Research On IT-Based Instructional Design Competencies Of The Primary And Secondary School Teachers

With the rapid development of science and technology, particularly the application of information technology in education, the goals, the content and the teaching methods have changed a lot. The roles and tasks of teachers have to change correspondently, which put forward new demands for the competencies of the teachers. As an important task for teachers, instructional design guides teachers'behavior, and affects students'learning activities to a large extent. And therefore the study on the instructional design competencies of teachers, especially under the information technology environment, is very necessary. Through literature analysis, we found that there are mainly two problems to be solved about the instructional design competencies of teachers. Firstly, we don't have a clearly-defined conception on the instructional design competencies, behavior study or cognitive study can't solve the problem by each of them self. Secondly, we have not developed a scale measuring the instructional design competencies of teachers yet. The study aims at achieving a breakthrough in these two areas.In this study, firstly we reconsidered the nature of design, teaching, and the relationship between teachers and instructional design, and then tried to give a suitable interpretation of teachers'instructional design, and its content and characteristics, which will lay a theoretical basis for constructing the IT-Based instructional design competencies model of the primary and secondary school teachers. Secondly, in accordance with the general definition of competencies, combined with the formal analysis of teachers's instructional design process, we constructed the IT-Based instructional design competencies theoretical model of the primary and secondary school teachers from knowledge and skills two aspects. Thirdly, we revised and verified the IT-Based instructional design competencies theoretical model we have constructed, through empirical investigation and analysis of collected data. In this process, we also formed a set of measuring scale"the test of instructional design competencies"which contains 30 items and six sub-scales. The reliability and validity of the test achieve the psychometric criterion. Fourthly, based on the instructional design competencies theoretical model, we proposed the basic ways and means of developing teachers'instructional design competencies, including increasing their knowledge and improving skills on instructional design. And then we pointed out the role and significance of the information technology environment in the process of the development of teachers'instructional design competencies. Finally, taking the projects which the author personally have taken part in for almost three years as example, which are"the Network-based Leapfrogging Development Instruction in Chinese " and "innovative used IT-based Leapfrogging development instruction improving the quality of education in rural primary and secondary schools to promote education equity", we introduced the actions we have taken to develop teachers'instructional design competencies and the results we have achieved, and then pointed out the direction of further efforts on developing teachers'instructional design competencies.The main innovations of this study are listed as below:(1) Reinterpreting the conception of teachers'instructional design competencies. In this study, we started at the analysis of the nature of design, and took the initial attempt in the field of instructional design to the introduction of external factors and internal factors of design, and tried to distinguish them and give them suitable definitions and descriptions. It will lay a theoretical basis for constructing the IT-Based instructional design competencies model of the primary and secondary school teachers.(2) By utilizing competency theory that has been widely used in human resource, adopting behavioral event interview and factor analysis, this study tried to establish a set of models of teachers'instructional design competencies, and also formed a set of measuring scale"the test of instructional design competencies"which contains 30 items and six sub-scales.The result of this study is of practical value in terms of evaluating teachers.(3)"The test of instructional design competencies"measuring questionaire can be used for measuring the instructional design competencies; the relevant indicators show that it is a good test tool. The questionaire can be used for teachers'self-assessment or the assessment of the quality of teacher training programs by contrasting the changes before and after the training. It can also be used as a reflective tool for teachers'daily instructional design.(4) Based on the instructional design competencies theoretical model, we proposed the basic ways and means of developing teachers'instructional design competencies, including increasing their knowledge and improving skills on instructional design. It can provide reference for teacher training programs or career planning and development by teachers themselves.