Three worlds of instructional design: State of the art and future directions

Abstract

Three worlds of ID are distinguished. The World of Knowledge stresses the analysis of learning outcomes in knowledge structures and the selection of instructional strategies for particular outcomes; the World of Learning focuses on particular learning processes and the synthesis of strategies that support those processes; the World of Work focuses on real-life task performance and strategies that support learners while they work on authentic problems. Contributions to this Special Issue are discussed within the three-world framework. Implications for future research are discussed, stressing the promise of mental models as a theoretical construct that may help to build bridges between the three worlds.