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Capella University — Psychology

PSY8170: Principles of Instructional Design

A complete guide to Capella's PSY8170. Students examine systematic instructional design models, needs assessment processes, learning objective writing, and evaluation methods used to design effective educational and training experiences across academic and workplace settings.

Graduate5 CreditsEducational Psychology

PSY8170 introduces the systematic, evidence-based discipline of instructional design — the process of analyzing learning needs and designing, developing, and evaluating instructional experiences that reliably produce desired learning outcomes. Rather than treating instruction as an art practiced intuitively, instructional design applies a structured methodology grounded in learning theory and psychological research, used across K-12, higher education, corporate training, healthcare education, and military/government training settings.

Systematic models, objectives, and evaluation in instructional design

Core topics

  • ADDIE model: The foundational systematic instructional design process — Analysis (identifying the learning need, audience, and constraints), Design (specifying objectives, content sequence, and assessment strategy), Development (creating the actual materials), Implementation (delivering instruction), and Evaluation (assessing whether the instruction achieved its goals) — and how each phase informs the next in an iterative cycle
  • Needs assessment and analysis: Methods for determining whether a performance gap is actually a training/instructional problem versus a motivational, environmental, or resource problem (Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model, gap analysis) — and conducting learner analysis, task analysis, and context analysis before any instruction is designed
  • Writing learning objectives: Constructing clear, measurable learning objectives using frameworks such as Mager's three-component objectives (performance, conditions, criteria) and Bloom's Taxonomy (and its cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains) to ensure objectives target the appropriate level of cognitive complexity and can be validly assessed
  • Instructional strategies and Gagné's Nine Events: Robert Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction as a research-based sequencing framework (gaining attention, informing learners of objectives, stimulating recall of prior learning, presenting content, providing guidance, eliciting performance, providing feedback, assessing performance, enhancing retention/transfer) — and matching instructional strategies to different types of learning outcomes (Gagné's taxonomy of learning outcomes)
  • Formative and summative evaluation: The distinction between evaluating instruction during development (formative — to improve it before full deployment) versus after deployment (summative — to judge its overall effectiveness), and applying Kirkpatrick's four levels of training evaluation (reaction, learning, behavior, results) to assess instructional impact comprehensively
  • Emerging models and technology integration: Alternative and complementary design frameworks (Dick and Carey systems approach, Successive Approximation Model/SAM for agile, iterative design) and the integration of educational technology, e-learning authoring tools, and multimedia learning principles (Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning) into the design process

PSY8170 assignments include needs assessments, learning objective sets, and complete instructional design plans

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Related courses

PSY8100Principles of Educational Psychology PSY8110The Teaching of Psychology PSY8130The Adult Student in the Classroom

Frequently asked questions

Is instructional design only relevant to schools, or does it apply elsewhere?

Instructional design principles apply far beyond traditional classrooms — they are equally central to corporate training departments, healthcare patient and provider education, military and government training programs, software user onboarding, and any context where someone needs to reliably acquire new knowledge or skills. The ADDIE model, Gagné's Nine Events, and Kirkpatrick's evaluation levels were developed and refined largely in military and corporate training contexts before becoming standard in educational psychology and instructional design programs broadly. This is precisely why PSY8170 emphasizes general, transferable instructional design principles rather than K-12-specific pedagogy: graduates of Capella's instructional design and educational psychology programs go on to design training for hospitals, technology companies, government agencies, and universities alike. Understanding the universal psychological principles behind how people learn — regardless of setting — is what makes instructional design a portable, in-demand professional skill rather than a narrowly academic one.