A Preliminary Study and Research Protocol for Investigating Sociocultural Issues in Instructional Design

The purpose of this project was to initiate a program of research to explore how instructional designers around the world use design to make a social difference locally and globally. The central research question was, "Are there social and political purposes for design that are culturally based?" A growing body of research is concerned with the design of culturally-appropriate learning resources and environments, but the focus of this research is the instructional designer as the "agent" of the design. Colloquially put, if we design for ourselves, we should understand the sociocultural influences on us and how they inform our practices. We should also develop respect for, and learn from, how various global cultures address similar design problems differently. This paper reports the results of a preliminary investigation held with instructional designers from ten countries to examine culturally situated values and practices of instructional design, and it presents a research protocol that was developed to expand the investigation internationally. (Contains 8 figures.)