The effects of a Web-based training in an instructional systems design approach on teachers' instructional design behavior

Deficiencies in instructional design skill have been identified as a possible cause for the problems teachers of Dutch Polytechnics experience in designing competency-based education. This research investigates the effects of an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) training on teachers' instructional design behavior. Thirty-six teachers from 16 Dutch Teacher Training Colleges received 20 hours of web-based training either in an ISD based condition or in an experience-based design condition (EXP). In the ISD condition teachers were trained to apply the Four-Component Instructional Design Model (4C-ID model) of Van Merrienboer (1997). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications, in the EXP condition the teachers were trained to optimize their own approach. The results supported the hypotheses, indicating that the ISD-based training resulted in a higher quality of design and was evaluated more positively than the EXP approach. These findings suggest that training in an ISD approach can effectively support teachers' instructional design strategies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.