Pedagogy and
Instructional Design
Kevin E Kalinowski
University of North Texas
April 6, 2005
Pedagogy and Instructional Design
• What are we talking about?
• Why do we care?
• How will it impact our future?
What are we talking about?
• Pedagogy
– Simply, the art and science of teaching.
• But why do we teach?
– “Our calling”
What are we talking about?
• So we are teachers…, but how did we get here?
– What we have seen
• Teachers (vicariously)
– What we have learned
• Teacher prep
– What works
• Experience
What are we talking about?
• We do what we do because it works!
– “Biggest bang for the buck”
• Achieves the desired results,
• Efficiently, and
• Within our comfort zone
– Each can be changed due to some external (or
internal) factor/motivation/constraint
What are we talking about?
• Best results given the constraints
– Domain: cognitive, affective, psychomotor
– Class: classroom, seminar, lecture, situated
– Mode: face-to-face, remote/distance, technologybased
– Media: paper, audio, video, technology
– Size: 1–hundreds–thousands, individual, groups
– Age: pre-K, K–5, 6–8, 9–12, 13–16, graduate, docs,
as well as professionals, blue-collar workers
– Subject: sciences, languages, theories, practical
– Desired outcomes: future learning, state criteria
What are we talking about?
• Descriptive theories
– A.k.a. developmental or cognitive learning theories
– How learning works
Not how to facilitate learning (i.e., teach!)
– For example
• Skinner’s operant conditioning theory
• Gagné’s information-processing theory
• Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain
• Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development
• Gardner’s multiple intelligences
What are we talking about?
• Design theories
– A.k.a. prescriptive or goal-oriented theories
– To achieve a particular instructional goal…
• Use a particular instructional method
– Design theorists care about preferability (not validity)
• Does a method attain the goal(s) better than any
other known method?
What are we talking about?
• Design theories
– Examples
• Gagné-Briggs sequence of instructional events
• Bloom’s model of mastery learning
• Keller’s ARCS model of motivational design
• Reigeluth’s elaboration model
• Jonassen’s constructivist learning environments
• Merrill’s instructional transaction theory
• Gardner’s multiple approaches to understanding
– All based on descriptive/developmental theories
Why do we care?
• Design theories can offer teachers
• A framework for instruction
– Hopefully, achieves the desired results
• Without having to reinvent the wheel
– Addresses our need for efficiency
• From a well-respected authority
– Stays within our comfort zone
Why do we care?
• One problem…
– The theories may or may not be “proven”
• How do we know that a new method attains an
instructional goal better than any other method
without putting the methods to the test?
• Too many methods to compare all
• Too many variables to consider
• Time consuming
• Remember, a testable method is almost always
part of a bigger theory/model/paradigm
Why do we care?
• Another problem…
– What is the goal of instruction?
• Increased skills?
– Problem solving
• Or achievement?
– Higher scores
• Are these mutually exclusive goals?
Why do we care?
• So what do we do as teachers?
– Pick the “best” theories
– From the models that match our
• Goals
• Values, and
• Methods
– Given our particular constraints
How will it impact our future?
• As teachers, do we need to change our pedagogy?
– Only if society is changing!
• Do people need to learn different content?
• Do people need to learn more?
• Do people have less time in which to learn?
• Do people need to learn differently?
How will it impact our future?
• So is the “industrial age” that different from the
“information age”?
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Standardization vs. customization
Bureaucracy vs. team-building
Centralized vs. distributed
Conformity vs. diversity
Top-down vs. networking
Parts vs. processes
Planned obsolescence vs. total quality
Boss vs. customer
How will it impact our future?
• Apparently it is
– But we still measure success by achievement!
• TAKS
• SAT
• ACT
• GPA
• GRE
How will it impact our future?
• The two seem to be at odds
– Bring diverse, innovative problem solving skills to the
team
vs.
– Store more “stuff” and prove that you know it via
high scores and averages
How will it impact our future?
• Enter…
– The paradigm shift
How will it impact our future?
• New models
– Provide for self-direction/discovery
– Engage teamwork and collaboration
– Employ authentic/real-world tasks
– Allow for multiple methods
– Focus on learning
– Involve multiple types of learning
– Utilize new technologies as needed
How will it impact our future?
• But at the same time
– Cannot negatively impact achievement
– Cannot be less efficient
– Cannot be too “out there”
• So is it really a paradigm shift?
– Not at present
– More like piecemeal change to incorporate new goals
into an existing model
How will it impact our future?
• What will we need to do as researchers?
– Research!
• Show what works and what does not
– Put data behind the ideas
• Provide best practices
• Define limitations and constraints of models
• Find ways to keep within existing zones of
comfort
How will it impact our future?
• And as citizens and parents?
– Deemphasize scores and averages
– Emphasize learning
Pedagogy and
Instructional Design
Kevin E Kalinowski
University of North Texas
April 6, 2005