Actions and Thoughts

Meadow’s aphoristic statement “action is the highest form of thought” and Shawna’s reference to Bloom’s taxonomy in her post, reminded me of my own experience as an instructional designer. Let me provide a brief context first.

Back in India (immediately before joining the MATC program at TTU), I had spent a couple of years designing online instructional materials for an e-learning organization. During my training period for this position, I was introduced to two instructional design models (or systematic guidelines that instructional designers follow for developing effective instruction) that provided the theoretical framework for all learning materials developed in my organization. The first (and the more prevalent) model, is commonly referred as the ADDIE model. The other model is known as the Dick & Carey Model. While both these models are precious assets to those in the ID trade, I will only focus on the ADDIE model for the purpose of this post.

The acronym "ADDIE" stands for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate; the five terms representing the five different phases of ID. So, an instructional designer following the ADDIE model, begins with Analysis or identification of the learning problem and the target audience’s needs. In the Design phase, outputs from the Analyze phase are used for planning a strategy for developing the instruction. The actual creation or Development of content constitutes the next important step. During Implementation, the content is actually delivered to the audience. This leads directly to the final step of Evaluation when the audience offer their feedback on the adequacy of the learning material.

In case you are wondering how the ADDIE model relates to Shawna’s blog, the answer is that the five steps outlined above are strongly reminiscent of the six levels of cognition that Bloom had identified in his pyramid of learning objectives.

However, while Bloom posits a clear hierarchical relation between the six levels of cognition, the ADDIE model (in spite of its apparently linear trajectory) is actually an iterative design process, where the results of each phase may lead an instructional designer forward to the next phase or , if necessary, back to any previous phase. Simply put, the critical thinking that goes into a phase prepares the ground for the next phase of action.

Now let me contextualize the above in terms of Meadow’s comment that “action is the highest form of thought.” At the very simplest level, I understand it to mean that thoughts which inspire action are ones that are worth having. However, from a writer or an instructional designer’s perspective, I would like to read it as a reference to the value of preserving continuity

between thought and action or in Meadow’s words “initiating a dialog between the internal and external worlds” (40) . In example of the ADDIE’s model, there is an absolute sense of continuity between the different phases. Actions are interspersed with moments of deep introspection. The introspection, in turn, leads to more actions and more thoughts.