A Review of What Instructional Designers Do: Questions Answered and Questions Not Asked - Volume 31 Issue 1 Winter / hiver 2005

Oct 15, 2026

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Purpose: determine what evidence exists that instructional designers apply ID models, and identify other activities and processes used in professional practice. Only ten directly relevant articles were located: seven empirical research reports and three case descriptions, all focused on process-based ID models. Findings indicate designers use these models but rarely spend most work with them or follow them rigidly, and they undertake many additional tasks not represented in ID models.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Findings and implications

Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology Volume 31 ( 1 ) Winter / hiver 2005 A Review of What Instructional Designers Do: Questions Answered and Questions Not Asked Richard F. Kenny Zuochen Zhang Richard A. Schwier Katy Campbell Authors Richard F. Kenny is an Associate Professor with the Centre for Distance Education at Atha basca University and the outgoing editor of CJLT. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rick at rickk@athabascau.ca Zuochen Zhang is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia . He can be reached at: zuochen@netscape.net Richard A. Schw ier is a Professor of Educational Communications and Technology with the University of Saskatchewan. He can be reached [at:richard.schwier@usask.ca](at:richard.schwier@usask.ca) Katy Campbell is the Associate Dean, Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta and Editor, Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education. She can be reached at: katy.campbell@ualberta.ca Abstract Abstract: The purpose of this literature review was to determine what evidence there is that instructional designers apply ID Models, as well as to establish what other activities and processes they might use in their professional activities . Only ten articles were located that directly pertained to this topic : seven reporting on empirical research and three case descriptions recounting development experiences . All ten papers pertained to process based ID models . Results showed that, while instructional designers apparently do make use of process based ID models, they do not spend the majority of their time working with them nor do they follow them in a rigid fashion. They also engage in a wide variety of other tasks that are not reflected in ID models . Ré sumé : L’objet de cette revue de la litté rature consistait à identifier les preuves selon lesquelles les concepteurs de maté rie l pédagogique appliquent les modèles de conception pédagogique et à identifier les autres activ it é s et processus qu’ils pourraient utiliser dans le cadre de leursactiv it é s professionnelles . Nous n’avons trouvé que dix articles qui traitent directement de ce sujet : sept portant sur des recherches empiriques et trois sur des descriptions de cas retraçant des expé riences de conception. Les dix articles traitent des modèles de conception pédagogique axé s sur les processus . Les ré sultats ont démontré que bien que les concepteurs de maté rie l pédagogique utilisent manifestement les modèles de conception pédagogique basé s sur les processus, ils ne les utilisent pas dans la majorit é des cas et ne les suivent pas à la lettre d’une manière rigide . Ils abordentaussi une diversit é d’autres t â ches qui ne figurent pas dans les modèles de conception pédagogique . Introduction The research literature pertaining to Instructional Design (ID ) or Instructional Systems Design (ISD) theories is extensive and extends at least as far back as the 1970’s ( Gustafson & Branch, 2002; Sh rock, 1991) . In fact, the roots of ID can be traced back to the seminal work of Robert Gagné (1965) on the conditions of learning and early attempts to apply general systems theory and systems analysis ( Banathy, 1987) . The 1970’s saw a proliferation of published ID models all based on the core of t he ADDIE model of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation ( Gustafson & Branch, 2002) and, by 1980, as many as 60 such models were identified (Andrews & Goodsen, 1980/1991) . The majority of these models ( e .g., Dick, Carey, L., & Carey, J .O., 2005; Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2004; Smith & Ragan, 2005) could be said to be process based, that is, they stipulate the processes and procedures that instructional designers should follow in their practice . Some models, such as those of Gagné and Briggs ( Gagné , Briggs, & Wager, 1988) , Merrill (1983) , and Reigel uth and Stein (1983) , were more theory based and dev

FAQs

What is the main purpose of this literature review?

To identify evidence on whether instructional designers apply instructional design (ID) models and to determine what other activities and processes they use professionally.

How many relevant studies were found, and what types were they?

Ten articles were located: seven reports of empirical research and three case descriptions of development experiences, all related to process-based ID models.

What did the results show about how instructional designers use ID models?

Designers appear to use process-based models, but they do not spend most of their time with them and do not follow them in a rigid fashion, also engaging in many tasks not reflected in the models.

Oct 15, 2026

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