Computer Assisted Instructional Design for Computer-Based Instruction. Final Report. Working Papers.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences have made it possible to develop successful intelligent computer-aided instructional systems for technical and scientific training. In addition, computer-aided design (CAD) environments that support the rapid development of such computer-based instruction have also been recently developed. The researchers tailored a particular CAD system for instruction, called the Instructional Design Environment (IDE), for use in vocational training. This project brought together a consulting team that included a successful instructor in business education, cognitive scientists, workers in teacher education, and the IDE development team. The main goals of the project were to develop an instructional design methodology that teaches software use in the context of solving realistic problems and to extend the IDE to support this methodology, which is grounded in cognitive science research and is called example-based minimalist design (EBMD). It was found that the use of IDE has several side effects: (1) IDE encourages a greater depth of analysis and planning; (2) the semiformal representation language used in IDE shapes the design process and the manner in which the designer thinks about instruction; (3) the analyses and specifications developed in IDE provide an explicit design rationale for each product; and (4) designs and design rationales developed in IDE can be easily modified and reused thus standardizing instructional development and promoting dissemination of successful design methodologies. (Contains 11 references.) (ALF)