The instructional design process has three main purposes: 1) to identify instructional outcomes, 2) to guide the development of instructional content, and 3) to establish how instructional effectiveness will be evaluated. It involves 8 stages: 1) defining instructional goals, 2) conducting an instructional analysis, 3) identifying learner characteristics, 4) developing performance objectives, 5) selecting instructional methods, 6) assembling instructional materials, 7) conducting formative evaluation, and 8) conducting summative evaluation. Performance objectives should include an action, relevant conditions, and performance standard to describe the desired learner behavior.

1. Three Purposes of the Instructional Design Process
1. To identify the outcomes of the instruction
2. To guide the developing the instructional content (scope and sequence)
3. To establish how instructional effectiveness will be evaluated.
Stages of Instructional Design
Derived from Gagné, R. M., Briggs, L. J., & Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of
Instructional Design (4th ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
College Publishers.
Stage 1: Define instructional goals.
A goal may be defined as a general statement of desired accomplishment. It
does not specify exactly all of the components or steps or how each step
will be achieved on the road to accomplishing the goal. Example Goals: (1)
Students will master the procedure of a generic history and physical. (2)
Students will understand the biochemistry of diabetes.
Stage 2: Conduct an instructional analysis
Identify what learning steps will be involved in reaching the goal. This is
done through a task analysis, which identifies each step and the skills
needed in order to complete that step, and an information processing
analysis, which identifies the mental operations the learner needs to employ
in performing that skill. The task analysis is performed by asking "What are
all of the things the student must know and/or be able to do to achieve the
goal?"
Stage 3: Identify entry behaviors/learner characteristics
Having determined via the instructional analysis which steps and skills the
learner must accomplish, it is now necessary to identify the knowledge and
skill level that the learner possesses at the outset. Although there may be
pronounced differences from learner to learner in in their knowledge and
skill levels, the instruction must be targeted as much as possible to the level
of the learners' needs.
Stage 4: Develop performance objectives.
At this stage, it is necessary to translate the needs and goals into objectives
that are sufficiently specific to guide the instructor in teaching and the
learner in studying. In addition, these objectives form the blueprint for
testing as a means of evaluating both the instruction and the learning that
has occurred. Example: The student will be able to explain the role of the
Krebs cycle to thermogenesis.
Stage 5: Select an instructional method.

2. The purpose of selecting an instructional method is to identify and employ
teaching strategies and techniques that most effectively achieve the
performance objectives. Current educational theory and research support
the use of instructional methods that make students active learners (e.g.,
lecture, lab, small group discussion, case-based study, simulations,
independent study, etc.).
Stage 6: Assemble instructional material.
Once the instructional methodologies have been identified for each
objective or unit of content, it is important to assemble the necessary
instructional materials. The materials may be in various forms: print,
computer, audio, audio-video, etc. Although the necessary instructional
materials may already exist, they may need improvement or revision. For
example, slides that have been used in the past but that have been
problematic, need to be modified. The danger of settling on preexisting
instructional materials is that some instructors may allow the materials to
determine the direction of the instruction rather than vice versa. Currently,
more instructors are using the Web as a way of making didactic information
available to students, rather than using lectures or transcripts.
Stage 7: Plan and conduct formative evaluation.
Formative evaluation, evaluation that occurs from feedback while the
instruction is in progress, provides data for revising and improving the
instructional materials that were used and those that are yet to be used. It is
important to remember that sometimes the plans that look so good on
paper actually fail in practice. When possible, test instructional materials
with one or a small group of students to determine how students use the
materials, how much assistance they need, etc. Considering the teaching
methods implemented and the course materials provided, are students
learning what they should be?
Stage 8: Plan and conduct summative evaluation.
Summative evaluation, evaluation that occurs at the end of the instructional
effort (unit, course, etc.), provides data on the effectiveness of the
instructional effort as a whole. This is the evaluation that provides
information on how the whole instructional unit enabled the learner to
achieve the objectives that were established at the outset.
Writing Performance Objectives
Taken from Kibler, R.J., & Bassett, R.E. (1977). Writing performance objectives.
In Briggs, L.J. (ed.), Instructional design (pp. 49 - 95). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Educational Technology Publications.

3. It is important to distinguish between instructional goals and instructional
objectives. Instructional goals are usually expressed in non-behavioral terms
and are generally a more expansive vision than objectives. Objectives, on the
other hand, are expressed in behavioral terms and are usually short-range
outcomes.
An objective is a description of a desired pattern of behavior for the learner to
demonstrate. Despite the different approaches to writing performance
objectives, most models include the following three components1
:
1. Action -- Identify the action the learner will be taking when he/she has
achieved the objective (e.g., to identify; to measure).
2. Relevant Conditions -- Describe the relevant conditions under which the
learner will be acting (e.g., "given the patient's history"; "with the use of
the information from the laboratory results").
3. Performance Standard -- List as many of the actual conditions as
possible under which the objective is to be performed (e.g., "must be
able to identify at least one possible treatment for the patient's illness by
the end of the case study").