| Chapter 2: | Background |
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example, Darwin’s theory of evolution offers an explanation for how life persists and evolves on earth and why life evolves as it does. Prescriptive theories, on the other hand, prescribe what to do and when. When carrying out this research project, I sought prescriptive theories to provide guidance on what instructional design strategies to use in blended learning environments and when to use them. The distinction between descriptive theories and prescriptive theories will be further amplified through the examples of learning theory (which is an example of a descriptive theory) and instructional design theory (which is an example of a prescriptive theory) that I will provide in the following section.
The Distinction Between Learning Theories and Instructional Design Theories
As has already been argued, since blended learning is based on distance education models, it is legitimate to look in both categories and apply distance education instructional design theories to blended learning environments. But what exactly is an instructional design theory? How is it different than a theory of learning or a theory of education? More precisely, what is the distinction between a learning theory for blended or distance education and an instructional design theory for blended or distance education? The distinction is quite simply demarcated by the key words description and prescription. In fact, learning theory is an example of descriptive theory and instructional design theory is an example of prescriptive theory, as was mentioned in the previous section.
What is Learning Theory?
Learning theories describe how learning occurs in particular educational contexts. On the other hand, instructional design theories prescribe the methods and strategies to employ within various learning contexts to achieve particular learning goals (Reigeluth, 1999c). For example, a learning theory for distance education may offer descriptions or explanations of what occurs in successful distance education