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 could be
done in effort to get my students to learn?
▫ Engaging – Did my students enjoy or find the
information interesting during the lesson?
What are Instructional Design Principles?
• A method for
professionals to create
blueprints for effective,
efficient, engaging
instruction
• There are five
principles: activation,
application,
demonstration,
integration, and taskcentered
Activation Principle
• “Learning is promoted
when learners activate
relevant cognitive
structures” or activate
multiple mental
processes by recalling
or organizing ideas
• Activating the brain!
Application Principle
• “Learning is promoted
when learners engage
in application of new
knowledge” or put to
use the knowledge
that is learned in class
through corrective
feedback and coaching
• Applying new skills!
Demonstration Principle
• “Learning is promoted
when learners observe
demonstration of new
knowledge” or
students watch the
leader perform the
expected objective
performed
• Show me how to do it!
Integration Principle
• “Learning is promoted
when learners
integrate new
knowledge into
everyday by creating
inventing”, and/or
estimating by publicly
observing the
performance.
• Watch me do it!
Task-Centered Principle
• “Learning is promoted
when learners
demonstrate or apply
a component of the
lesson by progressing
of collecting tasks
towards a whole goal”
• Give me a checklist!
Distance Education and the Principles
• Distance Education
relies on mature,
independent,
motivated students to
be successful
• Mainly activation
principle and taskcentered principle
applied in distance
education principles
Distance Education: What Changes Could Be
Made?
• Students should show more than just recall of
knowledge (activation principle)
• Students should be accounted for more than a series
of tasks (task-centered principle)
• Students should be accounted for demonstrating
knowledge in real-time (demonstration principle)
• Students should receive coaching in more forms
than writing (application principle)
• Students should integrate knowledge into their realworld and document this integration (integration
principle)
Top 3 Changes:
Why the Application Principle?
• A teacher utilizing
distance learning (DL) is
more of a facilitator than a
teacher.
• Even though DL students
are independent learners,
some students need a
“face to face” interaction.
• Students may need
support not only across
the world wide web, but
possibly in the same
room.
How?
• Students could utilize
video conferencing.
• Students could have one
“mentor” for the entire
journey, in addition to
individual course
teachers.
• Students could
document how they
have applied their
learning in their chosen
environment.
Top 3 Changes:
Why the Demonstration Principle?
• Teachers utilizing DL do
not observe the student
demonstrating the new
knowledge.
• Students should be
responsible for
demonstrating in realtime using technology.
• If demonstration isn’t
observed, how does the
teacher know that the
student is utilizing the
knowledge?
Top 3 Changes:
Why the Integration Principle?
• Teachers utilizing DL do
not observe the student
integrating the knowledge
into everyday life.
• Students should be held
responsible for using the
knowledge to better /
improve themselves.
• Students need to have
some form of
documentation of the
integration.
How?
• Students could keep video
journals using a form of
videography to show
demonstration / integration
in real-time.
• Students could also
“broadcast” their classroom
for observation(s) of
demonstration / integration.
• If the mentor concept is
utilized, the mentor can
document his or her viewing
of the mentee’s
demonstration / integration.
Works Cited
Author Unknown. 2011. Instructional Design
Principles at about-elearning.com. Retrieved 5
July 2011 from http://www.aboutelearning.com/instructional-designprinciples.html.
Spector, Michael J. (2007). Handbook of Research
on Educational Communications and
Technology: 3rd Edition (AECT series). New
York: Routledge.