How Do Instructional-Design Practitioners Make Instructional-Strategy Decisions?

Abstract

Many theories have been proposed to help instructional designers make instructional-strategy decisions, yet it is not clear if these theories are actually used by ID practitioners. This study used a web-survey to examine the design strategies of 113 ID practitioners. The survey asked respondents to rate how frequently they used learning or ID theories as well as 10 other design strategies, to help make instructional-strategy decisions. Respondents were also asked how often they used different information sources to learn about new theories, trends, and strategies, and to respond to a set of contrasting statements depicting objectivist vs. construc-tivist assumptions. The results indicate that ID practitioners most often rely on interaction with others both as a means of making instructional-strategy decisions and of learning about new theories, trends, and strategies. Only fifty percent of the respondents said they regularly use theories when making instructional-strategy decisions, using other design strategies more frequently instead; and most practitioners are eclectic in their underlying philosophical assumptions. Based on these results, we discuss implications for training and ongoing support of instructional designers.

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