教学是作为教者，基于对学生和教学任务的分析，而对教学目标、教学方法、教学材料、教学进度、课程评估等做出系统设计的一门学科。 教学设计者经常使用教学技术以改进教学。

教学设计的诞生归功于第二次世界大战，当时美国需要快速培训大批人员完成复杂的技术任务，征召了大批教育心理学家(其中包括加涅，Leslie Briggs，Robert Merril)去培训军人。战后，这些教育心理学家完成了包括一系列创新的分析、设计和评估进程在内的比较正式的教学系统。在商业和工业训练中首先采纳了战争期间成功的训练模式，后来又被引入中小学课堂。

Instructional design, or Instructional systems design (ISD), is the practice of creating "instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing." The process consists broadly of determining the state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. Ideally, the process is informed by pedagogically (process of teaching) and andragogically (adult learning) tested theories of learning and may take place in student-only, teacher-led or community-based settings. The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. As a field, instructional design is historically and traditionally rooted in cognitive and behavioral psychology, though recently Constructivism (learning theory) has influenced thinking in the field.