Running Head: INVESTIGATING THE ICARE MODEL 1

Investigating the ICARE Model for Advanced Instructional Design

Rhonda Ritter

CECS 6020

University of North Texas

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Investigating the ICARE Model for Advanced Instructional Design

The impact of technology on the world has not only changed the way organizations

conduct their daily business affairs, but it has made a tremendous impact in the educational

setting. The use of online classes has changed the way students attend college, the way faculty

members prepare to teach their courses and assess their students, and the way that faculty and

students collaborate. Courses are being offered in a variety of formats such as: synchronous,

asynchronous, blended/hybrid courses. Synchronous learning is defined as online courses when

the instructor and the student are online at the same time. Students are required to all be online

and participate in class lectures, discussions, etc. at a specific date and time. In contrast,

asynchronous learning coursework is provided via web technology and the students can access

the content, presentations, lectures, tests, etc. at a time that is convenient for them (Admin,

2012). Blended and/or hybrid courses, as they are commonly called, is a combination of

synchronous and asynchronous.

Many different terms are used to define the course offerings, however, one of the most

important aspects of this trend is designing the course so that it will benefit the students.

Instructional design has evolved into a field that is growing rapidly to keep up with the offerings

of online courses. Not only are instructional designers needed in the educational arena, but in

any aspect of an organization that needs to conduct training for their employees. This paper will

focus on the ICARE Instructional Design Model that has been used in an educational setting.

The decision to choose this design was due to its flexibility, adaptability and ease of use.

Technology has changed the way teachers teach and students learn. The World Wide

Web and technology opened up a tremendous potential for educators to embrace but there

needed to be a system of organization to presenting the information in an online environment in a

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systematic and organized fashion. Salyers (2006) noted that with the emergence of technology,

educators must use the technology to determine how to enhance the classroom experience. The

world had to adapt and instructional design was developed. Instructional design is defined as the

“systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to

ensure the quality of instruction. It is the entire process of analysis of learning needs and goals

and the development of a delivery system to meet those needs. It includes development of

instructional materials and activities; and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner

activities” (Berger & Kam, 1996).

With the emergence of the World Wide Web in 1990 the world has seen tremendous

gains in the use of the Internet for professional and personal uses (Zimmerman, 2012). In 1993 a

milestone in the use of the Internet was reached, the World Wide Web became free to anyone

who wanted to utilize its resources (Zimmerman, 2012). This opened up doors for businesses

and education. The educational system would need to prepare students to be able to use

computers and the technology that was rapidly changing their world. To keep individuals

abreast of the new technology, more and more applications and information would be gained via

these technological devices through instructional design models.

Numerous models have been developed to aid in the process of creating online course

materials for educators who are not well versed in the design process. Molenda, Reigeluth, and

Nelson (2006) found that within the realm of instructional technology, instructional design is not

only a construct, but also a field of theory and practice. Wang (2008) stated “cognitive

constructivists believe learners construct knowledge individually based on their prior experience

and new information” (p. 413). Based on this idea, the design of instruction must support the

needs of the individual learner and educators must move into the realm of facilitators instead of
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lecturer (Wang, 2008). In most classrooms, educators do not have a background in instructional

design and typically do not follow a linear method of planning and learning (Hanley, 2009) and

therefore are in need of a systematic, organized design to follow. It is important to let learners

know early in a lesson what the objectives of the course will be and what they will be expected

to know at the end of the instruction (Hoffman & Ritchie, 1997).

The approach or learning process behind instructional design models is based on “the

construction of whole learning environments that have special features conducive to efficient,

effective learning and…can be viewed as large-scale methods—frameworks that are created in

order to immerse learners in a consistent set of instructional conditions” (Molenda, et al, p. 577).

Hoffman and Ritchie (1997) found that when instructional designers are creating courses it is

crucial to keep the instructional goal of the learner in mind.

In the California State University (CSU) a need was seen to establish an instructional

design model that faculty members who were not well trained in the process could use in their

online course development. The CSU system sponsored a Faculty Development Institute that

“introduced an instructional design-based online course structure that can be adopted—and

adapted—for use across disciplines, organizations and types of knowledge or skills being taught

or learned” (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001). A system of templates was created using the acronym “I

CARE”, that helped students to mentally organize their approach to the individual course content

as well as facilitating the technical development of online courses (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001).

The ICARE model has been found to be a useful and practical application design to use

in the online educational setting. Byrum (2013) found that the flexibility of the ICARE model

made the design very appealing because it allowed the course designer to change the learning

experience of the students. The designer could emphasize one section over another with the
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ICARE model, using a more constructivist learning approach. The study conducted by Byrum

(2013) found that students who were novice instructional designers believed the ICARE model

to be very helpful and easy to use. Rees (2011) describes the ICARE model as being a useful

resource after an instructor has conducted an analysis of the student needs because of the way

that the model organizes the course content. Middlesex University used the ICARE model

framework and adapted it for their Global Campus initiative to offer distance learning in other

countries (Hanley, 2009).

ICARE stands for Introduction, Connect, Apply, Reflect, and Extend (Rees, 2011;

Hoffman & Ritchie, 1998; Byrum, 2013). Hoffman & Ritchie (1998) developed the ICARE

model to be organized around modules, or sessions, to correspond to learners’ needs around their

personal and professional lives. The figure below represents the ICARE model framework and

the progression from one section to the next.

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The Introduction section of the ICARE model “serves to place the present learning in the

context of the course as a whole, and enliven learners’ prior knowledge with respect to the

content” (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001). Byrum (2013) noted that this section was used to clearly

state the objectives of the course and to orient the learner to the materials and goals. Hoffman &

Saltzman (2009) presented the introduction section as a way of combining the context, how the

module fits within the course; motivation, identifying the relevant problem/opportunity; and

learning outcomes, useful learning activities, assessing accomplishment and focus of the learner.

The Connect section is where the “learners engage new information in a context that is

relevant and meaningful to their professional or personal life” (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001).

Byrum (2013) notes the Connect section should provide the learner with real world examples.

Hoffman & Saltzman (2009) present this section as a place to provide the learners with materials

such as graphs, diagrams, demonstrations, etc. Hanley (2009) noted that when Middlesex

University used the ICARE model they changed the “Connect” phase to the “Content” phase to

accommodate their needs, which was productive to their implementation because of its flexibility

and adaptability.

Hoffman & Ritchie (2001) describe the Apply section as the phase where the content

should be related to the real life needs of the learner. This section should include a variety of

methods. Within the Apply section, learners are able to take the information that was gained in

the Connect section and apply it to real world examples (Byrum, 2013). One example that can

be used in this section is to have the learner create an authentic project that is to be assessed to

practice the new skills (Byrum, 2013).

In order for the learner to retain their knowledge of the content, there needs to be a phase

that allows some thinking, or reflecting, on what they have learned. The Reflect section allows
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learners to not only think about what they have learned, but to talk about it in order to further the

process of long term retention in memory (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001). This section is the phase

where reflective activities are incorporated such as: blogging, exchanging emails, or posting to

discussion boards (Hoffman & Saltzman, 2009).

The final section of the ICARE model is the Extend section. This is a good place for the

instructional designer to include any type of resources for future reference or perhaps a topic for

advanced work (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001). The Extend section is for those who may want to

do more activities for enrichment or for the learner who may need remediation (Byrum, 2013;

Hoffman & Saltzman, 2009). Another aspect of the Extend section is to assess the learner’s

knowledge and prompt the learners to evaluate his/her own learning (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001).

Examples of web-based activities would be to implement quizzes, surveys, discussions, or even

off-line activities as appropriate (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001).

Some of the major strengths of the ICARE model are its flexibility, ease of use, well-

balanced systematic approach (Byrum, 2013), adaptability (Hanley, 2009), pedagogically sound

design (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001) and it is available free for anyone to use to adopt, adapted or

transform into their own online course design (Hoffman & Ritchie, 2001). One weakness would

be that the model is relatively new and has not been implemented on a larger scale as the older

models and therefore does not have as much publicity as other advanced instructional designs.

Discussion

The World Wide Web has changed the way that people operate in their daily lives

whether for personal or for professional reasons. With the change in technology, people had to

adapt. More importantly, educators had to adapt and learn how to keep up with these changing

times to educate the students to the best of their ability with this new technology. Instructional
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design was one way that educators could move into this new era with little training or knowledge

of the concept.

The ICARE model is an advanced instructional design that I feel will be one that has a

promising future in the educational setting as well as the business setting. The way that the

modules are designed makes it easily adaptable within any type of organization to teach the

learner a new skill. When researching this model, I found that in essence I use this concept when

I am teaching my secondary level students. With the online system that I use in the classroom, I

was able to adapt the ICARE model and implement it into the instruction process with little

difficulty.

This design was chosen for use in our prototype to create a lesson on the basic functions

of Excel. The ICARE model is designed in a way that makes it adaptable to any type of learning

process. We chose this instructional design model due to its flexibility, adaptability and ease of

use for the learner as well as for the instructor.

With more universities creating online courses and businesses needing more online

training for cost purposes, the advanced instructional design models will become a system that is

widely used. Due to the ICARE Instructional Design Model being a relatively ‘new’ advanced

instructional design, further studies need to be conducted on the model and its uses in other types

of organizations.
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