Page 1 - Principles of instructional design

The Outcomes of
3 Instruction

T he best way to design instruction is to work back-
ward from its expected outcomes. Some ways of working backward and the
implications of these procedures for the content of instruction are described in
this chapter. These procedures begin with the identification of human capabili-
ties to be established by instruction. The instructional outcomes, introduced and
defined here in terms of five broad categories, run throughout the book as the
framework on which the design of instruction is built.

INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATIONAL GOALS

The basic reason for designing instruction is to make possible the attainment of
a set of educational goals. The society in which we live has certain functions to
perform in serving the needs of its people. Many of these functions—in fact,
most of them—require human activities that must be learned. Accordingly, one
of the functions of a society is to ensure that such learning takes place. Every
society, in one way or another, makes provision for the education of people in
order that the variety of functions necessary for its survival can be carried out.
Educationalgoals are those human activities that contribute to the functioning of
a society (including the functioning of an individual in the society) and that can
be acquired through learning.
Naturally, in societies whose organization is simple—often called "primitive"

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