INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN DEFINED

Whereas Instructional Technology defines the use of technology in educational settings, Instructional Design expresses the ideas, approaches, and concepts that are developed to use the technology available to us.

Instructional Design is the process of sitting down and deciding how to best use the technology available to help the students learn best. Teachers and designers should be able to look at state and school standards and see what needs to be taught to the students in particular.

Armed with the knowledge of what skills and content are important for students to develop, the designers sit down and create lessons plans and tools to ensure that the students have the best methodologies and practices available that will ensure success in their individual settings.

The technology is the both hardware and “human-ware” that will be used to deliver the content and skills required and the design is the process developed to ensure best possible use of the technologies.