TAADES501A Design and develop learning strategies

What is a learning strategy?

The Australian National Training Authority suggests a learning strategy is:

. . . a non-endorsed component of a training package which provides information on how training programs may be organised in workplaces and training institutions. This may include information on learning pathways, model training programs, and training materials ( www.anta.gov.au/gloftol.asp ).

The very specific ANTA definition will herein be broadened to deal with the instructional strategy that is devised and supported by documents for both delivery of learning and the process within which it occurs. As such our definition of a learning strategy is:

. . . responsible for shaping how a learner is engaged in a process of learning that results in learning and the ability to apply what has been learned.

As applied herein the term will be used in a manner that covers both cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies.

A systematic learning strategy

Implementation of any learning or instructional strategy requires a systematic process. The integrated Learning Implementation Process model (see Figure 1) was developed as a result of a significant international research project undertaken by the author with the Unitas Knowledge Centre, multiple universities from across Australia and corporate partners from around the globe (Bowles, 1997). The model focussed on accommodating electronic forms of delivery and modes of teaching that are moving well beyond the options previously available to instructional designers and teachers. The model also espouses a philosophy and sequence of actions that span those typically found in Instructional System Design (ISD) approaches such as the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation) model, the Empathic Instructional Design (EID), and the Rapid Instructional Design (RID) or Rapid Prototyping Design (RPD) approach.

Integrating RID and EID has resulted in some experts and major corporations advancing modified Instructional Design/Information Systems Design processes based on ADDIE. Many companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cisco and Woolworths Australia, have used a four-stage process with variations as follows:

• Assess/Analyse/Research;
• Build/Design/Develop;
• Implement/Deliver/Operate; and
• Improve/Review/Evaluate.

Figure 1 illustrates the four-stage EIP model adopted and presented in this topic area.

Figure 1 A learning and instructional strategy design process (ABII) (Bowles, 2004:176)

Reading 1

Bowles, M (April 2003), 'An Elearning design and implementation process', in The Investigative Research Report into Learning to Elearn, Unitas Knowledge Centre: Australia, pp. 550-561. Download now.

Activity 1

The reading from Bowles focusses on elearning, but covers the most common forms of ISD. On completion of the reading complete the following questions.

• Define and differentiate different models of instructional design, specifically:
• Instructional System Design (ISD) approaches such as the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation) model;
• The Empathic Instructional Design (EID); and
• The Rapid Instructional Design (RID) or Rapid Prototyping Design (RPD) approach.
• From the reading, compare and contrast the nine parameters or events that shape the design of learning (Gagne, 1979; Kemp, Morrison and Ross, 2001; originally published 1998).
• How could the nine instructional events shape the design of a learning strategy with which you are familiar? Are the events 'portable' across all modes of teaching and learning?