Categories: Education

Educational Design Model: Compare and Contrast

Design models, in general, help instructional designers makes sense of problems and helps solve any problems that might arise. The Martin Ryder University of Colorado at Denver School of Education website said, “A model should be judged by how it mediates the designer’s intention, how well it can share a work load, and how effectively it shifts focus away from itself toward the object of the design activity.” The main three instructional design models that I chose to compare and contrast were the ADDIE Based Five-Step Method Towards Instructional Design, Keller’s ARCS Model-Attention, and the Algo-Heuristic Theory.

The first factor that is different between all of these design models is the purpose of each model. The ADDIE Based Five-Step Method Towards Instructional Design methodology was organized to ensure that instructional designers are meeting the needs of their learners and meeting their goals and objectives of the class. It is done on a regular basis, so if I were to use it in my class, I would use it constantly throughout the semester. In the evaluation stage of this design, the instructional designer is looking to see if the learners were able to meet the goals and objectives of the class. They are also looking to see if the design method played a role in getting the learners to that point.

In Keller’s ARCS Model-Attention, the purpose of the design is to attain and maintain the learner’s attention. It’s based off of perceptual arousal and inquiry arousal. Perceptual arousal is the method in which the instructor attains the attention of the learners through surprise. Inquiry arousal is the method in which instructors use challenging questions or problems to get the attention of their learners.

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According to Savoy (2005), the purpose of the Landamatics, or Algo-Heuristic Theory, “is to teach learners to handle different content, that have similar logical structures, through general methods of thinking.” This theory involves being able to take an object or concept that is complex and breaking it up simplistically for learner comprehension. Savoy said this theory helps learners figure out the steps they should take when learning something new.

The major steps to the ADDIE Based Five-Step Method Towards Instructional Design methodology focuses on the following steps: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. These steps are very detailed. They provide the instructional designer with a clear cut method that should be used to follow this design.

In Keller’s ARCS Model-Attention, the main steps used are concreteness, humor, variability, participation, inquiry, and conclusion. This model is a bit different than the other two models discussed in this paper because it focuses mostly on attaining the learner’s attention.

The Algo-Heuristic Theory contains two methods of teaching. The first method is called guided discovery and involves letting learners figure out a problem or concept on their own. However, the instructors guide them along the way in case they hit a major snag. In this case, the instructors do lecture about the material or give the students the answers. The second method is called expository learning. This method of learning is when the teacher leads the learning process, instead of the student. These steps are quite vague, as opposed to the steps in Keller’s ARCS Model-Attention and the ADDIE Based Five-Step Method Towards Instructional Design.

The analysis step in the ADDIE method gives the instructional designer an opportunity to think about what presentation worked best for their students. This is similar to the purpose of Keller’s ARCS Model-Attention in that the analysis step seeks for the method of instruction that best attains the learner’s attention. Malachowski (2002) said the design step in the ADDIE method should require for the instructional designer to figure out the objectives, the skills to be developed, the resources and strategies to be used, the structuring and presentation methods, and the assessment methods. I would think that the same type of lesson planning would need to be conducted for the expository method of teaching under the Algo-Heuristic Theory. The development step in the ADDIE method is where the testing and creation is done. This means that the instructional designer should make sure that the lesson plans are measurable, effective, and efficient. This development step should also be taken in the expository method of teaching under the Algo-Heuristic Theory. The implementation phase of the ADDIE method is the actual presentation phase. This implementation phase should take place in all three of the discussed designs. Regardless of what is being presented to the class, each design has some sort of implementation phase to execute the plan into play mode. Evaluation is another step that should exist in all of the designs. The evaluation step determines whether the design met its goals and objectives. If not, then the needs need to be assessed and the process should start all over again.