increased productivity and effectiveness without a fundamental shift in teaching dynamics.
Transformation: It’s in this final stage of transformation that technology truly delivers on its promises. Completely reinvented ways of learning emerge that wouldn’t have been possible without technology. This could involve students coding, creating their own cartoons or even collaborating with experts halfway around the globe.

Whether a classroom operates in a physical, hybrid or digital environment, course designers can use RAT to level up instruction and engagement.

The RAT framework discussed above is often combined with the TPACK framework. Short for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, TPACK highlights the interplay between content, technology and pedagogy. If it’s successful edtech integration you’re after, the TPACK model will be helpful in developing your course design strategy.

UDL, or Universal Design for Learning, is all about inclusivity and accessibility. By taking into consideration the different ways students engage, UDL develops lesson plans building on three main concepts:

Representation: UDL emphasizes providing content in multiple formats—text, video, audio and hands-on—to suit different learning strengths.
Expression: Learners not only absorb information in different ways but also express knowledge in different ways. UDL recommends multiple assessment options for this reason, whether that’s offering oral exams, written exams or final assignments as options.
Engagement: Offering multiple types of course activities is another important aspect of UDL. Combine group and individual work, make skillbuilding a game and let learners become active participants in shaping their educational experience.

LMS or Instructional Design: Which Comes First?

LMSs and instructional design complement each other. Your course is only as powerful as the LMS that hosts it. But the reverse is also true—even the most dynamic and capable LMS can’t compensate for poor instructional design.

Because of this interplay, it’s best practice to work on both LMS and instructional design simultaneously. Your curriculum and instructional design work will help inform which LMS features you require for a successful course. That may mean needing access to resource libraries, video streaming capabilities or a particular style of assessment that not all LMSes offer. The sooner you can start this process, the better, since planning for LMS adoption can take time. Familiarizing yourself with LMS features can be a lengthy process as well.

How to Get Started with Instructional Design

The good news is that as an instructional designer, you’re rarely starting from scratch. Your subject-matter experts and curriculum designers will provide you with much of the knowledge and materials you need to build your course.

As an instructional designer, it’s your job to refine and align content to be more conducive to learning. For this reason, it’s important to develop a good rapport with your subject-matter expert and set clear expectations for your role from the get-go.

To make the instructional design process easier on you, we’ve broken it down in a series of easy-to-follow steps:

1. Understand Expectations

Although it can feel overwhelming at the start, analyzing course requirements is one of the most crucial parts of the instructional design process. At this first step, you’ll want to identify the answer to questions like:

What kind of learner am I trying to target (school kid, businessperson, healthcare worker, etc.)? Understanding the needs of both the learner and the institution they belong to is key to designing effective programs. Designing courses for children requires a different approach to designing courses for adults . Any information you can gather about a learner, including age, pre-existing skill sets and individual learning gaps, is also valuable. If possible, interview some students at this stage.
Do I fully understand the course content? You probably aren’t an expert on the curriculum at hand, in which case it’s imperative to interview subject-matter experts, read and reread the source content and ask for supporting examples where necessary.
Do I know what the best technological methods for delivery are? New tools are emerging every day, so instructional designers should stay on top of the latest e-learning delivery methods. It’s also important to know your learners’ preferred delivery methods.
What kind of look and feel am I going for? Instructional design involves much more than just course content—it’s also about giving your course a unique voice and visual appearance. Creating a standard look and feel will help foster a sense of course cohesiveness.

2. Frame Learning Objectives

After completing the first step, you’re now ready to focus on the learning objectives for the program at hand. Your subject-matter experts will provide you with a set of learning objectives, but it’s your job to ensure those objectives are measurable, clearly defined, achievable and manageable.

This stage is also where you’ll consult with subject-matter experts to determine which objectives are must-haves and which are simply “nice to haves.” Having this discussion early on will help you prioritize which content to include in your program. Because your selected objectives will later become the basis for assessments that measure learner progress, this step is an essential part of the course design process.

3. It’s Time to Design

Once you’ve organized your list of topics to cover, it’s time to decide what instructional approach to take. At this stage, focusing on your target learner and incorporating learning theories can help you decide on the best course of action, whether that’s a game-based approach or a more story-focused delivery method.

4. Create a Storyboard and Prototype

You’ve made it to step four, where the infamous storyboard comes into play. You might’ve thought storyboards were confined to TV writer rooms, but they can be useful in a variety of other circumstances, including instructional design. In your storyboard, you can incorporate visuals, texts, characters and more to display your vision for your course. Creating a storyboard will help you better understand program flow and the relationships between different key points.

With your storyboard in hand, you can now develop a functional prototype of your course. Start with a few pages of content and piece things together, always keeping expectations and learner goals in mind. Getting input on your prototype early on is a great way to gather feedback to improve your course before it’s finalized and ready to go.

5. Create, Evaluate, and Reevaluate

If you’ve made it this far, you have the basic building blocks to create your course. But designing a program is only half the battle—now it’s time to work out the kinks.

Course evaluation is two-pronged. Generally, it’s conducted by both the institution and its learners to ensure both sets of objectives are being met. On the organization’s side, they’ll be looking to understand if their business or school sees positive results from the training. That could mean looking at whether learner retention is up, workplace accidents are down or another relevant metric. Is your course a quicker, more cost-effective way of delivering information?

Learners, on the other hand, will be your best indicator of the usefulness and engagement of your course. Was that motivational video too long? Did your end-of-unit quiz accurately reflect the course content itself?

Using input from both of these sources, make adjustments to your program and optimize it as best as possible. The importance of continually updating courses means the job of an instructional designer is never over.

7 Best Practices for Developing an Instructional Design Strategy

So, you’ve read up on e-learning, instructional design models, and even LMSs, and are ready to start designing the course of your students’ dreams. But first, take a moment to read these tips for developing an instructional design strategy.

These seven instructional design best practices will help ensure you’re designing a stand-out course:

1. Consistency Is Key

Creating consistency throughout a course helps with continuity, making it easier for students to follow along. And a cohesive design involves much more than developing a style guide complete with a color palette, icons and fonts—although that’s definitely a valuable asset to have in your toolbox. Consistency also means establishing a hierarchy of information and ensuring your course style extends to other related courses, if applicable.

2. Create an Immersive Multimedia Experience

If students wanted to simply read block after block of text, they’d choose a book over your course. The value of a course lies in engagement, and one of the most effective ways to foster learner engagement is to design an immersive multimedia experience for your students.

Discussion boards, group activities, games and videos are all tools you can employ to bring your course to a new level. Video, in particular, is often overlooked or misused. When considering the use of video in your course , it’s worth asking yourself if the content is suitable for video—is the content evergreen? Is there a follow-up activity to help learners better absorb the information covered? How can you get creative to avoid the standard “lecture video?”

3. Provide Opportunities for Connection

One of the main cons of online learning is that it can risk being impersonal. Without the traditional classroom dynamic, how do you make your course interactive?

Besides the immersive multimedia techniques discussed above, consider using learning groups and breakout rooms on video calls. If you are fortunate enough to be working in a somewhat synchronous learning environment, small steps like these can go a long way toward creating peer-to-peer connections.

If you’re operating in an asynchronous environment, discussion boards or video responses are always an option. In these situations, it’s also instructional design best practice to ensure information is laid out as clearly as possible, since instructor contact will be more minimal. Provide students with the correct contact information and tools to find the information they need independently.

4. Make Course Content Digestible

Digestibility is the name of the game for online course creation. Say goodbye to endless walls of text and embrace course layout best practices. You can use visual chunking and subheadings to deliver smaller, more bite-sized chunks of knowledge straight to the learner. Digestibility permeates all aspects of course creation, whether you’re considering breaking up a long video or thinking about using bullet points rather than a paragraph.

When in doubt, follow the scaffolding approach. Start with the basics and build up from there, while ensuring you’re keeping content as clear and concise as possible.

5. Make It Accessible

Part of the beauty of online learning is its accessibility. Firstly, there’s technology that delivers courses to all corners of the globe and makes learning more engaging. Augmented reality and wireless technology are just two examples of how education can spread far and wide thanks to the digital world.

Then, there’s expanded access to education for women, ethnic and racial minorities, those living with disabilities, and other underrepresented and marginalized groups. One study found that 45% of women and 60% of women caregivers in developing countries would have to halt or postpone their coursework if online learning were unavailable.

You can do your part to foster inclusivity by designing content for a broad, general audience, so that it resonates with everyone. Incorporating image alt-texts, clear language and accessible colors are also ways to make your course content accessible to everyone.

6. Engage the Learner’s Senses

Part of providing a dynamic learning experience is engaging the learner’s senses—going beyond classic listening and reading. This means creating physically engaging, hands-on activities and delivering content in multiple ways. What works for one student won’t always work for another. You can also use tools like accordions, tabs and flip cards to increase learner engagement.

7. Iteration and Reiteration

No matter how much time and effort you put into your course design, that doesn’t guarantee your first shot will be a home run. The good news is that armed with student and institutional feedback, you can take steps to revisit and improve your course. Maybe that assessment didn’t hit on all the important topics, or you need to inject more learner-to-learner interaction throughout the course modules. Examining your course critically will allow you to improve learner outcomes and learn something new you can put into play next time.

Final Thoughts on Instructional Design

With e-learning on the rise, it’s never been easier to create courses of your own . While the process can seem daunting at first, there are plenty of resources and tools (including this guide to instructional design) to help you and your learners achieve your goals. Now that you have a basic understanding of the background, models and best practices of instructional design, are you ready to try it?

Crafting inclusive and engaging content students love doesn’t have to be hard. D2L’s Creator+ helps educators, administrators and instructional designers simplify course creation, amplify learner success and create courses learners love.

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Best Practices for Video

Research-Based Presentation Design Guidelines

Effective multimedia design is based on what we know about cognitive psychology. If you use visual aids like PowerPoint in your course videos, read the tips below.

This guide leverages relevant cognitive psychology research (discussed in our other article " Multimedia Learning Principles ") to provide specific, evidence-based recommendations for designing and delivering effective presentations. But your PowerPoint deck is only one part of your "educational performance," which, broadly speaking, is a fusion of pictures, text, and spoken words. To maximize learners' engagement, retention, and transfer of the material, all three elements must be strategically deployed.

This guide relies heavily on Richard Mayer's Multimedia Learning and Stephen Kosslyn's Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations . Both authors apply similar foundations in cognitive psychology to generate best practices for designing effective multimedia learning materials.

We hope this guide will be particularly helpful to instructors creating lecture videos but should prove useful to those delivering synchronous or in-person presentations.

The Short Version

Use images instead of text when possible., use high-resolution, royalty-free images., use no more than 4 bullets per slide., make objects appear only when mentioned., dim objects after they're discussed., draw attention to salient information., avoid using decorative images., when distributing, add alt text to images..

A slide with only an image labeled "do this"; a slide with images and text labeled "not this."

Based on his experiments investigating the efficacy of multimedia messages, Richard Mayer defines what he calls the Redundancy Principle: "People learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics, narration, and printed text" (118). Duplicative images and onscreen text lead to extraneous cognitive processing by learners both because they have more to look at onscreen and because they'll spend unconscious effort trying to compare what they're hearing and what they're seeing.

So what comes from Mayer appears to be a suggestion to use either an image OR words, but not both (though labels are fine if they're important). But we also know from neurological research that images and words end up getting encoded in different places in the brain, and that encoding imagery uses less cognitive effort than encoding words (Grady et al, 2706). (This is probably an evolutionary phenomenon, given the importance of retaining visual information in one's immediate environment.) So in some ways, research has proved that a picture really can be worth a thousand words.

What this boils down to is if you have an image that can represent your material, use that image exclusively on your slide and remove any text that might accompany it unless it's necessary for your students' understanding. It'll be "stickier" in the students' minds.

The bottom line: If an image can represent your slide content, use it exclusively on your slide without any onscreen text.

A slide with a vector graphic labeled "do this"; a slide with a pixellated picture on it labeled "not this."

When using images, try to find the highest resolution you can. "Resolution" refers to the number of pixels that comprise the image. The more pixels there are, the more quality - and the greater the file size.

You can always shrink an image without reducing its quality, but don't increase its size over 100% or the original. If you do, the quality of the image will visibly decrease as it pixelates, which can either make it more difficult to understand or even unconsciously communicate "low quality" to your viewers!

In addition, when recording videos you should be particularly careful about using copyrighted images in your visual aids. While most course materials aren't public, Fair Use doesn't provide instructors with blanket protection from infringement and it's possible your video could get out. Try to use royalty-free image sites (such as Pixabay) to find an image that could work for you. You could also leverage the surprisingly robust features of your presentation software to design your own images, even by piecing together shapes. (Note that all of the imagery in this article was created using royalty-free images and PowerPoint.)

If it's truly necessary to use a copyrighted image in your slide, you should attempt to contact the publisher to obtain the appropriate permissions. If you find images under a Creative Commons license, be sure to abide by the license and cite appropriately.

The bottom line : Use high-resolution images if possible, and don't enlarge them above 100% of their original size. Use royalty-free imagery, attribute appropriately, or create your own images if needed.

A slide with three single-line bullets with the label "do this" next to a slide with more than 6 bullets with the label "not this."

If you've ever suffered from "Death by PowerPoint," you've probably experienced slides crammed full of text: sub-sub-bullets, complete sentences, entire paragraphs, or worse. This is most often the result of instructors using visual presentations as memory aids rather than as instructional tools for learners. We've all heard about the value of taking a student-centered approach to pedagogy; presentation design can embody that methodology.

With respect to determining how much text is appropriate, there are several cognitive psychology principles at work. As we discussed in our Multimedia Learning Principles article, we have two channels for processing a multimedia message. When presented with a large amount of text, the visual channel is oversaturated, and learners' verbal channels struggle to attend effectively to your words as they try to read what's on screen. They also spend cognitive effort comparing the printed and spoken words.

Also in our article on Multimedia Learning Principles, we discussed what occurs during active processing as well as the various types of cognitive load that learners experience. Given that active learning first necessitates the selection of relevant information from an instructional message, providing succinct text will help reduce students' germane load since you're doing some of the selection work for them.

So now that we know why less text is important, is it possible to quantify a recommendation?

A variety of studies have shown that humans can reliably retain 4 concepts in working memory - the so-called "rule of four." The brain can "chunk" information to improve retention, however, so each of these 4 concepts can have up to 4 component pieces of information.

To see the rule of four and chunking principles in effect, check out the video below.

So - we can retain information better when there are four or fewer units, and using recognizable groupings of more than four units helps to improve retention. With all of this in mind, a good rule of thumb is to try to restrict yourself to four or fewer bullets per slide, with four or fewer units of information contained within each bullet.

One way to quantify these "units" of information is to count the number of verbs and nouns (Kosslyn, 77). For example, the phrase "Use four bullets per slide" has 3 units of information: "use," "bullets," and "slide."

Another way to think about this: just use less text in your slides. It may not always be possible, but can be an important goal for which to strive, especially if it helps you break your presentation into more slides. Ultimately, though, remember that your visual aid is intended for your students - not to help you remember what you need to discuss. If possible (or if necessary), use your presentation software's "notes" feature to make sure you don't forget to discuss anything.

Remember what we discussed earlier, though: images tend to be "stickier" than words in long-term memory. If you can find a meaningful image that can replace some or all of the text on your slide, use that instead (using labels as needed, of course).

The bottom line : Try to use four or fewer bullets on a slide, each with four or fewer concepts. Favor images over text whenever appropriate.

A slide with one bullet labeled "at slide start" and "do this"; a slide with 4 bullets on it labeled "at slide start" and "not this."

Mayer's multimedia messaging experiments led him to what he termed the Temporal Contiguity Principle: "Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively" (153). Mayer discusses this principle largely in the context of whether to present narration after or during a corresponding animation. While common sense might suggest that encountering the information twice in succession (in two different forms) would lead to better transfer and retention, it was instead when the narration and animation were presented simultaneously.

Now, chances are that you're not planning on narrating over a series of silent animated movies as your presentation - but it's important to remember that presentation software is, in and of itself, a kind of animation tool. Moving to a new slide is essentially a simple animation.

But in the context of the Temporal Contiguity Principle, think about a learner arriving on a slide that already has all of its visual content present at the start. With so much information for your learners to look at, you risk cognitive overload as they read the entire slide - including all the parts that may not yet be relevant or comprehensible - while also trying to process your spoken words.

Building your bullets and images one at a time provides visual cues to your learners about where you are in the presentation and what's relevant to the current moment of knowledge construction. Making clear what specific visual elements are related to what's being discussed maximizes your learners' ability to integrate what they see and what they hear simultaneously.

So, add simple animations to your slides. Leverage build-ins or entrance effects to have objects appear on your slide only when you mention them - bullets, images, graphs, shapes - anything. Stick to subtle effects like fade-ins or even just appearing unless a particular animation offers additional impact to your message.

The bottom line : Make objects appear only when you discuss them.

A slide with three bullets at 75% transparency and one at 0% transparency labeled with "discussing last bullet" and "do this"; a slide with 4 bullets on at 0% opacity labeled "at slide start" and "not this."

As we discussed earlier, Mayer's Temporal Contiguity Principle implies that we should make information appear only when mentioned. Well, the converse is true as well: information that's already been discussed should be visually de-emphasized. In reinforcing where exactly you are within the visual information on your slide, you're reducing your learners' cognitive load by encouraging them to focus their efforts on a smaller set of visual information while also maintaining the conceptual connection with the previous information.

In his book providing detailed presentation design guidelines based on a similar set of cognitive psychology principles as Mayer, Stephen Kosslyn identifies seven high-level principles, one of which is the Principle of Salience: "Attention is drawn to large perceptible differences" (7). Given that our brains are wired to notice strong differences in contrast (such as this bold text ), de-emphasizing past information provides a cue to learners that you're moving on to other visual information on the slide and helps direct their attention appropriately.

You can de-emphasize objects onscreen by adding an "emphasis" (PowerPoint) or "action" (Keynote) animation to a bullet, such as reducing the opacity of the object to 25% (or increasing its transparency to 75%). Add the animation at the same time a new object appears.

The bottom line : Visually de-emphasize items that have already been discussed.

A slide with a graph with a textbox drawing attention to a dip in the graph, labeled "do this"; a slide with just the graph and labeled "not this."

The Signaling Principle indicates that "People learn better when cues that highlight the organization of the essential material are added" (Mayer, 108). These cues, Mayer writes, "are intended to guide learners' attention to essential material and to guide learners' organization of the essential material into a coherent structure" (117). Leveraging what we discussed in our article about multimedia learning , signaling can reduce extraneous load, foster germane load, and assist with the selection and organization of materials that must occur during active learning.

While these cues can be verbal (such as explicitly stating where you are in your presentation based on an outline you presented at the start) the visual cues within your presentation play an extremely strong role in facilitating your students' understanding. For example, if you present a complex graph, do something either when designing your presentation (e.g. add arrows, labels, zoom in, etc.) or during your presentation (e.g. use your mouse as a pointer) to draw your learners' attention to the most important or relevant pieces of information.

While making objects appear and dim at the appropriate times highlights salient information as well, for more complex images it's important to draw learners' attention to the most relevant parts. As is often the case in effective presentation design, this helps reduce learners' extraneous load when presented with a surfeit of visual information.

The bottom line : design your slides with arrows, circles, or other visual cues that draw viewers' attention to particularly important details. Failing that, leverage pointers or other indicators during your recording.

A slide with 3 text bullets describing AA accessibility guidelines labeled "do this" next to another slide with 3 bullets and a picture of an AA battery, labeled "not this."

Richard Mayer identifies three main categories of images that are helpful to learners: representational images, which portray an individual object; organizational images, which illustrate relationships between objects (or between parts of an object); and explanative images, which illustrate how a system works (236).

Decorative images, on the other hand, are "illustrations that are intended to interest the reader but that do not enhance the message of the passage" (Mayer, 236). They distract students from learning goals, add to their extraneous load, and squander their limited cognitive resources.

Now, on the surface, it may seem like adding some decorative imagery to your more text-heavy slides might be a good thing, to give them some visual interest and foster a little more engagement with your presentation. As Mayer points out, this is arousal theory: "the idea that students learn better when they are emotionally aroused by the material" (93). Unfortunately, decorative images end up becoming "seductive illustrations": images added solely to add some visual interest. Unfortunately research has confirmed that these details are retained better than the presentation's central points (Mayer, 97).

So, if an image - indeed, if any content - doesn't directly support the completion of your students' learning objectives, don't include it. While we do recommend using images instead of text when possible as well as using less text overall, don't include imagery for imagery's sake.

Remember - an effective multimedia message should be designed to create the conditions for maximal learning. Some of your slides may end up being less visually interesting, but especially when paired with our other tips, you'll be helping your learners spend their cognitive resources more effectively.

The bottom line : Don't add images that don't directly support your students' learning.

A representation of presentation software on one side with the "alt tag" field filled out, labeled "do this" next to another representation of the presentation software with the "alt tag" field empty, labeled "not this."

Given how deleterious decorative imagery can be to our cognitive resources, all the images you've included in your presentation should support your students' learning. If there are students who can't perceive that visual content, however, their learning is compromised compared to their classmates.

If you intend to distribute your presentation file digitally (for example, uploading it to your LMS for students to download), you should ensure that all the images included in the presentation have what's called "alt text": text-based metadata embedded into the image that displays onscreen when the image fails to load and that describes it for screen reader software. These image descriptions are essential in ensuring that your materials are accessible to learners with visual disabilities.

Adding alt text within many applications is often just a matter of right-clicking an image, clicking the appropriate menu option, and typing in a description. A good alt tag should be specific and concise. And while it should communicate the relevant part(s) of the image, it shouldn't require the learner to listen to a lengthy description.

The bottom line : Add alt tags to all images in presentations you intend to distribute digitally.

PowerPoint shouldn't be vilified or glorified. Presentation software is just a tool, and it could be used effectively or poorly to communicate a message. Kosslyn sums it up well in his book Clear and to the Point : "PowerPoint presentations can help people understand by making both memory and processing easier for them" (12).

It is true that presentations designed this way require more effort to produce. If you're struggling to devote the time needed in pre-production to make your slides more pedagogically effective, some low-hanging fruit you can bite off (so to speak) is to use tools during your presentation to draw your students' attention, such as turning your mouse cursor into a laser pointer. Let Kosslyn's principles of Salience and Discriminability remind you that "attention is drawn to large perceptible differences," and those differences "must differ by a large enough proportion or they will not be distinguished" (7-8).

It's important to note that if you abide by these research-based best practices, it's likely that your presentation won't work as effectively as a standalone artifact. It's not meant to. Your slide deck is part of a larger presentation that includes pictures, text, and spoken words, all employed strategically to maximize learning. If it's important that your presentation be legible on its own, consider developing an alternate version.

Fiorella, L., Stull, A. T., Kuhlmann, S., & Mayer, R. E. (2019). Instructor presence in video lectures: The role of dynamic drawings, eye contact, and instructor visibility. Journal of Educational Psychology , 111(7), 1162–1171. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000325

Grady, C. L., McIntosh, A. R., Rajah, M. N., & Craik, F. I. M. (1998). Neural correlates of the episodic encoding of pictures and words. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci . USA, 95, 2703–2708.

Kosslyn, S. (2007). Clear and to the point: 8 psychological principles for compelling PowerPoint presentations . New York: Oxford University Press.

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Interested in consulting with a member of the Multimedia Services team? Contact us at [email protected] .

Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
Instructional Guide

Teaching with PowerPoint

When effectively planned and used, PowerPoint (or similar tools, like Google Slides) can enhance instruction. People are divided on the effectiveness of this ubiquitous presentation program—some say that PowerPoint is wonderful while others bemoan its pervasiveness. No matter which side you take, PowerPoint does offer effective ways to enhance instruction when used and designed appropriately.

PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning. You can use PowerPoint to project visuals that would otherwise be difficult to bring to class. For example, in an anthropology class, a single PowerPoint presentation could project images of an anthropological dig from a remote area, questions asking students about the topic, a chart of related statistics, and a mini quiz about what was just discussed that provides students with information that is visual, challenging, and engaging.

PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning.

This section is organized in three major segments: Part I will help faculty identify and use basic but important design elements, Part II will cover ways to enhance teaching and learning with PowerPoint, and Part III will list ways to engage students with PowerPoint.

PART I: Designing the PowerPoint Presentation

Accessibility.

Student accessibility—students with visual or hearing impairments may not be able to fully access a PowerPoint presentation, especially those with graphics, images, and sound.
Use an accessible layout. Built-in slide template layouts were designed to be accessible: “the reading order is the same for people with vision and for people who use assistive technology such as screen readers” (University of Washington, n.d.). If you want to alter the layout of a theme, use the Slide Master; this will ensure your slides will retain accessibility.
Use unique and specific slide titles so students can access the material they need.
Consider how you display hyperlinks. Since screen readers read what is on the page, you may want to consider creating a hyperlink using a descriptive title instead of displaying the URL.
All visuals and tables should include alt text. Alt text should describe the visual or table in detail so that students with visual impairments can “read” the images with their screen readers. Avoid using too many decorative visuals.
All video and audio content should be captioned for students with hearing impairments. Transcripts can also be useful as an additional resource, but captioning ensures students can follow along with what is on the screen in real-time.
Simplify your tables. If you use tables on your slides, ensure they are not overly complex and do not include blank cells. Screen readers may have difficulty providing information about the table if there are too many columns and rows, and they may “think” the table is complete if they come to a blank cell.
Set a reading order for text on your slides. The order that text appears on the slide may not be the reading order of the text. Check that your reading order is correct by using the Selection Pane (organized bottom-up).
Use Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker to identify potential accessibility issues in your completed PowerPoint. Use the feedback to improve your PowerPoint’s accessibility. You could also send your file to the Disability Resource Center to have them assess its accessibility (send it far in advance of when you will need to use it).
Save your PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file to distribute to students with visual impairments.

Preparing for the presentation

Consider time and effort in preparing a PowerPoint presentation; give yourself plenty of lead time for design and development.
PowerPoint is especially useful when providing course material online. Consider student technology compatibility with PowerPoint material put on the web; ensure images and graphics have been compressed for access by computers using dial-up connection.

PowerPoint is especially useful when providing course material online.

Be aware of copyright law when displaying course materials, and properly cite source material. This is especially important when using visuals obtained from the internet or other sources. This also models proper citation for your students.
Think about message interpretation for PowerPoint use online: will students be able to understand material in a PowerPoint presentation outside of the classroom? Will you need to provide notes and/or other material to help students understand complex information, data, or graphics?
If you will be using your own laptop, make sure the classroom is equipped with the proper cables, drivers, and other means to display your presentation the way you have intended.

Slide content

Avoid text-dense slides. It’s better to have more slides than trying to place too much text on one slide. Use brief points instead of long sentences or paragraphs and outline key points rather than transcribing your lecture. Use PowerPoint to cue and guide the presentation.
Use the Notes feature to add content to your presentation that the audience will not see. You can access the Notes section for each slide by sliding the bottom of the slide window up to reveal the notes section or by clicking “View” and choosing “Notes Page” from the Presentation Views options.
Relate PowerPoint material to course objectives to reinforce their purpose for students.

Number of slides

As a rule of thumb, plan to show one slide per minute to account for discussion and time and for students to absorb the material.
Reduce redundant or text-heavy sentences or bullets to ensure a more professional appearance.
Incorporate active learning throughout the presentation to hold students’ interest and reinforce learning.

Emphasizing content

Use italics, bold, and color for emphasizing content.
Use of a light background (white, beige, yellow) with dark typeface or a dark background (blue, purple, brown) with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.
Avoid using too many colors or shifting colors too many times within the presentation, which can be distracting to students.
Avoid using underlines for emphasis; underlining typically signifies hypertext in digital media.

Use of a light background with dark typeface or a dark background with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.

Limit the number of typeface styles to no more than two per slide. Try to keep typeface consistent throughout your presentation so it does not become a distraction.
Avoid overly ornate or specialty fonts that may be harder for students to read. Stick to basic fonts so as not to distract students from the content.
Ensure the typeface is large enough to read from anywhere in the room: titles and headings should be no less than 36-40-point font. The subtext should be no less than 32-point font.

Clip art and graphics

Use clip art and graphics sparingly. Research shows that it’s best to use graphics only when they support the content. Irrelevant graphics and images have been proven to hinder student learning.
Photographs can be used to add realism. Again, only use photographs that are relevant to the content and serve a pedagogical purpose. Images for decorative purposes are distracting.
Size and place graphics appropriately on the slide—consider wrapping text around a graphic.
Use two-dimensional pie and bar graphs rather than 3D styles which can interfere with the intended message.

Use clip art and graphics sparingly. Research shows that it’s best to use graphics only when they support the content.

Animation and sound

Add motion, sound, or music only when necessary. When in doubt, do without.
Avoid distracting animations and transitions. Excessive movement within or between slides can interfere with the message and students find them distracting. Avoid them or use only simple screen transitions.

Final check

Check for spelling, correct word usage, flow of material, and overall appearance of the presentation.
Colleagues can be helpful to check your presentation for accuracy and appeal. Note: Errors are more obvious when they are projected.
Schedule at least one practice session to check for timing and flow.
PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter View is especially helpful to check slides for proper sequencing as well as information gaps and redundancy. You can also use the preview pane on the left of the screen when you are editing the PowerPoint in “Normal” view.
Prepare for plan “B” in case you have trouble with the technology in the classroom: how will you provide material located on your flash drive or computer? Have an alternate method of instruction ready (printing a copy of your PowerPoint with notes is one idea).

PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter View is especially helpful to check slides for proper sequencing and information gaps and redundancy.

PowerPoint Handouts

PowerPoint provides multiple options for print-based handouts that can be distributed at various points in the class.

Before class: students might like having materials available to help them prepare and formulate questions before the class period.

During class: you could distribute a handout with three slides and lines for notes to encourage students to take notes on the details of your lecture so they have notes alongside the slide material (and aren’t just taking notes on the slide content).

After class: some instructors wait to make the presentation available after the class period so that students concentrate on the presentation rather than reading ahead on the handout.

Never: Some instructors do not distribute the PowerPoint to students so that students don’t rely on access to the presentation and neglect to pay attention in class as a result.

PowerPoint slides can be printed in the form of handouts—with one, two, three, four, six, or nine slides on a page—that can be given to students for reference during and after the presentation. The three-slides-per-page handout includes lined space to assist in note-taking.
Notes Pages. Detailed notes can be printed and used during the presentation, or if they are notes intended for students, they can be distributed before the presentation.
Outline View. PowerPoint presentations can be printed as an outline, which provides all the text from each slide. Outlines offer a welcome alternative to slide handouts and can be modified from the original presentation to provide more or less information than the projected presentation.

The Presentation

Alley, Schreiber, Ramsdell, and Muffo (2006) suggest that PowerPoint slide headline design “affects audience retention,” and they conclude that “succinct sentence headlines are more effective” in information recall than headlines of short phrases or single words (p. 233). In other words, create slide titles with as much information as is used for newspapers and journals to help students better understand the content of the slide.

PowerPoint should provide key words, concepts, and images to enhance your presentation (but PowerPoint should not replace you as the presenter).
Avoid reading from the slide—reading the material can be perceived as though you don’t know the material. If you must read the material, provide it in a handout instead of a projected PowerPoint slide.
Avoid moving a laser pointer across the slide rapidly. If using a laser pointer, use one with a dot large enough to be seen from all areas of the room and move it slowly and intentionally.

Avoid reading from the slide—reading the material can be perceived as though you don’t know the material.

Use a blank screen to allow students to reflect on what has just been discussed or to gain their attention (Press B for a black screen or W for a white screen while delivering your slide show; press these keys again to return to the live presentation). This pause can also be used for a break period or when transitioning to new content.
Stand to one side of the screen and face the audience while presenting. Using Presenter View will display your slide notes to you on the computer monitor while projecting only the slides to students on the projector screen.
Leave classroom lights on and turn off lights directly over the projection screen if possible. A completely dark or dim classroom will impede notetaking (and may encourage nap-taking).
Learn to use PowerPoint efficiently and have a back-up plan in case of technical failure.
Give yourself enough time to finish the presentation. Trying to rush through slides can give the impression of an unorganized presentation and may be difficult for students to follow or learn.

PART II: Enhancing Teaching and Learning with PowerPoint

Class preparation.

PowerPoint can be used to prepare lectures and presentations by helping instructors refine their material to salient points and content. Class lectures can be typed in outline format, which can then be refined as slides. Lecture notes can be printed as notes pages (notes pages: Printed pages that display author notes beneath the slide that the notes accompany.) and could also be given as handouts to accompany the presentation.

Multimodal Learning

Using PowerPoint can help you present information in multiple ways (a multimodal approach) through the projection of color, images, and video for the visual mode; sound and music for the auditory mode; text and writing prompts for the reading/writing mode; and interactive slides that ask students to do something, e.g. a group or class activity in which students practice concepts, for the kinesthetic mode (see Part III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint for more details). Providing information in multiple modalities helps improve comprehension and recall for all students.

Providing information in multiple modalities helps improve comprehension and recall for all students.

Type-on Live Slides

PowerPoint allows users to type directly during the slide show, which provides another form of interaction. These write-on slides can be used to project students’ comments and ideas for the entire class to see. When the presentation is over, the new material can be saved to the original file and posted electronically. This feature requires advanced preparation in the PowerPoint file while creating your presentation. For instructions on how to set up your type-on slide text box, visit this tutorial from AddictiveTips .

Write or Highlight on Slides

PowerPoint also allows users to use tools to highlight or write directly onto a presentation while it is live. When you are presenting your PowerPoint, move your cursor over the slide to reveal tools in the lower-left corner. One of the tools is a pen icon. Click this icon to choose either a laser pointer, pen, or highlighter. You can use your cursor for these options, or you can use the stylus for your smart podium computer monitor or touch-screen laptop monitor (if applicable).

Just-In-Time Course Material

You can make your PowerPoint slides, outline, and/or notes pages available online 24/7 through Blackboard, OneDrive, other websites. Students can review the material before class, bring printouts to class, and better prepare themselves for listening rather than taking a lot of notes during the class period. They can also come to class prepared with questions about the material so you can address their comprehension of the concepts.

PART III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint

The following techniques can be incorporated into PowerPoint presentations to increase interactivity and engagement between students and between students and the instructor. Each technique can be projected as a separate PowerPoint slide.

Running Slide Show as Students Arrive in the Classroom

This technique provides visual interest and can include a series of questions for students to answer as they sit waiting for class to begin. These questions could be on future texts or quizzes.

Opening Question : project an opening question, e.g. “Take a moment to reflect on ___.”
Think of what you know about ___.
Turn to a partner and share your knowledge about ___.
Share with the class what you have discussed with your partner.
Focused Listing helps with recall of pertinent information, e.g. “list as many characteristics of ___, or write down as many words related to ___ as you can think of.”
Brainstorming stretches the mind and promotes deep thinking and recall of prior knowledge, e.g. “What do you know about ___? Start with your clearest thoughts and then move on to those what are kind of ‘out there.’”
Questions : ask students if they have any questions roughly every 15 minutes. This technique provides time for students to reflect and is also a good time for a scheduled break or for the instructor to interact with students.
Note Check : ask students to “take a few minutes to compare notes with a partner,” or “…summarize the most important information,” or “…identify and clarify any sticking points,” etc.
Questions and Answer Pairs : have students “take a minute to come with one question then see if you can stump your partner!”
The Two-Minute Paper allows the instructor to check the class progress, e.g. “summarize the most important points of today’s lecture.” Have students submit the paper at the end of class.
“If You Could Ask One Last Question—What Would It Be?” This technique allows for students to think more deeply about the topic and apply what they have learned in a question format.
A Classroom Opinion Poll provides a sense of where students stand on certain topics, e.g. “do you believe in ___,” or “what are your thoughts on ___?”
Muddiest Point allows anonymous feedback to inform the instructor if changes and or additions need to be made to the class, e.g. “What parts of today’s material still confuse you?”
Most Useful Point can tell the instructor where the course is on track, e.g. “What is the most useful point in today’s material, and how can you illustrate its use in a practical setting?”

Positive Features of PowerPoint

PowerPoint saves time and energy—once the presentation has been created, it is easy to update or modify for other courses.
PowerPoint is portable and can be shared easily with students and colleagues.
PowerPoint supports multimedia, such as video, audio, images, and

PowerPoint supports multimedia, such as video, audio, images, and animation.

Potential Drawbacks of PowerPoint

PowerPoint could reduce the opportunity for classroom interaction by being the primary method of information dissemination or designed without built-in opportunities for interaction.
PowerPoint could lead to information overload, especially with the inclusion of long sentences and paragraphs or lecture-heavy presentations with little opportunity for practical application or active learning.
PowerPoint could “drive” the instruction and minimize the opportunity for spontaneity and creative teaching unless the instructor incorporates the potential for ingenuity into the presentation.

As with any technology, the way PowerPoint is used will determine its pedagogical effectiveness. By strategically using the points described above, PowerPoint can be used to enhance instruction and engage students.

Alley, M., Schreiber, M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the design of headlines in presentation slides affects audience retention. Technical Communication, 53 (2), 225-234. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43090718

University of Washington, Accessible Technology. (n.d.). Creating accessible presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.washington.edu/accessibility/documents/powerpoint/

Selected Resources

Brill, F. (2016). PowerPoint for teachers: Creating interactive lessons. LinkedIn Learning . Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/PowerPoint-tutorials/PowerPoint-Teachers-Create-Interactive-Lessons/472427-2.html

Huston, S. (2011). Active learning with PowerPoint [PDF file]. DE Oracle @ UMUC . Retrieved from http://contentdm.umuc.edu/digital/api/collection/p16240coll5/id/78/download

Microsoft Office Support. (n.d.). Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities. Retrieved from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-ae3b2b3ef25

Tufte, E. R. (2006). The cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching out corrupts within. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press LLC.

University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine. (n.d.). Active Learning with a PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.unmc.edu/com/_documents/active-learning-ppt.pdf

University of Washington, Department of English. (n.d.). Teaching with PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://english.washington.edu/teaching/teaching-powerpoint

Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching. (n.d.). Making better PowerPoint presentations. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/

Suggested citation

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Teaching with PowerPoint. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

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How to Create a Training PowerPoint Presentation

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Charuan Aguilera See full bio →

How to Create a Training Powerpoint Presentation

A well-designed PowerPoint training presentation can be a powerful tool for conveying information, fostering training skills, engaging learners, and facilitating understanding. This type of presentation can be applied in many industries and can suit different learning styles.

Whether you’re a seasoned trainer looking to enhance your presentation skills or are new to the world of instructional design, this article will guide you through the essential steps to create a training PowerPoint presentation that captivates your audience and delivers meaningful learning outcomes.

What Is a Training Presentation?

A training presentation is a visual tool designed to deliver knowledge in a structured and engaging way in different training contexts.

It is a format that allows instructors to present training materials that keep the audience responsive and motivated, promoting comprehension and retention.

Training presentations are used extensively in educational settings and in staff training. Whether you’re introducing new employees to company policies, teaching students a complex subject, or demonstrating how to use a new software tool, training presentations make learning more effective and engaging.

A good training presentation is a combination of several design and structural elements that ultimately enhance learning effectiveness. Here are some key elements of training presentations:

Content . The core of a training presentation is the content you deliver to your audience. It’s the information you want your trainees to absorb, memorize, and use effectively in the future.
Visuals . Visual elements play a crucial role in training presentations. Besides using slides with text, presenters also include graphics, images, and even interactive elements . These visuals help learners better understand and remember the training material.
Structure . Even with top-notch content and amazing visuals, if the presentation structure is not organized logically, the audience will have a hard time understanding it. That’s why a clear outline is needed so the learners can follow the flow of information and build their knowledge during the training session.
Practical exercises and assessments . It’s a good idea to include assessments or quizzes in your training presentations to determine participants’ understanding and measure the effectiveness of the training. As an instructor, you can also integrate real-life cases and scenarios to help trainees put the recently acquired knowledge into practice.

The Importance of Effective Training Presentations

In short, an effective training presentation lays the foundation for more profound training experiences. By structuring information logically and using engaging visuals and interactive elements, training presentations improve training and promote efficient retention of knowledge.

An effective training presentation can become a powerful tool for employee training and professional development because it:

allows the participants to visualize the training content in a logical structure;
can be adapted to accommodate different learning styles;
improves the skill development process for both new and seasoned employees;
provides a tangible resource that trainees can revisit when they want to refresh their knowledge.

Types of Training Presentations

Training presentations come in many forms, depending on learning goals, target audiences, and training contexts. Understanding the different types of training presentations can help you choose the format that’s most suitable for achieving your training objectives.

Let’s take a closer look at some common types of training presentations:

1. Informative Presentation

Informative presentations are the foundation of knowledge transfer. They are designed to deliver key information, facts, or concepts to the training audience. Informative presentations often rely on an instructor with great presentation skills who leads the session.

Some examples of this type of presentation are:

Lecture-style presentations
Product knowledge training
Safety briefings
Compliance training

These presentations often include a summary slide that highlights what the trainees should take away from the session.

2. Skill Development Presentation

Skill development presentations are all about hands-on learning. They provide trainees with opportunities to gain practical skills or new professional competencies. These presentations typically include:

Demonstrations
Guided exercises
Interactive simulations and role-plays
Feedback and evaluations

All these elements help participants put theory into practice right away. Skill development presentations can also come in the form of pre-recorded video presentations that illustrate how the skills work in real life.

Example of Skill Development Presentation

You can use the following questions to define your training presentation’s objectives:

What do you want your audience to learn from the presentation?
What specific skills or knowledge should they acquire?
How will this training benefit the organization?
Is there a behavioral change you want to achieve?
How can you measure the success of your training presentation?

Step 2. Outline the structure

The next step is to define the structure of your PowerPoint presentation . Break down your content into logical sections or modules . Prioritize key information and decide on the main points you want to cover in each section.

You can divide your presentation into sections based on the main topics, the key skills, or the type of activity you’re going to include in the training. It’s up to you to choose the structure. Just make sure to follow it consistently throughout the presentation.

Content creator

Charuan Aguilera

A learning and training enthusiast, Charuan seeks to empower his readers with the latest insights and trends in e-learning.

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Instructional Design: Everything You Need to Know

What is instructional design.

Instructional design models and theories

Instructional design in the modern workplace

The instructional designer’s toolbelt

The future of instructional design

Working with subject matter experts (SMEs)

Instructional design is the design, development, and delivery of learning experiences. It constructs those experiences in such a way that learners acquire either knowledge or skills . Instructional designers follow various academic theories and models related to how people learn and the cognitive processes behind the learning experience. These models ensure the instruction is as effective as possible for imparting knowledge or teaching skills to learners.

What is a learning experience?

A learning experience can refer to anything from teachers in the classroom, to online courses, instructional manuals, PowerPoint presentations, and simulations. It includes any experience where the intention is for learning of any kind to take place.

Instructional designers are considered the “architects” of learning experiences . In both the education and corporate environment, they often serve as directors and project managers of the course/lesson development process.

instructional designers planning a project

A brief history of instructional design

The emergence of instructional design as an academic subject and profession came about through a combination of other disciplines including behavioural sciences, military training practices, and education.

The basis of instructional design theories as we know them today is rooted in World War II. Soldiers needed extensive training on many complex tasks. Using research from B.F. Skinner’s studies in behavioural science, military instructors learned to break tasks down into individual learning goals. In doing this, they saw much better results.

From there, many of the successful military training practices from the war were transferred to business and education. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century, theories, models, and processes around learning sprang up and were fine tuned. A lot of these theories still inform the way we learn in school and are trained at work today.

The Magic Triangle of Learning

When it comes to designing a learning experience, instructional designers must take three main components into account to ensure the learning is effective: learning objectives, learning activities, and assessments. This is known as the “Magic Triangle” of learning .

For example, there must be a learning objective which explicitly states what a learner should be able to do once they have completed the course/lesson. This learning objective will then inform the types of activities chosen to be included on the course. The types of assessments and their difficulty level will also be informed by the learning objective and learning activities.

Once these three elements are aligned, effective learning can take place

Learning Objectives

A learning objective defines and sets boundaries on what learners should know or be able to do at the end of the course that they couldn’t do before.

They are a way to clearly define the expected outcome of a course in terms of demonstrable skills or knowledge that will be acquired by the learner as a result of the instruction provided. The most important part of a learning objective is that its success can be measured.

Many instructional design models and theories provide explicit verbs and best practices for constructing learning objectives and using them correctly. They are seen as critical to the learning process because they inform all other instructional design decisions thereafter.

Check out these articles for further reading on learning objectives: What is a learning objective? How to write a learning objective

Learning Activities

Learning Activities are all the course assets used to deploy the learning experience. They are actions that are planned and created by instructional designers during course design and taken or used by the learner during the learning process.

Types of learning activities can range from audio, video, animation, gamification, and simulation, to more traditional activities such as reading and lecturing.

5 Steps to Building Training Effectively

Check out this free ebook to learn more about what you can do during the training development process to ensure your course provide effective learning for employees.

Learning Assessments

Assessments are the final step in the learning process. Learning assessments include elements like quizzes, exams, or graded simulations of real-world situations.

They are the final point in the “Magic Triangle” of instructional design because they are a way of checking that the learning objective was met. Moreover, they’re an important part of the cognitive “action and reflection” processes needed for learning to take place effectively.

Summative Assessments

Summative assessment usually quantifies results on a graded basis (e.g. 8/10 is considered a “pass”). This method is often criticized for being too simplistic and arbitrary to truly evaluate the learners’ achievement or the effectiveness of the training material. However, these downsides can be mitigated with effective pre-testing and post-testing .

Formative Assessments

Want to learn more about using assessments effectively in instructional design? Check out this on-demand webinar recording: 5 Ways Effective Assessments Can Catapult Your Learning Outcomes

Instructional Design Models & Theories

Bloom's taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model for classifying different levels of complexity in the learning process. The model categorizes learning objectives into three core principles: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor.

The Cognitive model is the most widely used when it comes to creating learning objectives during instructional design. The idea is to view learning objectives in behavioural terms so that they can be easily defined and measured according to what knowledge/skills the learner acquires and how their behaviour (or performance) improves as a result.

The model is framed to show how learners can move up structured levels of complexity in their depth of knowledge and level of skill in a given topic or process.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is useful for instructional designers because they can use it to:

Assess a learner’s current level of knowledge
Create training specifically designed to move them up to the next level
Frame learning objectives, activities, and assessments around the verbs provided by Bloom to make learning measurable

Source: Carleton University

The ADDIE Model

ADDIE is another instructional design framework used by instructional designers to develop training courses.

The model involves five main phases for course development:

D evelopment
I mplementation
E valuation

ADDIE was originally created for the armed forces back in the 1970s, but it was quickly adopted by instructional designers across the whole spectrum of learning experiences and is still a highly popular tool to this day.

The different activities that take place in each phase of ADDIE vary according to the situation and learning environment. But the five main phases mentioned above are almost always present when ADDIE is used by instructional designers.

infographic of instructional design ADDIE model

The 5 Steps of ADDIE

	Perform a needs analysis by surveying the existing learning environment and identifying the existing knowledge levels and skills. This stage clarifies instructional problems and objectives.
	Select learning objectives, assessment instruments, exercises, content, subject matter analysis, lesson/module planning, media selection, and delivery methods.
	Create and assemble content assets according to the Design phase. Develop storyboards and technologies. Perform quality assurance testing and iterate on design elements that need more work.
	Deploy courses to learners through the appropriate vehicle (instructor-led training, eLearning, etc.). Develop procedures for training facilitators and learners.
	Evaluating the effectiveness of the course design. Originally listed as a separate, final phase of the model, but today is widely practiced as a continuous stage alongside the other four phases, to take a more iterative approach to instructional design.

5 Essential Strategies for Effective Course Design

Check out this on-demand webinar recording by eLearning Brothers and Synapse outlining five essential ingredients for effective course design.

Successive Approximation Model (SAM)

SAM is the Successive Approximation Model, a framework for instructional design that was developed in answer to the more agile approach to product and business development being adopted by organizations en masse.

SAM is widely used by L&D teams who need to take a fast, iterative approach to course development so they can keep up with the demand for training in their organizations. It is a much more fluid process than traditional instructional design methods, allowing (even encouraging) teams to collaboratively fail fast and repeatedly. The idea is that the more you try and fail, the quicker you will get to the perfect solution.

Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a philosophy and process that focuses on the user, challenges assumptions, and redefines problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with an initial level of understanding.

It is a way of thinking and working, but also comprises a collection of hands-on methods. The five steps or phases of Design Thinking are:

Just like SAM, this methodology was not originally developed for instructional design. Design Thinking developed over time across a number of different fields, all trying to address the same problem: how can we creatively problem-solve while addressing the needs of the end user? It’s earliest origins can be traced back to the ‘50s and ‘60s and it was first used in fields like engineering and architecture.

In more recent years, it has made its way into the interests of instructional designers as they attempt to design training around complex, multi-faceted problems in the organization.

How Design Thinking is Transforming the Learning Experience

Learn all about the concept of Design Thinking and how to leverage it in your corporate training design process.

Instructional Design in the Modern Workplace

Technology and the internet have changed the face of instructional design and the way employees learn in the workplace . Although instructional design and corporate learning were arguably quite late to the party when it came to the transition to digital, online learning is now in full swing and grows more sophisticated by the year.

What is eLearning?

eLearning is the delivery of learning or training through any digital method. It has largely replaced traditional instructor-led training (ILT) in many workplaces and continues to do so. It is generally more cost-effective and when designed correctly, can be far more effective than marathon (ILT) sessions.

Benefits of eLearning:

Accessibility When the needed information is freely available for learners at the click of a mouse, they can learn in the flow of work and access learning at the point of need. It also means that for mobile-optimized eLearning, they can learn on-the-go. This level of accessibility is much more convenient for learners and encourages higher engagement rates with courses – a win-win for instructional designers and learners alike.
Personalization Instructional designers have been finding increasing success the more they can personalize the learning experience for the end user. Many organizations are investing resources in developing personalized learning paths , activities, and assessments.
Flexibility The whole world has sped up in terms of how quickly information is generated, exchanged, and updated. eLearning allows instructional designers to keep pace with these changes in a much more flexible way than other traditional methods.
Trackability While feedback for classroom-style instruction is often limited to manually filling in physical feedback forms, eLearning provides a lot more insight into the success of course design and the engagement rates of learners. This level of feedback allows instructional designers to strategize more effectively on course design and adjust according to realtime feedback.

Instructional Design Trends

As instructional designers seek to meet the continually evolving demands of the modern learner, several instructional design trends have emerged as answers to roadblocks commonly experienced in corporate training development.

Microlearning

Microlearning is any learning experience in which the content takes between 2-10 minutes for the learner to consume.

Its popularity stems from the fact that learners are more pressed for time and distracted than they have ever been before. By providing learning in bite-size microlearning courses, employees can fit training around their jobs rather than the other way around.

It also allows employees to learn in the flow of work, so they can learn what they need, at the point of need.

Learn More About Microlearning

Download this free ebook for a microlearning strategy you can start implementing today.

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Mobile Learning

Following the trend of meeting learners where they are, mobile learning allows users to access courses from the endpoint of their choosing. It’s another example of how instructional design has adapted to fit the needs of the modern lifestyle and work schedule.

With mobile learning, users can access courses from home, in transit, or outside of regular working hours. Savvy instructional designers can also ensure the way they deploy these courses is more “native” to the mobile experience and similar in design to other apps that employees use every day.

Gamification

A major challenge for instructional designers with such an impatient and distracted workforce is learner engagement. Most people are used to doing some kind of mandatory compliance training in one form or another. But learning and development teams often struggle to ensure employees are taking advantage of other learning opportunities available to them.

Gamification is when game-design is applied to traditionally “non-game” activities, such as learning. The theory can be applied to learning activities such as incorporating rounds, stages or levels, simulations, the collection of items of value, the gaining of points, winning or losing, or a race against the clock.

Blended Learning

The term “blended learning” comes from the practice of combining traditional instructor-led training in a classroom setting with online learning and independent study. This style of learning is common to both the education and corporate sectors, but the term “ blended learning ” is often found in the corporate learning environment.

It’s widely agreed that blended learning is made up of three core components:

In-person training activities facilitated by an instructor
Online learning materials (including online courses)
Structured independent learning guided by content in the online arena and skills developed during the instructor-led portion

The blended approach can often start with a more substantial focus on in-person training, and be followed up by more independent learning afterward once the core concepts have taken root.

The Instructional Designer's Toolbelt

From planning to design to deployment, a lot is involved for instructional designers to create a course and deliver it to learners. With each step in the process, different instructional design software and tools are needed.

Learning Design System

The front end of instructional design requires a lot of planning and collaboration. Like most business functions, this was traditionally done by learning and development teams over email, spreadsheets and word documents. The Learning Design System was developed to address the bottlenecks created during the planning and development phase of instructional design.

The software helps to standardize and automate processes around:

Training intake
Collaboration (both internally on the L&D team and with other stakeholders such as Subject Matter Experts)
Standardizing course design through templates and built-in best practices in adult learning theory
Storyboarding and rapid prototyping

Project Management

Corporate training teams rarely stand in an individual silo in today’s agile business world. Extensive collaboration is often needed with external vendors and internal stakeholders. As the demand for training increases, it’s imperative for L&D to have a centralized view of all their ongoing projects and activities.

Project management software keeps instructional designers on track and aligned with each other and with objectives. Many project management tools available also integrate seamlessly with other popular software, making the transition as seamless as possible.

Authoring Tools

Authoring tools are software that has pre-programmed elements designed for developing interactive multimedia and creating digital content. Many authoring tools have been developed specifically for elearning content creation so instructional designers can build interactive elearning courses.

Authoring tools for elearning have also been built to enable specific outputs that are needed to deploy courses to other software such as Learning Management Systems. Output types for elearning authoring tools include SCORM and HTML5.

Popular authoring tools for instructional designers include Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline 360, Elucidat, and Camtasia Studio 8.

Content curation in instructional design

In recent years, many L&D teams are shifting focus away from content creation, and towards content curation . This involves instructional designers selectively choosing a stock of resources, both internal and external, to present to learners rather than focusing on brand new content every time a learning opportunity is presented.

The Learning Management System (LMS)

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software system or platform where elearning courses can be deployed, tracked, reported on, and delivered to learners. LMS’s vary wildly in the types of features and functionality they deliver, but the core of it all is to deliver completed elearning courses to the end user: the learner.

It’s been predicted in recent years that the LMS may become obsolete in the near future as instructional design software and technology continues to evolve. But experts are divided on this, and it certainly seems that the LMS won’t be disappearing any time soon.

The LMS is one of the most important purchases the learning and development team makes because it’s how the learners themselves will interact with your online course. The functionalities of your LMS can dictate a lot about how you design learning content. Of all learning technologies, the LMS provides the most scope and choice. Popular vendors include TalentLMS, Docebo, Adobe Captivate Prime, Litmos, Lessonly, and Workday.

Most learning technology adheres to one of two main standards so that content can easily be deployed from design and development tools to the LMS. These standards are known as SCORM and xAPI.

What is SCORM?

SCORM stands for Shareable Content Object Reference Model. It’s a collection of specifications and standardized approaches to how web-based elearning products are built and formatted.

SCORM is currently the most widely adopted elearning standard in the industry. The protocol allows elearning content and programs to work together. For example, an elearning course might be built in an authoring tool and be seamlessly passed on to a Learning Management System for delivery to learners because they both compatible with SCORM.

What is xAPI?

xAPI is short for Experience API. It’s also known as Tin Can API. It was created as a successor to SCORM, which has certain limitations. xAPI makes it possible to collect a lot more data about a much wider range of learning experiences, both online and offline.

The xAPI protocol means that data and records about learners can be easily stored, retrieved, and shared across various platforms. Records collected and stored are referred to as activity statements which are then aggregated and stored in a Learning Record Store (LRS).

The advantage of xAPI over SCORM is being able to capture information about a wide range of activities and capturing offline learning moments, too. It gives L&D a much more comprehensive set of data and information to work with when analyzing their learning programmes.

Training in the Flow of Work: How Solenis's "Learn It Now" Modules Delivered Award-Winning Results

Watch the recording of Thomas Bernard, Global Learning Leader at Solenis, and Kristy Sadler, CMO at Synapse, to learn how Solenis built an innovative, award-winning learning strategy.

Learning Experience Platform (LEP)

One of the key trends in learning and development right now is the push to personalize learning experiences for the individual user as much as possible.

A Learning Experience Platform (LEP) is software that is designed to provide personalized learning content and learning pathways for employees by consolidating lots of different learning resources. It’s usually used by large enterprises and leverages social learning and networking as well as personalization to provide a total learning experience.

Unlike a traditional LMS, the LEP puts control back into the hands of the learner as they can choose what they would like to engage with on the platform. Popular vendors of Learning Experience Platforms include Degreed, Pathgather, Edcast, and Cornerstone.

The Future of Instructional Design

Artificial intelligence in instructional design.

While many would argue that instructional design and learning and development have been a little late to the party, there’s no arguing with the fact that technology is finally starting to make serious advancements in how we design and deliver learning experiences.

For learners:

Learners are becoming ever more impatient in today’s digital world. People are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information they must process on a daily basis. This tidal wave of information has made them far more selective about what they choose to process, and it affects their attention span for learning experiences, too. Learners today want highly relevant, bite-sized learning experiences that help them with their day-to-day performance.

That’s where Artificial Intelligence in elearning comes into play. AI has the potential (and has already started) to shape highly personalized learning experiences through recommendation engines, similar to Netflix or ecommerce product recommendations. In a learning environment, AI can suggest resources or experiences that are specific to the learner’s role, experience level, and performance issues. It can monitor their profession and automate the process of moving an employee through the hierarchy of learning.

This level of personalization means learners are presented with the right training at the right time for them. It reduces frustration at being put through courses that are not relevant or material that is too easy or too difficult. Ultimately, the end result will be learners that are more engaged and training that is more effective.

For instructional designers:

AI has the potential to change the way instructional designers develop, design, and deploy learning experiences.

Currently, many processes undertaken by instructional designers are still highly time-consuming and manual despite the vast array of learning technology already available. Artificial Intelligence has the potential to automate aspects of tasks like training needs analysis, course content development, and other instructional design processes. Much like the recommendation engines that are personalizing the learning experience, AI can automate a lot of the processes around learning objectives, content selection and assessments based on adult learning theory.

Adaptive learning

Adaptive learning is the use of technology to create personalized learning experiences online through Learning Experience Platforms or Learning Management Systems. Adaptive learning is becoming an increasingly popular trend in corporate training as the tools and technology to achieve it become available. In fact, a report by Docebo found that 33% of learning leaders plan to focus on adaptive learning in 2020.

Adaptive learning is comprised of three core functionalities:

Content: which learning activities (text, graphics, video, etc.) are presented to the learner
Sequence: the order in which content or modules are presented to the learner
Guidance: achieving optimal learning outcomes through a personalized learning path that considers the individual learning style and level of difficulty

It has been decades since the benefits of “one on one” teaching and the benefits of paying individual attention to learners were realized. Adaptive learning aims to transmit that one-to-one teaching concept to an elearning environment. The “instructor” (algorithms) present a similarly personalized and optimized learning experience to that of a tutor and an individual student. This is mostly achieved through the constant collection of data and feedback so that the technology can adapt based on learner responses to tasks and assessments.

Working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

instructional designers and subject matter experts

The problem with working with SMEs

Despite the necessity of working with SMEs , frustrations can build very quickly for instructional designers when working with them on a training project. There are three main factors that contribute to the difficulty of designing a course with a SME:

1. SMEs have no knowledge of instructional design

Instructional designers have studied adult learning theory, cognitive behaviour, and educational psychology. They have been taught best practices in how to plan, structure, and design a course to achieve optimal results for the learners. Subject Matter Experts often have absolutely no experience in this, so when it comes to designing a course together, objectives can be misunderstood and lead to clashes over decisions about the course.

2. Poor collaboration processes

When working on a training development project with SMEs, collaboration is key. But collaboration is more than sitting around a table in a meeting room once a month. It’s about accountability, deadlines, and working from the same playbook. Part of the problem is that collaboration software hasn’t caught up to the needs of instructional designers who are sometimes trying to coordinate multiple groups of SMEs over multiple training development projects.

3. SMEs are busy with their own roles

Even SMEs who are committed to training projects can find it difficult to dedicate the time needed. And for those who are reluctant contributors, it can be even harder to pin them down. But the fact is, SMEs are taking time out of busy day-to-day schedules and primary duties to help out with training projects while for the instructional designer, completing training projects is the primary objective.

How to manage Subject Matter Experts

1. the kick-off meeting.

Every training project should start with a kick-off meeting before diving straight into “this is what the corporate training team needs from you.” It’s important to make SMEs feel like they are part of the project and the decision making because this is how you will get them to commit and provide higher quality work.

2. Create a project charter

Setting out expectations is a hugely important part of successful collaboration in any setting. Define a project charter that sets out the objectives, risks and benefits, and expectations for all stakeholders involved.

3. Define a shared goal

The goal or objectives of your project as defined in the Project Charter should outline an organizational benefit that is valuable to both the instructional designer and the SME. Defining a shared goal is crucial for earning buy-in and commitment from your SME, not just in the beginning but for the duration.

4. Set out roles and responsibilities

Part of setting expectations is assigning roles and responsibilities for everyone involved in the training project. These roles and responsibilities set expectations, but they can also be referred back to if any disagreements arise throughout the duration of the project.

This is particularly important if it’s the first time your SME has worked with the training department to develop training.

5. Demonstrate Value

If you have a SME who is reluctant to be involved in the project, try to highlight the value of this experience for their own professional development. By collaborating on the creation of training, they are seen as a leader and expert amongst their peers. Hopefully seeing some more personal benefits to their contribution will motivate them to commit to the project.

6. Get them involved from the very beginning

Before any decisions are made, bring the SME into the conversation. The SME will feel like an owner in the project rather than a contributor, encouraging a higher level of commitment, accountability and involvement. For difficult SMEs, it can help to mitigate any objetions they may have been inclined to raise. By involving them in the discussion from the beginning, they are obliged to take equal ownership on decisions made for the project.

7. Don't dismiss their concerns

Some decisions may be obvious to you as an instructional designer, but don’t be surprised if you hear objections, hesitation, or concern from your Subject Matter Expert. They are looking at the course and the content from an entirely different persepctive, and it’s a perspective that may be worth listening to when they voice concern.

If you still disagree, don’t be dismissive of their concerns or their lack of instructional design knowledge. Ensure your SME feels listened to and valued at all times throughout the project. After all, the training course would not be possible without them.

How to Scale Instructional Design Efforts

With speed of business ever increasing, corporate training teams are having a hard time keeping up with demand. Check out this free ebook for actionable tips on scaling your instructional design process.

How can SMEs design the courses themselves?

In a perfect world, learning professionals could hand off the majority of training projects and course design directly to SMEs. While SMEs will always need some form of guidance from instructional designers, there are scenarios and tools that can enable them to contribute a lot more than simply “data dumping” their knowledge to a designer.

Course Templates

There are fundamentals of course design that are second nature to instructional designers but are like a foreign language to SMEs. Things like learning objectives, requirements gathering, and hierarchical learning models can be built into templates for SMEs. This lessens the pressure on L&D to handhold SMEs through a course design process.

A Learning Design System guides SMEs through course design with built-in best practices in adult learning theory and guidance for SMEs on building courses. Instructional designers can also assign tasks and collaborate with SMEs directly on the platform, keeping all communication in one place.

Train the Trainer

Instructor-led training (ILT) still makes up a huge proportion of corporate training courses, but the same level of attention should be paid to the instructional design methodology used to build ILT. In an ILT environment, L&D often run “train the trainer” sessions so that SMEs can depart their knowledge effectively in a classroom setting.

It's Time to Change How You Design Training

Resources for L&D Professionals

Scaling Learning Programs with Cognota: Unlocking Efficiency and Impact

For L&D professionals, scaling learning programs effectively is a critical challenge. As organizations grow, the demands on training increase, often stretching resources thin. Yet, the

The Complete Guide to Efficient Training Operations

L&D teams certainly want learners to learn, but could making their training operations more efficient help drive better outcomes? Efficiency in business is certainly nothing

Mastering the Art of Training Facilitation

Imagine stepping into a room full of eager learners, and instead of leading yet another mundane lecture, you transform the session into an engaging, interactive

LearnOps ®️

L&D Resources

Cognota Resources

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What is Instructional Design?

Mar 13, 2019

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What is Instructional Design?. A quick primer on instructional design and why you may benefit from it. Table of Contents. What is Instructional Design? Why should I care? Adults learn much differently than students Adult learning principles emphasize applying knowledge

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Presentation Transcript

What is Instructional Design? A quick primer on instructional design and why you may benefit from it

Table of Contents • What is Instructional Design? • Why should I care? • Adults learn much differently than students • Adult learning principles emphasize applying knowledge • What does an instructional designer do? • About the Author Karen G. Phelan 973-657-1291

What is Instructional Design? • Instructional design is the process of assessing the performance shortfalls of a particular population and then developing a program to teach the needed skills. • Instructional design emphasizes learning objectives and the attainment of skills. • Good instructional design radically improves the retention rate of the new material. Karen G. Phelan 973-657-1291

Why should I care? • Much research in last twenty years has shown the inadequacy of lecture/presentation teaching methods in gaining new knowledge and skills. • Unless trainees have the opportunity to apply, discuss, and synthesize new material, it will be forgotten in about a month. • People vary in the way they learn, and effective instruction should accommodate different learning styles. • Instructional design focuses on adult learners. Karen G. Phelan 973-657-1291

Adults learn much differently than students Student Entry Career Mature Career • “What’s in it for me?” • “Just give me the facts.” • Knowledge is possession. • Knowledge is right or wrong. • Learning is to get something. • “What do you think I should know?” • “How can I better meet others’ expectations?” • Knowledge is expert advice and opinions. • Learning is to be something. • “What is important for me to learn and succeed?” • I am responsible for my own learning. • Knowledge is an interpretation of facts, theories, etc., and our own experience. • Learning improves our life. Taken from Transformation Learning in Adulthood by Portnow, Popp, Broderick, Drago-Severson, and Kegan. Karen G. Phelan 973-657-1291

Adult Learning principles emphasize applying knowledge Most corporate training programs follow the guidelines of adult learning theory, developed by Malcolm Knowles and others. Adults learn: • by doing – training should have heavy emphasis on application. • using practical situations- adults must have a use for the information and learn it in that context. • by synthesizing and retaining knowledge through discussing and practicing examples. Adults do not learn well in theoretical, lecture environments. Karen G. Phelan 973-657-1291

What does an instructional designer do? • If required, assesses the needs of the target audience. • Works with client to determine goals and learning objectives of a particular program. • Works with a subject matter or content expert to design a program that appeals to a variety of learning styles and adult learning preferences. • Develops materials that aid in retention. • Helps to implement the program. • Evaluates the effectiveness of the program. • Makes improvements and updates when required. Karen G. Phelan 973-657-1291

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Center for Teaching

Making better powerpoint presentations.

Print Version

Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory.

Research about student preferences for powerpoint, resources for making better powerpoint presentations, bibliography.

We have all experienced the pain of a bad PowerPoint presentation. And even though we promise ourselves never to make the same mistakes, we can still fall prey to common design pitfalls. The good news is that your PowerPoint presentation doesn’t have to be ordinary. By keeping in mind a few guidelines, your classroom presentations can stand above the crowd!

“It is easy to dismiss design – to relegate it to mere ornament, the prettifying of places and objects to disguise their banality. But that is a serious misunderstanding of what design is and why it matters.” Daniel Pink

One framework that can be useful when making design decisions about your PowerPoint slide design is Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory .

As illustrated in the diagram above, the Central Executive coordinates the work of three systems by organizing the information we hear, see, and store into working memory.

The Phonological Loop deals with any auditory information. Students in a classroom are potentially listening to a variety of things: the instructor, questions from their peers, sound effects or audio from the PowerPoint presentation, and their own “inner voice.”

The Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad deals with information we see. This involves such aspects as form, color, size, space between objects, and their movement. For students this would include: the size and color of fonts, the relationship between images and text on the screen, the motion path of text animation and slide transitions, as well as any hand gestures, facial expressions, or classroom demonstrations made by the instructor.

The Episodic Buffer integrates the information across these sensory domains and communicates with long-term memory. All of these elements are being deposited into a holding tank called the “episodic buffer.” This buffer has a limited capacity and can become “overloaded” thereby, setting limits on how much information students can take in at once.

Laura Edelman and Kathleen Harring from Muhlenberg College , Allentown, Pennsylvania have developed an approach to PowerPoint design using Baddeley and Hitch’s model. During the course of their work, they conducted a survey of students at the college asking what they liked and didn’t like about their professor’s PowerPoint presentations. They discovered the following:

Characteristics students don’t like about professors’ PowerPoint slides

Too many words on a slide
Movement (slide transitions or word animations)
Templates with too many colors

Characteristics students like like about professors’ PowerPoint slides

Graphs increase understanding of content
Bulleted lists help them organize ideas
PowerPoint can help to structure lectures
Verbal explanations of pictures/graphs help more than written clarifications

According to Edelman and Harring, some conclusions from the research at Muhlenberg are that students learn more when:

material is presented in short phrases rather than full paragraphs.
the professor talks about the information on the slide rather than having students read it on their own.
relevant pictures are used. Irrelevant pictures decrease learning compared to PowerPoint slides with no picture
they take notes (if the professor is not talking). But if the professor is lecturing, note-taking and listening decreased learning.
they are given the PowerPoint slides before the class.

Advice from Edelman and Harring on leveraging the working memory with PowerPoint:

Leverage the working memory by dividing the information between the visual and auditory modality. Doing this reduces the likelihood of one system becoming overloaded. For instance, spoken words with pictures are better than pictures with text, as integrating an image and narration takes less cognitive effort than integrating an image and text.
Minimize the opportunity for distraction by removing any irrelevant material such as music, sound effects, animations, and background images.
Use simple cues to direct learners to important points or content. Using text size, bolding, italics, or placing content in a highlighted or shaded text box is all that is required to convey the significance of key ideas in your presentation.
Don’t put every word you intend to speak on your PowerPoint slide. Instead, keep information displayed in short chunks that are easily read and comprehended.
One of the mostly widely accessed websites about PowerPoint design is Garr Reynolds’ blog, Presentation Zen . In his blog entry: “ What is Good PowerPoint Design? ” Reynolds explains how to keep the slide design simple, yet not simplistic, and includes a few slide examples that he has ‘made-over’ to demonstrate how to improve its readability and effectiveness. He also includes sample slides from his own presentation about PowerPoint slide design.
Another presentation guru, David Paradi, author of “ The Visual Slide Revolution: Transforming Overloaded Text Slides into Persuasive Presentations ” maintains a video podcast series called “ Think Outside the Slide ” where he also demonstrates PowerPoint slide makeovers. Examples on this site are typically from the corporate perspective, but the process by which content decisions are made is still relevant for higher education. Paradi has also developed a five step method, called KWICK , that can be used as a simple guide when designing PowerPoint presentations.
In the video clip below, Comedian Don McMillan talks about some of the common misuses of PowerPoint in his routine called “Life After Death by PowerPoint.”

This article from The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights a blog moderated by Microsoft’s Doug Thomas that compiles practical PowerPoint advice gathered from presentation masters like Seth Godin , Guy Kawasaki , and Garr Reynolds .

Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story , by Jerry Weissman, Prentice Hall, 2006

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery , by Garr Reynolds, New Riders Press, 2008

Solving the PowerPoint Predicament: using digital media for effective communication , by Tom Bunzel , Que, 2006

The Cognitive Style of Power Point , by Edward R. Tufte, Graphics Pr, 2003

The Visual Slide Revolution: Transforming Overloaded Text Slides into Persuasive Presentations , by Dave Paradi, Communications Skills Press, 2000

Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck: And How You Can Make Them Better , by Rick Altman, Harvest Books, 2007

Teaching Guides

Quick Links

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The eLearning Coach

For designing effective learning experiences

5 Steps To A PowerPoint Redesign For eLearning

by Connie Malamed

Step One: Settle on style and colors

Style. The style you create for your PowerPoint redesign impacts the entire look and feel of a course. It includes the theme, color palette, typeface and type of graphics. Before starting your PowerPoint redesign, get a good sense of the content, audience and flavor of the organization. Then create a corresponding style.

Colors. Color is often a big issue because a particular palette might be required. If not, then base your color choices on the course content and audience characteristics. In general, use neutral (gray, tan, white) or lighter colors for eLearning backgrounds. Usability research states that a light background with dark text is easier for online reading.

Then select one or two contrasting accent colors for highlights, arrows and other indicators. For related articles, see 8 Ways To Choose A Color Palette For eLearning . You may want to document your styles in a visual style guide .

Step Two: Create theme backgrounds

Blank Canvas. Once you’ve settled on the style, you’re ready to create the template. During the makeover, try to think of a slide as a blank canvas, there’s more room to add your creativity. This strategy helps you avoid the trap of always placing a title at the top and text below.

Design for Different Learning Events. As you go through an analysis, you’ll begin to think of learning events and strategies that are appropriate for your course. Create a unique background that will work for these events and strategies.

For example, you might require a section title slide, several interaction slides and different types of presentation slides. When possible, it’s efficient to create most of the backgrounds at one time. If you aren’t well-versed in graphic design, keep things simple. You can find appealing examples online for inspiration. See the before and after slides below.

BEFORE: The design of the template below uses the standard look of a generic slide. The vertical bar on the left takes up valuable screen real estate.

AFTER: Instead, create templates that will work for the interactions, presentations and learning experiences you’re planning. See below.

Or use backgrounds to carry an entire metaphor or story, as with the office bulletin board background below.

Step Three: Rework text-heavy screens

Now you’re ready to tackle those slides filled with bullet points. First, streamline the content by removing redundant and extraneous information.

Next, create alternatives to all those bullet lists. For example, you can transform bullet lists into an interaction, where the content is presented as feedback. Even a simple approach, like the before and after example shown below, is more engaging than plain text. Also, see Alternatives to Bullet Points for more ideas.

BEFORE: The slide below shows a typical bullet list (perhaps shorter than most!)

AFTER: Below, the bullet list is transformed into an interaction.

When the learner responds, content is presented in the feedback.

Step Four: Add meaningful visuals and interactions

More of our brain’s resources are devoted to processing visual information than any other sense. Using visuals to suggest, explain or illustrate can facilitate learning. Visuals add meaning, they are motivational and they provides aesthetic appeal.

In addition to photographs and illustrations, remember you can create diagrams and simple objects from PowerPoint shapes. Also, use arrows, highlights and other indicators for focus and emphasis.

BEFORE: In the example below, several safety guidelines are listed in text and the graphic is misaligned.

AFTER: The text is replaced with audio that plays when each physician is selected. Not using audio? Display a speech bubble with text.

Step Five: Improve the layout

There are some basic principles of visual design that contribute to ease of visual processing , which enhances learning. Some quick tips for improving the layout are:

Use a grid or guidelines to provide visual structure (See my article: Designing With A PowerPoint Grid )
Align visual elements with each other
Ensure there is enough white space around graphics and text

AFTER: Place important content on a quiet screen with no distractions, as shown below. Align the visual elements in a simple structure for easy reading.

I hope these guidelines help you manage your PowerPoint makeover process. If you make high-level design decisions first, you’ll be more productive and efficient than if you work slide by slide.

Resources for Inspiration:

BrightCarbon Portfolio
Duarte Design
21 Ways to Get Visual Ideas

September 15, 2020 at 10:01 am

Thanks for catching that error, Elizabeth! I have trouble with higher mathematics. Glad you found it helpful. Connie

September 14, 2020 at 8:51 pm

Hey, i just noticed you have two “Step fives.” But i loved this! Very easy and very helpful !

November 13, 2012 at 4:34 pm

Connie … thanks for the feedback. I never use white background in any presentations, eLearning, etc. that I develop – at least when I actually have control of that aspect. Give a shot at the background I suggested and see what happens … at least on a few of your slides. If anyone wants an awakening on light font on dark background … just Google it; an interesting thing I found was that, in the eLearning world at least, dark on light is easier on the eyesight of those with astigmatism – which I and almost 50% of the population have. Further, some research indicates that dark on light enhances learning retention by 25%!

November 9, 2012 at 8:52 am

Hi Sally, I got that from Thinkstock and then in Photoshop, removed some of the elements on the bulletin board because it was too much. Connie

November 9, 2012 at 7:39 am

I love that bulletin board background. Did you get that from Elearning?

November 8, 2012 at 8:25 pm

Hi Tom, Love your suggestions, thank you. I agree that a photo background can become boring and should only be used for a one or two slides where you are suggesting context. Thanks for contributing. Oh — and as far as using a light color for a background in a presentation, I think it depends on whether the room is large or not. It could work in a smaller room. All I know is I gave a presentation to a large room of professional information graphic designers with a white background and was told it shimmered when they looked at it. Never would I do that again! Regards, Connie

November 8, 2012 at 6:52 pm

As for font … I use Tahoma, a wysiwyg, semi-serif font that is very readable online and in PPT presentations. For slide background color, I use a light yellow-beige at RGB 255 – 255 – 216, for which I have been complemented a number of times for ease on the eyes. My wife has been using the Tahoma / yellow-beige background combination for her presentations and has also been getting kudos.

Also, I find that using a textured or artistic background such as the “hospital bed” example becomes very boring and distracting after two or three slides.

But, of course, the KEY thing to remember when using PPT or whatever is that technology is not instruction!

November 8, 2012 at 5:56 pm

Hi Leslie, I get backgrounds from eLearning Art , as they have a great selection of office, hospital, pattern and textured ones. (If you purchase an annual subscription, they’ll give you an extra free month. You have to type “eLearning Coach” in the field “How did you hear about us?” They have great character photos too.)

I also get them from standard stock photo sites, just searching for “backgrounds” or “textures.” Happy creating! Connie

November 8, 2012 at 5:44 pm

Really loved the post. I’m interested in finding a source for backgrounds for slides for both Powerpoint and elearning. Can you give me some resources?

November 6, 2012 at 2:23 am

the post is very interesting and relevant to what I am doing right now. However my computer faculty says this audio clippings and the quiz kind of work is possible only by a graphic designer as it calls for java scripting and flash technology. And if I have audio clippings inserted using them as separate audio files can they be imported on line? how did you do the above work only power point ?

Cheers Meenakshi

November 3, 2012 at 11:25 am

Hi Sharon, Sometimes clients want to have design discussions. It’s always a good idea to present at least one look and feel prototype first, which I’m guessing you are doing. As it says in the article, I back up my decisions by talking about the learner characteristics, the organization’s mission/image and the content. I also talk about the way people perceive and process information. A simple example is that if the screens are too cluttered, learners get too many visual cues.

But I understand that design is also very subjective and sometimes your client or your internal team will just not like it. Door closed. When I do website design, I will offer my clients two or three approaches from which they can choose. Perhaps that would be the best approach in this case. Also, I’m wondering if you have had a design discussion with your client first? This way you can tell the types of things they like. If you want to get more specific, let me know. It’s hard to help you “hit the nail on the head” without knowing more. Best, Connie

November 3, 2012 at 8:46 am

Hi Connie, thanks for sharing some great makeover examples. I’m curious about how you share your design decisions with clients. Do your clients want to know why you chose a specific color palette, for example? I’ve been asked to share my thoughts about a PPTX that will be presented to a client, and after two approaches, I still haven’t “hit the nail on the head” with my response. I think the “right” response (if there is one) might depend on whose listening. I’d like to know your thoughts on talking about design with clients.

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Instructional Design Certificate Program

Tailored for professionals in higher education, this comprehensive 18-week certification program focuses on equipping participants with skills in instructional design, assessment development, course evaluation, and the utilization of assessment data and feedback for continual course enhancement. Participants will gain skills to design and develop engaging, inclusive, and effective learning experiences while mastering the creation of effective assessments. Furthermore, the program facilitates proficiency in conducting high-quality course reviews utilizing the OSQR rubric and acquiring communication skills essential for effective collaboration with faculty members, ensuring seamless integration of instructional design principles into diverse academic environments to support continuous course improvement.

There are 3 online asynchronous courses. The courses are 6 weeks in length each, and they contain approximately 3 to 5 hours of work each week. The courses are interactive with instructor feedback to participants and capped at 20 registrants .

Program Competencies

Apply instructional design models, instructional approaches to learning, and educational frameworks to design engaging, inclusive, and effective learning experiences for diverse learners.
Demonstrate advanced instructional design skills, including using contemporary educational technologies, to promote equitable and inclusive course design.
Construct fair, valid, and reliable assessments that are varied and aligned with learning objectives and learners’ needs.
Demonstrate proficiency in evaluating, implementing, and refining equitable and inclusive assessment strategies and methods, emphasizing the incorporation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to ensure a diverse and inclusive approach that accommodates the needs of all learners.
Conduct comprehensive course evaluations using assessment data and feedback for continual iteration.
Utilize the OSQR rubric to conduct high-quality course reviews and implement enhancements for continual course improvement.
Demonstrate effective communication skills to facilitate constructive dialogue and collaborative efforts with stakeholders for continual course improvement.
Analyze assessment data to inform instructional design decisions and enhance course development and learning experiences.
Implement improvements based on data-driven approaches to continually enhance course offerings for optimal learning outcomes and promote equity and inclusion.

Target Audience

New or existing instructional designers
Any campus role that develops learning content for students

Program Completion Requirements

The recommended order is Course 1 followed by Course 2 and Course 3. A digital badge will be awarded for the completion of each course and the completion of the overall Certificate Program.

Course 1: Foundations of Instructional Design

Course 1 Learning Objectives

Compare and contrast design approaches to understand the evolution of the field of instructional design and the importance of meeting the needs of the modern learner.
Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of various instructional design models and theories, emphasizing their practical application to enable the effective design and implementation of tailored instructional strategies to enhance learning experiences.
Analyze diverse instructional approaches to learning and proficiently apply them in designing and developing personalized and impactful learning experiences that address the unique needs and preferences of individual learners within varied educational settings.
Demonstrate proficiency in utilizing a variety of needs assessment methodologies and analysis techniques, enabling effective identification of learning gaps and formulating targeted strategies to address these gaps for enhanced learning outcomes.

Course 2: Equitable Assessment Design and Course Evaluation

Course 2 Learning Objectives

Select appropriate, equitable, and inclusive assessment strategies and methods for evaluating learners’ understanding and progress.
Construct assessments aligned with learning objectives, ensuring fairness, validity, and reliability.
Apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to develop content & assessments that accommodate diverse learner needs, ensuring inclusivity, accessibility, and equitable evaluation of learner progress within varied educational settings.
Conduct thorough course evaluations, and clearly and constructively communicate this information to implement strategies for continuous improvement in future course offerings using the OSCQR Rubric and a growth mindset.

Course 3: Advanced Instructional Design and Course Enhancement

Course 3 Learning Objectives

Leverage the application of learning analytics to enhance course design, refine learning experiences and assessments, and ensure optimization and inclusivity for learners through data-informed decision-making and continual iteration.
Evaluate emerging technology trends in education, identify innovative educational tools, and adeptly integrate these technologies into instructional designs, fostering inclusive and engaging learning experiences.
Demonstrate proficiency in designing, developing, and presenting an e-learning module while conducting a comprehensive peer review of a colleague’s e-learning module using the OSQR rubric, showcasing the ability to critically evaluate and provide constructive feedback on e-learning content and design principles.
Demonstrate effective communication and collaboration skills with faculty members, employing a growth mindset approach to facilitate a positive exchange of ideas and promote a culture of continuous improvement within the instructional design process.

Meet the Instructor

Dan Barrancotta

Dan Barrancotta, Ed.D. is an educator and instructional designer with experience in Workforce Development, K-12, and Higher Education. Dan currently serves as an Instructor at Western Governors University in the Education Technology and Instructional Design graduate program and also an Adjunct Instructor at SUNY Genesee CC, Niagara University, and Bryant & Stratton College teaching courses in education, career development, computer skills, and computer programming.

Dan’s teaching philosophy is centered around transformative leadership and the belief that every learner is unique and brings valuable knowledge and experience with them that can benefit the group. He seeks to develop diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences that foster a classroom community where all learners can learn with and from each other to accomplish their goals and drive change in the workforce.

Dan lives in Western New York with his wife, Alexa, and 2-year-old daughter, Ariana. He enjoys spending time with his family, running, playing sports, and watching the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, and New York Yankees.

Course Pricing

$300 Per Course

Discounted course pricing when registering for two courses at one time

$260 per course

Non-CPD Member

$350 Per Course

$310 per course

$400 Per Course

$360 per course

How to Pay

Available payment methods are:

Credit Card (Mastercard or Visa)
CPD General Points
Campus Check
Journal Transfer

CPD General Points: To pay with CPD General Points, your campus must be a CPD Member. Check if your campus is a member . It is the responsibility of the registrant to determine if enough points are available to use BEFORE completing the registration process. Please contact your Campus Points Contact to determine points eligibility. If points are denied, the registrant is responsible for the payment.

Campus Check: Prior campus approval is required. Make check payable to SUNY Center for Professional Development. Mail to SUNY CPD at the address below.

Journal Transfer (State Operated Campuses Only): Prior campus approval is required. An account number with authorizing signature for Journal Transfers is required within 48 hours. You must print and return the invoice that is included with the registration confirmation email.

Important: Full payment is required 30 days from the start date of each course.

Registration

Fall 2024 Course Dates – Register for the Fall 2024 Cohort

*Currently, this certificate program is at capacity. To be added to the waitlist, please register. Spring 2025 dates will be announced soon.

Course 1: Foundations of Instructional Design – FULL August 27 – October 7, 2024
Course 2: Equitable Assessment Design and Course Evaluation – FULL October 15 – November 25, 2024
Course 3: Advanced Instructional Design and Course Enhancement – FULL January 7 – February 17, 2025

For programming questions, please contact Jamie Heron, SUNY Online Program Manager at [email protected] . For registration questions, please contact Meghan Martin, SUNY CPD Program Coordinator at [email protected] . edu .

Phone: 315-214-2440

Email: [email protected]

Report an Accessibility Issue

About the Program

Course Information

Cost and Payment

IMAGES

PPT
Instructional Design PowerPoint and Google Slides Template
Instructional Design PowerPoint and Google Slides Template
Instructional Design PowerPoint and Google Slides Template
ADDIE Model Design For Instructional Design Training Course
Instructional Design PowerPoint Template

VIDEO

How to Export Canva to Powerpoint With Animations (2024) Step-By-Step
Microsoft Office PowerPoint MAC: Adding a Header & Footer
Transform Your Slides with my Point Tips & Tricks! #ppt #PowerPoint #PresentationDesign #tutorial
Instructional Design for eLearning
Lesson 01-Know e Learning
PowerPoint Tutorial: Adding Movement with Window Animations

COMMENTS

Instructional Design Models & Theories of Learning
Analyze characteristics of learners and teachers (learning process) 18 BACKWARD DESIGN Fink's Integrated Course Design model (continued): 4. Decide on goals focusing on active learning 5. Decide on assessment and feedback 6. Decide on learning activities 7. Make sure all elements are integrated (aligned) and the course is coherent.
(PPT) introduction to instructional design
Daniel L Calloway. Instructional design is a process whereby the designer uses the phases of analysis of the learner needs and learner context, the development of strategies both for instruction and its delivery, and an assessment or evaluation of learner goals and objectives for the purposes of accomplishing instruction and to possibly revise ...
PPT
Presentation Transcript. Instructional Design is... • the systematic process of translating principles of learning and instruction into specifications for instructional materials and activities. • aims for a learner-centered rather than the traditional teacher-centered approach to instruction, so that effective learning can take place.
PPT
Presentation Transcript. Objectives • Define instructional design. • Identify Identify at least four areas where instructional design can be used. • Describe two features of ILT, distance learning, CBT, and WBT. • Explain the relationship between instructional design and multimedia. • State the purpose of each phase of the ADDIE model.
PPT
Presentation Transcript. Instructional Design Principles Lindsay Prater GCU TEC 571. The Three E's of Learning • Learning in any form: traditional, hybrid, or distance education, needs to meet all three E's • Effective - Did I make my students learn about what I intended for them to learn? • Efficient - Have I done everything that ...
6 Instructional Design Principles
6 Instructional Design Principles. As schools and institutions adopt technology to evolve the learning experience, instruction must meet the needs of all students. At the core of effective teaching strategies, instructional design is the researched development of educational materials and methods to produce positive outcomes for learners.
9 Instructional design principles and how to use them
The 9 instructional design principles (also known as Gagne's nine events of instruction) as outlined by Gagne are: Gain the attention of your learners. State the objectives. Stimulate recall of prior learning. Present the learning content. Provide learning guidance. Elicit performance from learners.
The Ultimate Guide to Instructional Design
Analysis: Identify the challenge and goals, as well as the learners' needs and existing skills. Design: Decide on the instructional techniques, assessments, exercises and materials you will use. Development: Assemble the content and materials, then make adjustments based on learner and institutional needs.
Research-Based Presentation Design Guidelines
This guide leverages relevant cognitive psychology research (discussed in our other article " Multimedia Learning Principles ") to provide specific, evidence-based recommendations for designing and delivering effective presentations. But your PowerPoint deck is only one part of your "educational performance," which, broadly speaking, is a ...
Teaching with PowerPoint
This section is organized in three major segments: Part I will help faculty identify and use basic but important design elements, Part II will cover ways to enhance teaching and learning with PowerPoint, and Part III will list ways to engage students with PowerPoint. PART I: Designing the PowerPoint Presentation Accessibility
How to Create a Training PowerPoint Presentation
Understanding the different types of training presentations can help you choose the format that's most suitable for achieving your training objectives. Let's take a closer look at some common types of training presentations: 1. Informative Presentation. Informative presentations are the foundation of knowledge transfer.
Instructional Design: Everything You Need to Know
Instructional design is the design, development, and delivery of learning experiences. It constructs those experiences in such a way that learners acquire either knowledge or skills.Instructional designers follow various academic theories and models related to how people learn and the cognitive processes behind the learning experience.
Instructional Design
World's Best PowerPoint Templates - CrystalGraphics offers more PowerPoint templates than anyone else in the world, with over 4 million to choose from. Winner of the Standing Ovation Award for "Best PowerPoint Templates" from Presentations Magazine. They'll give your presentations a professional, memorable appearance - the kind of sophisticated look that today's audiences expect.
7 Instructional Design Tips For Your Next Presentation
Here are seven tips straight from an amazing Instructional Designer on how to improve your next presentation; he goes by the name of Adam Cannon. 1. Think SportsCenter: When you are giving a presentation, you shouldn't give the full picture. And much like SportsCenter, you need to give only the high-level, high-profile items that will capture ...
PPT
Instructional Design. Instructional Design. The ADDIE Model. By Ana Margot Rookstool. Instructional Design. is the process of creating something that teaches a specific topic, develops skills or encourages further study. ADDIE. is the most common model of instructional design. The ADDIE Model. Analyze. 371 views • 11 slides
Making Better PowerPoint Presentations
Print Version Baddeley and Hitch's model of working memory. Research about student preferences for PowerPoint Resources for making better PowerPoint presentations Bibliography We have all experienced the pain of a bad PowerPoint presentation. And even though we promise ourselves never to make the same mistakes, we can still fall prey to common design pitfalls. The...
Understanding Learner Characteristics In Instructional Design
The Role Of Prior Knowledge In Instructional Design. Prior knowledge is one of the most crucial learner characteristics. When it comes to learning, what students already know shapes how they take in new information. This is because having a strong foundation means learners can easily attach new information to what they already know.
5 Steps To A PowerPoint Redesign For eLearning
Step One: Settle on style and colors. Style. The style you create for your PowerPoint redesign impacts the entire look and feel of a course. It includes the theme, color palette, typeface and type of graphics. Before starting your PowerPoint redesign, get a good sense of the content, audience and flavor of the organization.
Instructional Design Certificate Program
Apply instructional design models, instructional approaches to learning, and educational frameworks to design engaging, inclusive, and effective learning experiences for diverse learners. Demonstrate advanced instructional design skills, including using contemporary educational technologies, to promote equitable and inclusive course design.
Instructional Design Program
World's Best PowerPoint Templates - CrystalGraphics offers more PowerPoint templates than anyone else in the world, with over 4 million to choose from. Winner of the Standing Ovation Award for "Best PowerPoint Templates" from Presentations Magazine. They'll give your presentations a professional, memorable appearance - the kind of sophisticated look that today's audiences expect.

Auth with social network:

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MODELS & THEORIES OF LEARNING.

Presentation on theme: "INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MODELS & THEORIES OF LEARNING."— Presentation transcript:

About project

introduction to instructional design

Related papers

Select your location

Asia Pacific

6 Instructional Design Principles

Table of Contents

What is Instructional Design?

6 Key Principles of Instructional Design

3 Essential Instructional Design Models

Combining Technique with Tool: Instructional Design + LMS

Working Together: Instructional Design + Teachers

Set up for Success: Instructional Design + Learners

Design and Educate with Digital Learning Tools

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What are Gagne’s instructional design principles and why are they important?

1) Gain attention

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2) State objectives

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How to state objectives in eLearning courses

3) Stimulate recall of prior learning

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4) Present the content

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5) Provide learning guidance

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6) Elicit performance

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7) Provide feedback

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8) Assess performance

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9) Enhance retention and transfer

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The Ultimate Guide to Instructional Design

What Role Does Instructional Design Play in the Learning Process?

How Instructional Design Can Improve Learner Outcomes

The Difference Between Instructional Design and Curriculum Design

Curriculum design primarily involves:

Collaboratively, curriculum and instructional designers:

Can Instructional Design Exist Without Curriculum Design?

Gagne’s Conditions of Learning Theory

Five Categories of Learning Outcomes:

Nine Events of Instruction:

Bloom’s Taxonomy

LMS or Instructional Design: Which Comes First?

How to Get Started with Instructional Design

1. Understand Expectations

2. Frame Learning Objectives

3. It’s Time to Design

4. Create a Storyboard and Prototype

5. Create, Evaluate, and Reevaluate

7 Best Practices for Developing an Instructional Design Strategy

1. Consistency Is Key

2. Create an Immersive Multimedia Experience

3. Provide Opportunities for Connection

4. Make Course Content Digestible

5. Make It Accessible

6. Engage the Learner’s Senses

7. Iteration and Reiteration