ARCHED: A Human-Centered Framework for Transparent, Responsible, and Collaborative AI-Assisted Instructional Design

Abstract

Integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) in educational technology reveals unprecedented opportunities to improve instructional design (ID), yet current approaches often prioritize automation over pedagogical rigor and human agency. This paper introduces ARCHED (AI for Responsible, Collaborative, Human-centered Education Instructional Design), a framework that implements a structured multi-stage workflow between educators and AI. Unlike existing tools that generate complete instructional materials autonomously, ARCHED cascades the development into distinct stages, from learning objective formulation to assessment design, each guided by Bloom’s taxonomy and enhanced by LLMs. This framework employs multiple specialized AI components that work in concert: one generating diverse pedagogical options, another evaluating their alignment with learning objectives while maintaining human educators as primary decision-makers. ARCHED addresses critical gaps in current AI-assisted instructional design regarding transparency, pedagogical foundation, and meaningful human agency through this approach. This research advances the responsible integration of AI in education by providing a concrete, theoretically grounded framework that prioritizes human expertise and educational accountability.

Materials

• Full citation (PMLR)proceedings.mlr.press
• arXiv versionviablelab.org

Cite

@inproceedings{li2025arched,
  author = {Li, Hongming and Fang, Yizirui and Zhang, Shan and Lee, Seiyon M. and Wang, Yiming and Trexler, Mark and Botelho, Anthony F.},
  title = {ARCHED: A Human-Centered Framework for Transparent, Responsible, and Collaborative AI-Assisted Instructional Design},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Innovation and Responsibility in AI-Supported Education Workshop (iRAISE at AAAI 2025)},
  year = {2025},
  volume = {273},
  pages = {94--104},
  publisher = {PMLR},
  url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v273/li25a.html}
}