Instructional Design is one of the ranges of synonyms used for Educational technology. Instructional Design or Education Technology is part of the discipline of System Engineering philosophy- define, develop, evaluate, disseminate. Instructional Design has fundamentally two different views: a physical science or technology view and another a behavioral science view. The physical science view is essentially a hardware or technology view including media, audiovisual aids, and machines such as computers and networks. The impact of the physical science view is to improve the impact of teaching or to improve instructional efficiency.

The behavioral science view takes a different starting point and has a different endpoint. In this view, technology is defined as the practical application of science. Thus educational technology is the practical application of the tools and technologies to the education of the laws, rules, and heuristics of educational psychology and educational communications and general systems theory to education. In this view, the media are not a necessary component.  Yet to the extent that media play a central role in the teaching/learning process, the role of media is more central and often more justifiable than in the physical science view. The aim of the behavioral science view is to increase the impact on learning- to improve instructional effectiveness.

This lesson provides a basic understanding of the Instructional Design principles and practices.

This defines what Instructional Design is and the various components of Instructional design. Instructional Design is considered both a science and an art. It has the rigors and discipline of science and the creativity and understanding of the human mind as art.  

Instructional Design deals with the theories of human behavior of learning, the constructs of technology frameworks, and the process of activities involved in learning and teaching.