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What is an expert instructional designer? Evidence of expert performance during formative evaluation

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Abstract

Two instructional designers were provided with formative evaluation data from the sources recommended in the literature and were asked to revise a piece of instructional text while thinking aloud. Their verbal protocols were recorded, transcribed, segmented and coded, using a coding scheme derived from Newell and Simon's (1972) problem-solving model. Relevant codes were analyzed for evidence of the characteristics of expert performers identified by Glaser and Chi (1988) and Shanteau (1992). Results were unclear when the number of coded segments in each category was counted, but examination of the content of the segments showed clearly that one of the research participants demonstrated more attributes of expertise than the other, based on the identified characteristics.

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This paper was originally presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, March 1997.

The author acknowledges, with gratitude, the helpful comments made by Cynthia Weston, Wayne Nelson, and three reviewers on earlier drafts of this paper.

This research was supported in part by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Fonds pour la formation des chercheurs et l'aide a la recherche (FCAR).

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Le Maistre, C. What is an expert instructional designer? Evidence of expert performance during formative evaluation. ETR&D 46, 21–36 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299759

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