Technology in/for Education I: Concept of Educational Technology, Learning Theories and Instructional Design Models
Unit 8 opens with educational technology as a discipline: how information technology, communication technology and instructional technology differ and combine into ICT, where ET applies across formal, non-formal, informal and inclusive systems, how the learning theories from Unit 3 imply different instructional-design choices, and the systems approach and named models (ADDIE, ASSURE, Dick and Carey, Mason's) used to design instruction. The paper asks which term (IT, CT, ICT, instructional technology) a described tool is, and which design model a described sequence of steps follows; every model here is given with its steps in order.
2. Behaviourist, cognitive and constructivist theories and their implications for instructional design
| Theorist | Implication for instructional design |
|---|---|
| B. F. Skinner (behaviourist, Unit 3) | Break content into small, sequential steps; require an active response at each step; give immediate reinforcement/feedback for correct responses — the logic behind programmed instruction and drill-and-practice software, where the learner moves through fixed, teacher-controlled steps |
| Jean Piaget (cognitive/constructivist, Unit 3) | Design activities matched to the learner's current developmental stage that create productive disequilibrium — a manageable mismatch between what the learner already knows and new information — prompting assimilation or accommodation; favours discovery and hands-on exploration over direct transmission |
| David Ausubel (cognitive, Unit 3) | Begin instruction with an advance organiser bridging new content to what the learner already knows, then present content in a deductive, well-organised sequence from general to specific — the logic behind a structured multimedia lesson that opens with a concept map or overview before detail |
| Lev Vygotsky (social constructivist) | Design tasks within the learner's zone of proximal development (what they can do with guided support, though not yet alone) and provide scaffolding — temporary support gradually withdrawn as competence grows — through more capable peers, a tutor, or increasingly, an adaptive software system that adjusts difficulty and hints |
🎯 Why the same content can be taught by three visibly different pieces of software
A drill app that shows one arithmetic problem at a time, marks it right or wrong instantly and repeats until mastery is Skinnerian in design. A simulation that lets a learner freely experiment with variables to discover a physics principle for themselves is Piagetian. An adaptive tutoring system that offers a hint only when a learner is stuck but not when they are working independently, gradually removing hints as performance improves, is Vygotskian scaffolding. None of the three is objectively 'the' correct design — each follows logically from a different theory of how learning happens, which is exactly why instructional-design questions on this paper ask you to trace a described software feature BACK to its underlying learning theory, not to judge which app is 'better'.3. Systems approach to instructional design, and named ID models
The systems approach treats instructional design as an interdependent whole — inputs (learners, content, resources), process (the designed instruction) and output (learning achieved), with feedback continuously informing revision — rather than designing a lesson's content, method and assessment separately and hoping they line up, the same systems logic Unit 5's instructional-system chapter applied to curriculum transaction.
| Model | Steps |
|---|---|
| ADDIE (generic, no single named author, developed for US military training in the 1970s) | Analysis (needs, learners, context) → Design (objectives, sequence, assessment plan) → Development (creating the actual materials) → Implementation (delivering to learners) → Evaluation (formative throughout, summative at the end); the most widely used generic ID framework, often drawn as a cycle rather than a strict line since evaluation feeds back into analysis |
| ASSURE (Heinich, Molenda, Russell and Smaldino) | Analyse learners → State objectives → Select methods, media and materials → Utilise media and materials → Require learner participation → Evaluate and revise; built specifically around the classroom-level, media-centred lesson rather than a whole curriculum, making it a favourite model for individual teachers planning a single technology-integrated lesson |
| Dick and Carey model (Walter Dick and Lou Carey) | A detailed, systems-level model: identify instructional goals → conduct instructional analysis → analyse learners and context → write performance objectives → develop assessment instruments → develop instructional strategy → develop and select materials → design and conduct formative evaluation → revise instruction → design and conduct summative evaluation; more granular and procedural than ADDIE, widely used for large-scale, formal curriculum or course design |
| Mason's model | A model developed specifically for designing distance and online learning courses, giving structured attention to the particular demands of learner support, interaction and pacing when teacher and learner are not co-present — the ID model most directly relevant to the open-and-distance-learning application named earlier in this unit |
🧠 Telling the models apart by scale and named steps
Five letters, five broad phases, evaluation cycling back into analysis → ADDIE. A six-step acronym built around media selection for one classroom lesson → ASSURE (analyse-state-select-utilise-require-evaluate). Ten precise, sequential steps distinguishing formative from summative evaluation and writing performance objectives before developing materials → Dick and Carey. A model explicitly built for distance/online course design rather than a face-to-face classroom → Mason's. If a question names only 'analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation' with no finer breakdown, it is ADDIE; if it lists ten or more granular steps including both formative AND summative evaluation as separate late steps, it is Dick and Carey.4. Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction, the Five E's of Constructivism, and elements of constructivist instructional design
| Framework | Sequence |
|---|---|
| Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction (Robert Gagné) | 1. Gain attention 2. Inform learners of the objective 3. Stimulate recall of prior learning 4. Present the content 5. Provide learning guidance 6. Elicit performance (practice) 7. Provide feedback 8. Assess performance 9. Enhance retention and transfer (to new situations) — a general-purpose sequence rooted in an information-processing view of cognition, applicable across behaviourist and cognitive designs alike |
| Five E's of Constructivism (BSCS instructional model) | Engage (capture interest, surface prior conceptions) → Explore (hands-on investigation before formal explanation) → Explain (learners and teacher together articulate what was discovered, formal vocabulary introduced) → Elaborate (apply the new understanding to a new context) → Evaluate (assess understanding, ideally throughout, not just at the end) — deliberately delays formal explanation until AFTER exploration, the opposite ordering from a Gagné-style lecture-first sequence |
- Application of computers in education — CAI (computer-assisted instruction: the computer directly delivers and manages the instruction itself, often drill-and-practice or tutorial in a Skinnerian mode), CAL (computer-assisted learning: a broader term where the computer supports learning activity without necessarily controlling the whole instructional sequence), CBT (computer-based training: self-contained instructional packages, often used in professional/vocational skill training), and CML (computer-managed learning: the computer handles administrative and management tasks — testing, record-keeping, routing learners to the next module — rather than delivering content itself).
- Process of preparing open and distance learning material (ODLM) — typically follows content analysis, writing in a self-instructional, conversational style (unlike a conventional textbook), building in self-check exercises and activities, external review, and revision before print or digital release — reflecting Mason's model's emphasis on the particular demands of teaching without co-presence.
⚠️ CAI is not CML, and neither is simply 'using a computer'
A student working through a self-paced tutorial where the computer presents each concept and checks understanding is CAI (the computer teaches). A teacher using a computer only to schedule which students take which remedial module next, based on their test scores, without the computer itself delivering any content, is CML (the computer manages, a human or other material teaches). CBT usually implies a complete, self-contained package (often for adult/professional training) rather than a component embedded in a larger course the way CAI often is within a school subject.Key takeaways
- IT (storage/processing) and CT (transmission) combine into ICT; instructional technology is the wider discipline of systematically designing and evaluating instruction, of which ICT is one toolset; ET applies across formal, non-formal/ODL, informal and inclusive systems.
- Each learning theory implies a different instructional-design choice: Skinner (small steps, immediate reinforcement), Piaget (developmentally matched disequilibrium, discovery), Ausubel (advance organisers, deductive sequence) and Vygotsky (zone of proximal development, scaffolding).
- Named ID models: ADDIE (five broad phases, cyclical), ASSURE (six media-centred classroom-lesson steps), Dick and Carey (ten granular, systems-level steps with separate formative and summative evaluation) and Mason's model (built for distance/online course design).
- Gagné's Nine Events run attention through retention/transfer; the Five E's of Constructivism (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) deliberately delay formal explanation until after exploration; CAI, CAL, CBT and CML name different ways a computer can deliver, support, package or manage instruction.
Practice questions (8)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
The combination of information technology (storage and processing) with communication technology (transmission) is called:
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Answer: B — ICT
ICT is IT plus CT. Instructional technology is the wider discipline of design and evaluation, of which ICT is one toolset; CAI is a specific computer-application type; ADDIE is an instructional-design model.A simulation that lets learners freely experiment with variables to discover a physics principle for themselves, without direct instruction, draws most directly on the design implications of:
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Answer: B — Jean Piaget
Piaget's constructivism favours discovery and hands-on exploration over direct transmission. Skinner implies small-step, reinforced drill; Ausubel implies advance organisers and deductive sequencing; Gagné's Nine Events is a general-purpose sequence, not specifically discovery-based.An adaptive tutoring system that offers a hint only when a learner is stuck, gradually removing hints as performance improves, is applying:
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Answer: B — Vygotsky's scaffolding within the zone of proximal development
Gradually withdrawn, need-based support is the definition of scaffolding within Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. Ausubel's organisers are given upfront, not adaptively withdrawn; Skinner's design is fixed-step, not responsive to individual struggle; Gagné's Nine Events is a general sequence, not specifically about adaptive hinting.The ADDIE model's five phases, in order, are Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and:
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Answer: A — Evaluation
Evaluation is the fifth ADDIE phase, feeding back into analysis. Elaboration and Engagement belong to the Five E's of Constructivism, a different framework; 'Enhancement' is not part of either named model in this chapter.Which instructional-design model is a six-step acronym (Analyse learners, State objectives, Select methods/media, Utilise media, Require participation, Evaluate) built specifically for one classroom lesson?
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Answer: B — ASSURE
ASSURE (Heinich, Molenda, Russell and Smaldino) is this six-step, classroom-level, media-centred model. ADDIE has five broader phases; Dick and Carey has ten granular steps for large-scale course design; Mason's model targets distance/online learning specifically.The instructional-design model developed with ten precise, sequential steps, including separately designing and conducting both formative and summative evaluation, is:
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Answer: C — Dick and Carey model
The Dick and Carey model has this granular, ten-step, systems-level structure. ASSURE has six classroom-focused steps; ADDIE has five broad phases; Gagné's Nine Events sequences a single lesson's delivery, not a whole course-design process.In the Five E's of Constructivism (BSCS model), 'Explore' — hands-on investigation — is deliberately placed:
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Answer: B — Before formal Explanation
Explore comes before Explain, the opposite of a lecture-first sequence — learners investigate first, then articulate and formalise what they discovered. It does not replace Explanation; Explain remains a distinct, later step.A system where the computer only schedules which remedial module a student takes next based on test scores, without itself delivering any teaching content, is an example of:
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Answer: B — CML (computer-managed learning)
CML handles administrative/management tasks like routing and record-keeping without delivering content itself. CAI has the computer directly teach; CBT is typically a complete, self-contained instructional package; ASSURE is an instructional-design model, not a category of computer application.