A Domain-Specific Modeling approach for supporting the specification of Visual Instructional Design Languages and the building of dedicated editors

This paper presents, illustrates and discusses theories and practices about the application of a domain-specific modeling (DSM) approach to facilitate the specification of Visual Instructional Design Languages (VIDLs) and the development of dedicated graphical editors. Although this approach still requires software engineering skills, it tackles the need of building VIDLs allowing both visual models for human-interpretation purposes (explicit designs, communication, thinking, etc.) and machine-readable notations for deployment or other instructional design activities. This article proposes a theoretical application and a categorization, based on a domain-oriented separation of concerns of instructional design. It also presents some practical illustrations from experiments of specific DSM tooling. Key lessons learned as well as observed obstacles and challenges to deal with are discussed in order to further develop such an approach.

Research highlights► Presentation of Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM) theories and practices. ► Application of a DSM approach to specify Visual Instructional Design Languages. ► Development of dedicated graphical editors with a specific DSM tooling. ► Presentation of practical illustrations. ► Key lessons learned and future trends are discussed.