Theoretical and Philosophical Foundations of Instructional Design

Going through the reading materials of this week, I seem to have experienced the so-called information explosion. Behind the fancy and advanced instructional design and technologies, there should be that many psychological theories serving as the guidance and disciplines for the instructional designers! As Peggy and Timothy expressed in their article, designers should learn more about the fundamental theories to be better engaged in their career. And among those theories, Constructivism is the one I'm most interested in.

As a newcomer to the education field, I have come across the word "Constructivism" so often in lectures or a glimpse in the articles during these several weeks of study that I gain a vague idea of it. While after reading the chapter 6 and 7, my understanding gets deepened. With learning defined as "a persisting change in human performance or performance potential", which is the consequence of "the learner's experience and interaction with the world"(Driscoll, 2005, p. 9), the proposals of Constructivism best accord with the goal of learning. How come? Firstly, Constructivism emphasizes the initiative of learners, through actively imposing information from surrounding environment and constructing knowledge in the process. And such initiative is the motivation for us to the "persisting change" of our performance. Secondly, although many other theories also address the importance of context and environment, such as Situated Learning Theory, Constructivists put more effort into building such environment for learners to get their own cognition constructed. And in the authentic and learner-centered environment like this, they 'd better gain their "experience and interaction with the world".

A most controversial point in Constructivism is the transition of instructors' position, which is nicely described in the textbook that "Teaching a class is like a fine-tuned choreography, and instructional designers who try to upset the dance by changing steps and inserting new routines can easily lose their audience in the process." From leading dancer to "guide by the side", for instructors, they need to adapt themselves both psychologically and technologically to the trend. Except for the several scenarios where Constructivism is not appropriate, I think it's a good choice for instructors to transfer into instructional designers. As is mentioned in the following chapters, instructional designer take various responsibilities in different projects, among which SME sounds like a possible path as they have plentiful on-the-spot practical experience. Therefore, the involvement of teachers in design team and training of teachers to become designers are two directions in my anticipation of future Constructivism realization.

References:

[IDT] Chapters 6, 7, and 8

Ertmer & Newby_1993