PRINCIPLES of INSTRUCTIONAL MESSAGE DESIGN

Principles of Instructional Message Design

Edi Sukmara

Instructional Message Design refers to the manipulation and planning of signs and symbols that can be produced for the purpose of modifying the cognitive, affective or psychomotor behavior of one or more persons. As such, it involves the application of perception theory, learning theory, communication theory, and systems theory to the design and evaluation of instructional media. Fleming and Levie (1993) define instructional message design as, “the process of manipulating, or planning for the manipulation of, a pattern of signs and symbols that may provide conditions for learning.”

Instructional message design has some principles. Some of them are summarized into these points; 1) readiness and motivation, 2) attention device direction, 3) repetition, 4) students’ active participation, 5) feedback, and 6) eliminating irrelevant medium.

1.      Readiness and motivation

Students usually feel ready to learn what is more familiar with his cognitive experience. To bring readiness in the instructional design, the teacher should present what has been familiar with the students’ life. It means, the teacher will begin the lesson with the concrete materials, not the abstract ones. This familiarity will eventually arouse motivation on students’ mind.

2.      Attention devices direction

Message design should attract students’ attention during the process of teaching and learning. Instructional message designer can use critical color and shade which are different from others. He or she may create differences in visual elements. This can be in the form of different sizes, textures, colors, orientations, or anything that sets off an element from the rest of the page.

Caption also can direct attention, help interpretation and increase retention. In this case, message designer should include captions on each illustration presented in the media. The uncaptioned illustration will be ambiguous and cause confusing interpretation from the students’ mind.

3.      Repetition

Repetition of elements, such as fonts, colors and shapes, creates a uniformity that promotes design harmony. It has long been known how a single font or color conveys a feeling and emotion. Without the unity that comes from repetitive elements, a learner will received mixed signals and struggle to find organization within the piece.

4.      Students’ active participation

Instructional message design should consider students’ active participation when it is applied in the classroom. This can be done by avoiding certain potential threats in the media that may bear rejection from the students. According to the behavioral research, our mind has a mechanism called perceptual defense that reduced our ability to perceive things we dislike or consider threatening. Therefore, the teacher should handle potential threats positively so it can arise students’ active participation in the process of teaching and learning.

5.      Feedback

Feedback rate indicates the extent of the teaching success. A good instructional media will motivate the students to give any feedback.

6.      Eliminating irrelevant medium

In designing instructional message, we have to refer to the principle saying, “simpler is better, less can be more.” The more information is exposed, the less the students will get it. Therefore, it is important for the designers to eliminate any irrelevant mediums. The use of irrelevant medium can cause cognitive overload. When it occurs learners may become disengaged, unmotivated, confused and even not interested.

Bibliography

Fleming, Malcolm and Levie, W. Howard.  Instructional Message Design: Principles from the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences.  Educational Technology Publications: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993.