instructional design

Definition

The systematic development of educational materials and experiences using learning theory and pedagogical principles, essentially the architecture of education. Where educational psychologists meet graphic designers and argue about fonts.

Example Usage

Our instructional design team spent weeks perfecting the online module, which students will complete in 10 minutes while watching Netflix.

Origin

Emerged during World War II from military training needs, formalized in education through the work of Robert Gagné and others in the 1960s

Fun Fact

The ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) has dominated instructional design since the 1970s, making it older than most of the students in your classes.

Source: Educational technology and pedagogy literature

Related Terms

Advanced

scholarship of teaching and learning

The systematic study of teaching and learning processes in higher education, where professors research their own teaching with the same rigor they'd apply to their discipline. Meta-academia at its finest.

🎓 Education / Academia

Advanced

academic rigor mortis

The excessive rigidity in curriculum and standards that stifles innovation, creativity, and student engagement in the name of maintaining academic integrity. What began as defending quality becomes an inflexible corpse of outdated requirements.

🎓 Education / Academia

Advanced

ephphetha

To be open-minded and non-judgmental, extending your comfort zone to gain broader perspective. Derived from an Aramaic word meaning 'be opened,' it's essentially the fancy scholarly way to tell someone to chill and stop being so closed off. More syllables than 'open-minded' but sounds way more enlightened.

🎓 Education / Academia

Intermediate

high-impact practices

Educational activities like undergraduate research, internships, and capstones shown to improve student outcomes, according to studies that somehow always recommend doing more expensive things. Evidence-based resource drains.

🎓 Education / Academia

Beginner

senioritis

The motivational collapse afflicting students in their final term, characterized by grade indifference and existential dread about entering the real world. The academic equivalent of running on fumes while questioning everything.

🎓 Education / Academia

Intermediate

Sabbatical

A paid leave of absence given to professors so they can research, write, and travel, or as the rest of the workforce calls it, an absolutely infuriating concept. It happens every seven years, which is coincidentally how long it takes to forget how jealous you were last time.

🎓 Education / Academia

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