Design Theories

Instructional Design Theory

Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)

The emphasis of Inquiry-Based Learning is on the process of student learning and the development of a deeper understanding of the learning content (GradePower Learning, 2019). As students are learning, they become active investigators and will access information through technology, media, and real-life experiences. IBL is student-centric and provides the flexibility in which students can take control of their own learning objectives. Learners can also utilize instructors or other digital resources to help solve their questions.

Why IBL?

Our target audiences are willing to explore more about art due to their intrinsic motivation, which aligns with student-centered learning in IBL. We want students to be active investigators, who will develop higher-order cognition by raising questions for themselves through technology, such as mobile apps. We believe by using IBL, students’ curiosity about art will be fostered, and they will form a deeper understanding of art-related topics.

How does it apply to our design?

For learners who want to learn based on specific locations. For instance, A chooses a study plan for MET's Asian arts section and after she enters the interface, A will see a guiding question "How to design a logical touring route based on what you learn?". In this case, instructional designers use the platform to provide a general guiding question, which will encourage learners to ask more specific questions while learning such as "What is the history behind all of these artwork?", "Who is the artist of these artworks" and "What are some of the common elements in these pieces?" etc. In this case, the guiding questions encourage students to make connections among each piece and form their own mind maps based on the questions that they are interested in.

Instructional Design Strategies

From the previous discussion about learners' problems, objectives, and analysis of the learning context, we gain a better understanding of the issues we are trying to solve, and how we should design the application for learners. The instructional design of our application will be focusing on the combination of two strategies, which are motivational design and metacognition. Learners will be supported in ways that improve their motivation in learning arts as well as build a metacognitive system of art-related topics.

Motivation

Motivation refers to “a person’s desire to pursue a goal or perform a task”(Reiser & Dempsey, 2018, pg.79). And there are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation appears when a person engages in a task for pleasure rather than for apparent rewards (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). Extrinsic motivation appears when a person engages in a task because of outside causes, such as rewards.

We decide to set up an automatic reminder in the app, which will push a piece of art-related information to users every day based on their choice and progress. For example, if they choose to follow the artistic style, such as Impressionism, the system will push an artist or artwork of Impressionism to users. This will prompt users to open the app every day. And they can use their fragmented time to learn this knowledge. If there is no notification, users will easily forget about the app and not use it anymore. In addition, the system will give users some rewards, such as learning points, if they are active in using the app for 7 days. However, excessive rewards would lead to a decrease in intrinsic motivation (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). So, we only include one type of the extrinsic motivation here to prevent this situation. And users can choose to stop the push if they don’t want to be disturbed.

Metacognition

We hope to use the metacognitive approach as an instructional strategy to enhance motivation and inspiration to learn. Metacognition does not only include knowledge transferring but also focuses on processing knowledge through a cognitive aspect. Based on the research of Flavell, one of the major variables of metacognitive approach is to enhance self-awareness, make sense among different connections, and goal accomplishment (Flavell, 1976).

To achieve these objectives, we will include a variety of learning plans for users to choose from and allow them to keep track of their learning progress. This will mainly be delivered through the function of choosing study content based on their interests. For instance, categories will include names of artists, styles, and historical periods. Even though fragmented learning content and information will be delivered to users' mobile devices, users are also able to check their progress in the learning plan that they choose and be able to see the broader contexts of the fragmented knowledge information. In this case, users are given freedom of choice, and learners are encouraged to understand what they have learned and what needs to be learned, thus increasing their awareness during the learning process, achieving individual goals and making meaningful connections.

Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236).

Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2018). Trends and issues in Instructional Design and Technology. Pearson.

What is inquiry-based learning (and how is it effective)? GradePower Learning. (2019, May 28). Retrieved May 6, 2022, from

https://gradepowerlearning.com/what-is-inquiry-based-learning/