Audience – Behavior – Conditions – Degree

This week we learned the ABCD’s of designing instructional technologies and applications. Here they are in a nutshell.

A determining factor of what the final manifestation of our design will be like lies in having a good understanding our intended audience. For example, it would be unwise to design a model that is heavily dependent on graphics to achieve its purpose if our target audience is the American Association of Blind Persons (fictitious name for illustration purposes only). Obviously, they would not be able to see our beautiful graphics, and possible miss the entire point. In this case, the audience’s learning needs would perhaps be better addressed by creating a model that employs auditive and tactile affordances to engage the learner.

Just like it is important to understand what physical attributes or limitations our target audience might have. It is also necessary to have a good understanding of other qualities they bring to the table. For example, we need to know what previous knowledge they have because if we don’t know this from the start we might end up designing inadequate models that might be too easy for the learners. On the other hand we might increase the level of complexity to the point where learning will be much more difficult than it needs to be.

It is important to have a well-defined set of objectives that we intend to achieve. Defining our objectives, using action verbs (higher order from Bloom’s) we can then make assumptions as to what kinds of behavior patterns we can expect to occur.

It is also important to have a clear idea of the conditions or circumstances under which our model will be utilized or implemented. Understanding the conditions surrounding our audience will help us choose the right tools for the job. Our audience might be in a location where there is no electricity available and where generators might be too difficult to procure. In this case a low-tech solution might be the best strategy. In some cases a pencil and paper might be sufficient. After all they are technology. Understanding the conditions helps us choose the right tools to do the job effectively.

Lastly, it is important to quantify the degree of change that we intend to bring about. This is important to know because we need to measure that we have achieved our objective. This concept ties into assessment. How do we know when and if we have achieved what we said we were going to do? What does it look like when there has been significant change in the behaviors we sought to influence? This is particularly important if our project is being funded by a source other than ourselves. At some point the funding party will want to know that progress has been made and that they have invested their money wisely. Failure to quantify the degree of change/achievement might result in a withdrawal of the funding.