Designing Instruction

Designing instruction for learners of all ages, and in many settings involves a number of important tasks and challenges, including formulating curriculum goals and objectives; planning, preparing and delivering study materials and resources; carrying out the interaction between and among leaders and participants in a learning setting; and, formulating, communicating, and assessing expectations for participation and performance. If your work involves designing curriculum, instructional resources, or training programs, being aware that people learn in many different ways (and that you can help improve their participation and performance by recognizing and responding to those differences), you will discover that you can apply VIEW in many ways. In projects or assignments that call upon learners to "be creative," provide explicitly for learners with different preferences on orientation to change to be creative in their own way. When you are developing new resources, look closely at materials to ensure that they challenge learners to use their style preferences to do their best work. Engage learners in formulating and discussing criteria for making decisions or evaluating products.

Examples

Some ways to use VIEW in designing instruction include:

• Include activities enabling learners with an external processing preference to work and share in groups as they plan and carry out their tasks, as well as options enabling those with internal preferences to reflect quietly before they are expected to share or present their work. Offer multiple options in projects or assignments.

• Encourage learners to consider both person and task criteria when designing strategies for evaluating products or presentations.

• When designing and making assignments, include options that challenge learners with an explorer preference to look at new and different possibilities, as well as for those with a developer preference to seek improvements and creative refinements.

• Help learners to understand their own preferences so they will know how to be their best, and so they will know how to appreciate and benefit from the contrasting strengths of others.

• Ask colleagues whose style differs from yours to review materials you create to check for unintended basis in language or requirements.