Dick and Carey Model of instructional design – History, Components & Design, current implementation in education

 

 

Dick and Carey Model of instructional design  – History, Components & Design, current implementation in education 

What is the Dick and Carey Model?

The Dick and Carey Model (officially The Dick and Carey Systems Approach Model for Designing Instruction) is a comprehensive, systematic, and iterative instructional design (ID) model. It views instruction as an interconnected system where all components (instructor, learners, materials, activities, delivery, and assessment) work together to achieve the defined learning goals. It is known for its rigor and detail, making it a gold standard for large-scale curriculum and course development.

History & Origins

• Developers: Walter Dick and Lou Carey (later joined by James O. Carey).
• First Published: The model was first introduced in their seminal textbook "The Systematic Design of Instruction" in 1978. The book is now in its 9th edition (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2022), demonstrating its lasting influence.
• Intellectual Foundation: The model is heavily influenced by Robert Gagné's theories of learning conditions and the systems approach prevalent in educational technology and military training during the 1970s. It is a more detailed and procedural expansion of the core concepts in the ADDIE model.
• Philosophy: Dick and Carey argued that effective instruction requires treating all elements as parts of a system. A weakness in any component (e.g., poorly written objectives or misaligned assessments) will degrade the entire system's output (student learning).

Components & Design: The Ten Sequential Steps

The model is famous for its 10-step process. The steps are sequential but include formative evaluation loops at multiple points, emphasizing revision and refinement.

1. Identify Instructional Goals

• Purpose: Determine what learners will be able to do after instruction (the "goal"). This is a broad, problem-oriented statement derived from a needs analysis (e.g., "Learners will be able to troubleshoot common network errors").
• Key Question: What is the performance gap?

2. Conduct Instructional Analysis

• Purpose: Break down the goal into its constituent skills and knowledge.
• Key Activity: Create a learning hierarchy (a flowchart) showing all subordinate skills and their relationships (prerequisites). This identifies exactly what needs to be taught.

3. Analyze Learners and Contexts

• Purpose: Identify the target audience's characteristics and the environments where they will learn and perform the skill.
• Key Focus: Learner entry behaviors, prior knowledge, attitudes, and the learning/performance contexts' constraints and opportunities.

4. Write Performance Objectives

• Purpose: Translate the skills from the analysis into specific, measurable statements of what the learner will do.
• Key Format: Objectives include the Behavior, Condition, and Degree (often following the ABCD format—Audience, Behavior, Condition, Degree). These become the benchmark for assessment and instruction.

5. Develop Assessment Instruments

• Purpose: Create tools to measure whether learners have achieved the performance objectives.
• Key Principle: Criterion-Referenced Assessment – tests are directly tied to the objectives. This includes developing rubrics, checklists, or tests for each objective.

6. Develop Instructional Strategy

• Purpose: Design the "how" of instruction. This is the most complex step, where the instructional designer plans the activities for each objective.
• Key Components (based on Gagné's 9 Events):
• Pre-instructional activities (gaining attention, informing objectives)
• Content presentation and sequencing
• Learner participation and practice
• Feedback
• Follow-through activities (enhancing retention and transfer)

7. Develop and Select Instructional Materials

• Purpose: Create or gather the resources needed to implement the instructional strategy.
• Key Decision: Use existing materials, modify them, or develop new ones (e.g., learner guides, multimedia, simulations, instructor manuals).

8. Design and Conduct Formative Evaluation

• Purpose: Collect data to identify weaknesses in the instruction while it is being developed so it can be revised.
• Key Types:
• One-to-One Evaluation: With individual learners to find gross errors.
• Small-Group Evaluation: With a group of 8-20 target learners to assess effectiveness and identify remaining problems.
• Field Trial: A full implementation in the intended setting.

9. Revise Instruction

• Purpose: Use the data from formative evaluation to systematically improve all aspects of the instruction (objectives, strategy, materials, assessments).
• Key Idea: This step closes the loop, feeding back to earlier steps. Revision is based on hard learner performance data, not opinion.

10. Design and Conduct Summative Evaluation

• Purpose: Conduct a final evaluation of the absolute or comparative worth of the instruction after it is in its final form.
• Key Note: Summative evaluation is not part of the design process per se but is its ultimate validation, often conducted by an external evaluator.

Current Implementation in Education

While its full 10-step rigor is often reserved for large projects, the Dick and Carey Model's principles are deeply embedded in professional instructional design practice.

1. Standard in Corporate & Government Training:

• It is the de facto model for designing complex, high-stakes training in industries like pharmaceuticals, aviation, and the military, where alignment, precision, and accountability are critical.

2. Framework for Online and Blended Course Development in Higher Ed:

• Instructional designers in universities use it as a guide for developing robust online programs.
• It enforces alignment (a core Quality Matters standard), ensuring that course objectives, module activities, and assessments are all directly connected.

3. Foundation for Curriculum Mapping and Competency-Based Education (CBE):

• The process of defining goals, analyzing skills, and writing precise performance objectives is the essence of competency-based program design.
• Curriculum maps are visual tools that stem from the systematic analysis performed in Steps 1-4.

4. Influence on Backward Design (Understanding by Design - UbD):

• While UbD (Wiggins & McTighe) is a curriculum planning model for teachers, it shares a core philosophical tenet with Dick and Carey: start with the end goal (Step 1), determine acceptable evidence (Step 5), then plan the learning experiences (Step 6). Dick and Carey is the more detailed, systems-oriented version of this logic.

5. Tool for Rigorous Learning Science Applications:

• In the era of evidence-based practice, the model's emphasis on formative evaluation and data-driven revision (Steps 8 & 9) is more relevant than ever. It provides a structured way to apply learning science research and A/B test instructional interventions.

Advantages & Critiques

Conclusion

The Dick and Carey Model is the quintessential systems approach to instructional design. Its enduring strength is its methodical, evidence-based process for ensuring that instruction is effective, efficient, and accountable. While it is often adapted or streamlined for smaller projects, its core logic—define the goal, analyze the task, design for that goal, and test with real learners—remains a foundational discipline for professional instructional designers. It is less a specific recipe and more a masterclass in the science of designing learning experiences that work.