A New Model for the World of Instructional Design: a New Model

Like all models, the new model is also based on a theoretical foundation; constructivism, which emphasis is placed on the learner or the student rather than the teacher or the instructor. Students learn by fitting new information together with what they already know. People learn best when they actively construct their own understanding. The new constructivist based model is composed of four processes; input, process, output, and feedback. In the first step of this model, input activities are designed. At the beginning, the needs of the students are planned by using needs assessment. Needs assessment is an important process in constructivist approach. After the identification of the needs of the students, the units are started to be planned. The topics are stated from easier to the difficult one. After the aims are stated, the objectives are written, by considering the conditions. The teacher uses his / own teaching methodology by considering the characteristics of the students. The selection and preparation of the media is determined after stating the aims and objectives. In the second stage, the process begins with pre – assessment. In other words, the units, which are planned in the previous stage, are assessed before getting started of the instruction. From the results of the pre – assessment, the instructor gets an idea about the students’ readiness, and the level of prerequisite skills. After the teacher reorganized the lesson by taking into consideration of the results, he / she implement his lesson by considering all of the previously mentioned aspects. During the implementation process, the weaknesses, and the strength points are considered. In the third stage, the units are taught, and the questions of the students are answered. In this model, the teacher is not only teaching, but facilitating the lesson for his / her student. In order to understand whether the students learn the units or not, during the semester, the teacher gives quizzes. With the formative evaluation, in this constructivist based approach, summative evaluation is used. After all the evaluation process is done, as the fourth stage, the teacher gets the feedback of the students’ knowledge on the lessons. In constructivist approach experiencing is important, so the teacher should create authentic environment in order to let the students to experience it. If something is practiced, then it means ithas a meaning for the learners. If the students doesn’t practice the knowledge, or if that knowledge doesn’t have a meaning for the students, it means the instructor, or the teacher should go at the beginning of the model, and does the same thing from the beginning to the end.