Terpspicore: an instructional design tool

Abstract

The use of Instructional Design Theory in the construction of Learning Design can yield important benefits to learning resource designers. However, their use in Computer-Aided Design environments is conditioned to the existence of machine-readable representations of said theories. This work presents a tool that aids Learning Design construction by analyzing its conformance to an Instructional Design Theory. The analysis is then used as a basis for suggesting Learning Design improvements based on formal ontological representations of instructional design theories present in the tool’s knowledge base. The software’s functional architecture is described, and a case study is used to illustrate how this tool can be used to improve the conformance level of a Learning Design to the methods of a given Instructional Design Theory.