Instructional Framework

We have decided to use the LLTC visual organizer, otherwise known as the Instructional Planner or the School Improvement Framework. The steps in this framework consist of five sections; content, instructional strategies, essential learning, assessments, and a why section. The components in this framework provide a guide for team C to design and build a course that is purposeful and thoughtful. The framework does this by having each component pose questions as a guide to assist the course builder.

Components of the framework
1. Content - “What do my student’s need to know?”
2. Instructional strategies – This section is important to the actual delivery of the curriculum. “How do I design learning opportunities consistent with the way the students learn?”
3. Essential learning – In this section the designers ask, “What are the qualities that we need the learner to develop to be a skilled employee and a contributing citizen?”
4. Assessments – “What do we know about quality assessment and evaluation?” This section will focus our design process to keep in mind going beyond the acquisition of the learning and to the actual application of the knowledge learned.
5. Why? – This is the center of the framework. This section brings every component together and here we ask all the questions that will guide us in our design. “Why do we need to know what we are teaching?” “Why do we teach it the way we do?” “Why do we ask them to do the work we assign?” and “Will the work we have assigned help the learner to be a skilled worker and contribute to the world in which they live?” (http://edservices.aea7.k12.ia.us/framework/framework.html)
Instructional design use of the framework
Each of the components presented in this framework matches the target audience we are directing the course towards. Starting with the content component, the knowledge, objectives, skills and facts are placed. We are teaching algebra as a supplement to the face-to-face instruction of the state education system and helping the student to gain the basic requirements of algebra, enough to pass the high school GED. This section will help us keep in mind the content that we need to bring across.
The instructional strategies section of our design will look at the target audience and their learning styles so that we can effectively teach the desired instruction. Learning styles are very important and especially with the group of learners that we will instruct, high school and home schooled student’s aged 14-18 years old.
Our instructional content of basic algebra will help to build a well-rounded person and help them to pass the GED. With their GED now in hand, the student may now start to be a contributing member of society. This is the benefit of the essential learning section.
The assessments section allows for just that, thinking about assessments. The best method that we have to understand and verify if the students have learned the concepts of algebra and how to apply them to real life is through quizzes and tests. The course we design will have the quiz tool.
The final section in the LLTC framework to use in our courseware design is the, why, section. Here we are brought to the question of why we are doing the training in the first place, how instructions will be received and what the learners will be able to do after the instruction is delivered.
The LLTC is a great framework that will fit our instructional design. With our target audience as high school and home-schooled student’s aged 14 to 18 years old, the instructional framework; content, instructional strategies, essential learning, assessments, and why components will benefit our design process. It is essential to remember each component mentioned in the LLTC framework when designing any course.