Distance Education Innovations and New Learning Environments: Com ...

FIGURE 1. Criteria for instructional design theories.

assumption, or value that guides practice. An example of a foundational principle or value is the following: “Social interaction helps students construct knowledge.” Without having guiding principles, it is hard to comprehend how anyone could produce a viable instructional design theory. principles are the very essence of how we as humans choose, act, and decide. Whatever we create is an expression of our fundamental principles and values.

Principles and values should be explicitly stated in an instructional design theory for two primary reasons. First, great debate exists in the arena of improving educational practice. Unfortunately, much of the debate flourishes because individuals fail to articulate their own fundamental principles or those of their interlocutors. This leads to arguments that are weighed down by confusing, misrepresented, and misunderstood claims and counterclaims. This conclusion is echoed by Willis (1998), who rightly stated that the argument over ISD¹ models really should be a debate over higher principles (or values) rather than the specific instructional strategies that generally accompany one or another design.

The second reason to encourage the articulation of principles and values in an instructional design theory is that these principles and values serve to bridge instructional goals and instructional means or methods.