Foreword
Helga Hambrock
Instructional design is a science that not many educators or students know or understand. The first question I usually expect when I introduce myself as instructional designer is ”what is that?” or “what does an instructional designer do?” Our profession started in the USA when technology was introduced during the first world war and pilots had to be trained to fly war planes. Over the years, planes were replaced with PCs, laptops, tablets, mobile technology and nowadays with Cyber technologies.How to connect technology and the art of ‘learning to fly’ may seem very daunting, but in fact our profession is still using the same basic ADDIE model (Branson et al., 1975) to design teaching and training that was first developed in the 1970s. Our profession is old enough to be known by everyone but clearly, with the questions that I and many instructional designers frequently receive, it is not. In fact, it can be considered as a unique profession with a rather small group of professionals in the field.Over the years many tweaks had to be made to combine technologies and learning, and Jonassen (1996) mentions that technology should ultimately be used as ‘mindtools.’ This means that technology should not be used for the sake of using new exciting technology but, rather, for higher order learning and for applying the mind to learn in a more effective way.This book, by Dr. Rob Power is a useful guide for students and educators alike. It offers information on professional application of skills that instructional designers need to design an effective learning experience.Hambrock and DeVilliers (2023) speak about a seamless learning experience design (SLED) model where many pieces are brought together to achieve an effective and useful learning experience for a student-centered learning approach. This book on instructional design takes us through the forest of knowledge, and highlights the stepping stones we need to follow to achieve a student-centered learning approach with focus on higher learning. In addition to instructional designers, it is a valuable resource for every teacher who needs to learn some of the skills for re-designing their own successful learning interventions for their students.Dr Helga HambrockProfessor, Researcher, and Practitioner in Instructional DesignConcordia University Chicagohambrockhb@gmail.com
References
Branson, R. K., Rayner, G. T., Cox, J. L., Furman, J. P., King, F. J., & Hannum, W. H. (1975). Interservice procedures for instructional systems development (Phases I, II, III, IV, V, and Executive Summary). US Army Training and Doctrine Command Pamphlet, 350. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a019486.pdf
Hambrock, H., & De Villiers, F. (2023). Proposing a seamless learning experience design (SLED) framework based on international perspectives of educators from five higher education institutions. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 21(1), 52-68. https://doi.org/10.34190/ejel.21.1.2497
Jonassen, D. H. (1996). Computers in the classroom: Mindtools for critical thinking. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
