1. Mastering the Possibilities
PowerPoint Presentation # 2
A Process Approach to Instructional
Design
MEDA 5700
Michelle Childress, M.S. Ed.

2. Learning Beliefs
Everyone comes to a new
learning situation with
different experiences,
backgrounds, interests, and
a wide range of instructional
design competencies.
In this course we will examine what is meant by the
“Process” approach to instructional design (ID).

3. Identify a workshop, a course, a staff development
training session, or learning event that you
participated in during the last few years.
Consider the reason you participated in that course,
workshop, or training session.
1.Mentally outline the major features of the instructional
activities in which you participated.
2.Think about the key features and how they helped with
learning the material/content. Were the activities
successful for you?
**Someone planned and/or designed those activities.
Were they an Instructional Designer? Were they
effective or not?**

4. Instructional Design
An intellectual process which systematically analyzes
the needs of learners and provides “possibilities” to
responsively address those needs.

5. Most institutions develop a Mission Statement
to guide their development efforts.
Three major aspects of a mission include:
 Overall purpose (What is our business?)
 Relationship (Who are the
customers and how do we view
and treat them?)
 Accountability (How do we
address service, quality, and
environment?)

6. Broad and Narrow Mission
Statements
Broad Definition
 Mail Delivery
Business
 Travel and Tourism
Business
 Telecommunications
Business
Narrow Definition
 Overnight Package
Delivery Business
 Caribbean Cruise
Ship Business
 Long-distance
Telephone Service

7. Apple Computer, Incorporated:
Institutional Beliefs
Apple Computer, Incorporated Mission:
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X,
iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with
its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its
revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and
computing devices with iPad.
From: http://investor.apple.com/faq.cfm?FaqSetID=6
• Ignited the Personal Computer Revolution in the 1970s
with the Apple II
• Reinvented the Personal Computer in the 1980s with
the Macintosh
• Committed to the Original Mission

8. East Tennessee State University Claudius
G. Clemmer College of Education
Mission Statement
The mission of the College of Education is to educate
competent, ethical, and caring professionals who are
committed to improving the human condition through
enhancing teaching and learning, physical and mental
health, and leadership. Through research, scholarship,
and partnerships with schools and human service
organizations, the college is committed to developing
effective approaches to address problems and issues in
professional fields. Within the context of our mission, the
college seeks to promote diversity among students,
faculty, and within the curriculum.

9. Instructional Designers
at Work
Three key elements of a quality mission
statement include:
1. Purpose (The mission of the College of Education is to
educate competent, ethical, and caring professionals who are
committed to improving the human condition through enhancing
teaching and learning, physical and mental health, and
leadership.)
2. Relationship (Through research, scholarship, and
partnerships with schools and human service organizations, the
college is committed to developing effective approaches to
address problems and issues in professional fields.)
3. Accountability (Within the context of our mission, the
college seeks to promote diversity among students, faculty, and
within the curriculum.)

10. Complete Activity 3a
Write a brief, personal Mission Statement that summarizes your
beliefs about teaching and learning. The prior examples here have
been only three sentences which summarize the key elements. You
may write just a few lines or even a short paragraph.

11. Design Project Idea/Need - Activity 3b
Start thinking about your design project!
Your Instructional Design project can be an idea that you
have always wanted to create to improve a short-coming
(e.g. need) within your work or school environment. It
could be a course that needs to be taught, a workshop
your peers need, a project needed within your work
setting, or a professional development workshop.
On the same page as your Mission Statement (positioned
below the statement) write a brief paragraph describing
your idea for the Instructional Design Project that you
would like to implement within your work or school.
Please explain why this project is needed and why you
choose this idea.
Complete Activity 3b

12. Instructional Design Analysis Component:
Needs Assessment
Before beginning to design an
instructional activity, a needs assessment
should be conducted. This analysis
activity examines the instructional
problem, the intended target audience of
learners, and the learning context.
The task analysis is performed by asking
"What are all of the things the student
must know and/or be able to do to
achieve the goal?"

13. Functions of Needs Assessment
1. Confirm the need for instruction; the problem to be
solved or information to be gained
2. Identify the full extent of what is to be learned;
become the content expert
3. Learn more about your learners; their characteristics,
learning styles and special needs
4. Understand the instructional context
5. Explore the instructional problem and solution
6. Generate goals which will aid in reaching a solution
to the identified problem

14. 1. Confirm the Instructional Problem
 Organizational Issue – rewards, work
conditions, and work procedure
 Communication Problem – students, staff,
faculty, or parents
 Management Issue – change in procedure,
policy, and/or intervention
 Lack of Knowledge or Skills – instructional
process, learning ability, and/or behavioral
issue

15. 2. Discover the Nature of What is to be Learned
What are you asking the students or
participants in the instructional activity to
learn?
 New Knowledge? (Content)
 New Skills?
 New Way of Thinking/Working Together?
 Combination of All or Several of the Above?

16. 3. Learn More About Your Students or Participants
A successful needs assessment also examines the
learners. The designer should discover more
information about the students or participants who will
involved in the instructional activity.
This information should include:
Backgrounds
Previous Experience
Competencies
Development Levels
Expectations and Motivations

17. 4. Identify Important Learner Characteristics
 Age
 Gender
 Educational Level
 Range of Knowledge and Skills
 History of Organization
 Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
 Socioeconomic Background
 Learning Style Preferences
 Motivation/Attitude
 Special Needs Challenges
 Developmental Characteristics

18. The more you know about your intended target
audience for the potential Instructional Design project,
the students/participants, the more responsive to their
needs your teaching will be.
1. Using the list of Learner Characteristics from Slide 17, identify the
characteristics of your potential Instructional Design
participants/learners.
2. Please include website addresses, school websites, school staff
demographics or any other resources where you may find
information.
3. This information should center on the participants in your
Instructional Design project who you hope to target. Write
approximately one page summarizing their characteristics - double
spaced. Please do not include participant names.
Complete Activity 4a

19. 5. Understand the Instructional Context
People, rules, expectations, beliefs, and realities
which surround teaching are consider to be the
instructional context. There are usually three
levels of instructional context:
1. School level (policies, achievement goals, standardized
schedules, department organization, and areas for instruction)
2. Classroom level (physical space, furniture and equipment,
instructional materials, teaching assistance, and classroom
management)
3. Personal level (instructor attitudes and motivation, health
and well-being, professional habits, and adequate time for tasks)

20. 6. Investigating the Instructional Need and
Potential Solutions
 Helps to uncover what is already known about the problem or
educational need
 Helps to explore what has already been done to address the same
need and what additional learning could be addressed
 Gives a historical understanding of the experiences and lessons
learned from past instruction design, instructors, and students
 Allows for an opportunity to talk with learners about the
problem/issue/need
 Allows for the opportunity to talk with experts in the field of study for
suggestions, possible options, and resources

21. 7. Generate Instructional Design Goals
 Analyzing the learning task or content, learners,
and context needs can help the designer
generate goals.
 Along with a Mission Statement, goals can
provide guidance for designers by acting as
benchmarks throughout the design process.

22. Review the Functions of Needs
Assessment - Simplified
Identify the:
1. instructional problem
2. intended setting
3. participants
4. intended change you are expecting
5. generate goals

23. Reflect upon your potential instructional project and consider given the
instructional need what content you will need to teach to achieve your
desired goal.
Now that you have reviewed this PowerPoint presentation and have read Ch.
3-4 from your text, consider the overall goal or goals for your Instructional
Design project.
1. What do you wish to accomplish or change?
2. What do you want your students/participants to learn?
On the second page (following your response for Activity 4a), write a brief
summary of your tentative goal or goals which you hope to accomplish with
your Instructional Design (ID) project.
**Activity 3 and 4 are due on Feb 20th by 10:00pm in the D2L Digital Drop Box **
Complete Activity 4b