Content area
Full Text
Abstract This article offers principles that contribute to developing the aesthetics of instructional design. Rather than describing merely the surface qualities of things and events, the concept of aesthetics as applied here pertains to heightened, integral experience. Aesthetic experiences are those that are immersive, infused with meaning, and felt as coherent and complete. Any transformative learning experience will have significant aesthetic qualities, and all instructional situations can benefit from attention to these qualities. Drawn from aesthetics theory and research and informed by current ID and learning theories, a set of five first principles and twelve guidelines for their application are described. The principles are not only compatible with existing ID theory bases but can complement and support that theory by offering ways to embody it in engaging learning experiences.
Keywords Aesthetics * Instructional design * Learning experience * Principles of instruction
Introduction
Recent years have seen a surge of interest in reclaiming the idea that instructional design (ID) is indeed a design discipline and more than just science or just technology (Boiling 2003; Gibbons 2003; Rowland 1999; Wilson 2004). In the spirit of this view of ID as design, this article offers principles intended to contribute to developing the aesthetics of instructional design (Parrish 2005). By broadening their concerns beyond immediate learning outcomes and considering all the qualities of designed experiences, instructional designers can create designs that have deep and lasting impacts for learners. The aesthetic qualities of learning experiences, in particular, offer a potent dimension through which to expand learning impacts.
In offering new ID principles, one must be sensitive to the potentially overwhelming pluralism of influences and competing theories that already exist, which can lead to frustration or to retreat into a comfortably narrow set of guidelines. For this reason, it is imperative, when possible, to show compatibility between aesthetic principles and existing ID theory. But aesthetic principles offer more than just compatibility with existing theorythey complement and can support that theory by offering ways to embody it in engaging learning experiences. The principles described in this article extend our conception of what is entailed in designing an effective learning experience, while also honoring other perspectives.
The article first makes a case for the value of considering the aesthetics of learning experiences....