Value: 15%

A gentle reminder that as with all LRNT courses, you are expected to incorporate APA standards for citations, formatting, and references and to back up your writing with evidence and appropriate academic literature as necessary. You are required to pay attention to grammar and clarity and to avoid colloquialisms. References are not included in the assignment word count. Also, don’t forget the numerous resources available to you as you build your competence and fluency with APA formatting and writing style. In particular, check out the RRU APA 7 formatting checklists as well as RRU WriteAnswers where you can ask your APA questions.

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to synthesize your learning throughout the course by developing a personal set of instructional design principles to guide your future practice. Drawing on course concepts, scholarly literature, personal and professional experiences, and your own context, you will articulate the beliefs, values, and priorities that would inform your design decisions.

Design principles are not universal rules; rather, they represent the evidence-informed commitments that guide your instructional design practice. Grounded in your philosophy of teaching and learning, they provide a framework for making thoughtful, consistent design decisions across different contexts.

Your principles should reflect the insights you have gained through exploring instructional design models and approaches, collaborating to develop an Instructional Design Field Guide, critically reflecting on your learning, and considering the role of generative AI in instructional design. Together, these principles should represent your evolving identity as an instructional designer and how you might approach future design challenges.

Deliverables

There are two deliverables for this assignment:

1. Instructional Design Principles

Develop and present 5–10 personal instructional design principles that reflect your evolving instructional design philosophy and could guide your future design practice.

You may choose how to communicate your principles, using a written, visual, audio, multimedia, or other creative format. Your chosen format should communicate your principles clearly and meaningfully to your intended audience.

If you choose a written format, your presentation of the principles should be no more than 300 words.

2. Scholarly Rationale (300 words)

Develop a 300-word written rationale explaining how your design principles have been informed by your learning throughout the course, scholarly literature, personal and professional experiences, and your own context.

Your rationale should demonstrate how these influences have shaped your instructional design philosophy and how your principles might guide your future design decisions.

Support your rationale with relevant scholarly literature and appropriate APA 7 citations and references.

Developing Your Design Principles

Your design principles should represent your own evolving instructional design philosophy and be applicable to your own professional context. Rather than summarizing course content, your goal is to synthesize your learning into a practical framework that could guide your future design decisions (real or hypothetical)

As you develop your design principles, consider questions such as:

• Which ID models, theories, or approaches have most influenced my thinking?
• How have my perspectives on learners, learning experiences, accessibility, technology, or collaboration evolved throughout this course?
• How has my understanding of generative AI influenced my thinking about instructional design practice?
• What challenges or opportunities exist within my professional context that my principles should address?
• If consistently applied, how might these principles influence the learning experiences I create?
• How might these principles guide my future instructional design decisions in future?

You are encouraged to communicate your design principles in ways that best support your intended audience and reflect your evolving identity as an instructional designer. You may choose a written, visual, audio, multimedia, or other creative format, such as an infographic, concept map, illustration, diagram, video, podcast, animation, or another representation.

Your chosen format should communicate your principles clearly and meaningfully. Regardless of the format selected, your principles must be accompanied by a separate 300-word written scholarly rationale.

The emphasis is on the clarity, relevance, and thoughtful communication of your principles rather than the complexity or sophistication of the format you choose.

If you would like to explore examples of design principles, consider exploring Elias (2010). Universal instructional design principles for Moodle, the Learning Policy Institute, & Turnaround for Children’s (2021) Design principles for schools, and the design principles developed through Crichton and Childs’ (2022) National Validation Study. These examples are intended to inspire your thinking rather than serve as templates.

Generative AI

The use of generative AI in this assignment must align with the RRU’s policies and expectations regarding academic integrity and the ethical use of AI.

This assignment is intended to represent your own instructional design philosophy and professional judgment. The design principles, rationale, analysis, and connections you present must reflect your own thinking and writing.

You may use generative AI to support the organization and presentation of your work by:

• developing or refining an outline for your scholarly rationale;
• organizing your ideas into a logical structure;
• designing and developing visuals, graphics, audio, or multimedia elements to enhance the presentation of your principles, provided these elements communicate your own original ideas and thinking;
• checking grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence clarity; and
• improving readability while preserving your original meaning and voice.

Generative AI must not be used to generate your design principles or the substantive content of your scholarly rationale. Your principles and rationale must represent your own beliefs, experiences, critical thinking, and synthesis of course concepts, scholarly literature, and professional practice.

If you use AI in any capacity, you must include an AI Use Disclaimer with your assignment submission. You remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, and scholarly integrity of all submitted work.

Submission

Publish your design principles and rationale on your blog and submit the link to the Assignment 4 Moodle Dropbox by the assignment deadline.

Grading

This assignment will be marked according to the following rubric:

Criteria	Exemplary   (A+ to A)	Proficient  (A- to B+)	Developing  (B to B-)	Insufficient   (F)
Design principles	Develops a thoughtful, cohesive, and evidence-informed set of instructional design principles that clearly articulate a personal instructional design philosophy. Principles are contextually relevant, demonstrate clear connections between beliefs and instructional design decisions, and provide meaningful guidance for future practice. The chosen format communicates the principles effectively, creatively, and accessibly to the intended audience.	Develops a clear and evidence-informed set of instructional design principles that reflect an emerging instructional design philosophy. Principles are relevant to the learner’s context and demonstrate appropriate connections between beliefs and instructional design decisions. The chosen format communicates the principles clearly and appropriately to the intended audience.	Develops a limited or primarily descriptive set of instructional design principles that demonstrate an emerging but insufficiently articulated instructional design philosophy. Principles lack clarity, contextual relevance, or meaningful connections to future instructional design decisions. The chosen format communicates the principles with limited clarity or effectiveness.	Develops few or no identifiable instructional design principles, or presents principles that lack a coherent instructional design philosophy. Principles demonstrate little to no contextual relevance or connection to future instructional design decisions. The chosen format does not communicate the principles clearly or meaningfully to the intended audience.
Scholarly rationale	Develops a thoughtful and well-supported scholarly rationale that demonstrates insightful synthesis of course concepts, scholarly literature, personal and professional experiences, and future practice. Clearly articulates how these influences have informed the development of the design principles and demonstrates meaningful connections to an evolving instructional design philosophy. Writing is engaging, well organized, and adheres to APA 7 conventions.	Develops a clear and well-supported scholarly rationale that demonstrates appropriate connections between course concepts, scholarly literature, personal and professional experiences, and future practice. Explains how these influences have informed the development of the design principles and demonstrates an emerging instructional design philosophy. Writing is well organized and demonstrates generally accurate APA 7 conventions, with only minor writing or formatting issues.	Develops a limited or primarily descriptive scholarly rationale with insufficient synthesis or justification. Demonstrates limited integration of course concepts, scholarly literature, or personal and professional experiences, and connections to the development of the design principles or future practice require further development. Writing lacks organization or clarity, and APA 7 or scholarly writing conventions require further development.	The scholarly rationale is missing, substantially incomplete, or demonstrates little to no synthesis of course concepts, scholarly literature, personal and professional experiences, or future practice. Connections between these influences and the development of the design principles are absent or unclear. Writing is substantially disorganized or unclear, with significant deficiencies in scholarly writing and APA 7 conventions.