Abstract:

Educational specialists are continuously assessing ways to detect, ban, regulate, incorporate, or use generative AI in education. This paper suggests a paradigm shift where the focus is away from AI, or any other technology. It proposes an instructional design framework that focuses on developing the required skills for life-long learning with AI or any other future technology.

The Flexible Ubiquitous Agnostic Design (FUAD) framework is based on three main directions in education which are identified as instigators of an educational paradigm shift; These directions are flexible pedagogy -where learning is flexible and inclusive; ubiquitous learning – where embedded and invisible digital devices support the learning environment; and agnostic instructional design – where learning experiences are device neutral and learners have the liberty to use any device or software to produce knowledge in a multimodal way. All three have been combined to formulate the FUAD framework for learner-centred instruction that supports learner empowerment, co-construction of knowledge, flexibility, and agnostic technology integration.

The FUAD framework consists of 7 principles:
- Allowing the choice of product, tools and procedure;
- Co-construction of success criteria;
- Generic assignment description;
- Platform agnostic services;
- Social collaborative knowledge construction;
- Accessibility to technology and skills support;
- Authenticity.

The principles of the framework have been expanded and modified based on the findings of a theory-driven evaluation research design. FUAD principles were used as evaluation criteria to evaluate and enhance learning designs in higher education.

The FUAD framework is significant because it supports agnostic and inclusive instructional design, i.e. learning that does not subscribe to any particular technology. It translates the theoretical concepts into practical principles or procedures that could be incorporated into learning experiences. It functions as a framework for instructional design and as an evaluation tool for learning experiences in higher education.

Keywords:

Instructional Design, evaluation, flexible learning, ubiquitous learning, agnostic, AI, Artificial Intelligence, learner-centered, FUAD Framework.