ISD-Agent-Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Evaluating LLM-based Instructional Design Agents

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Jeon, YoungHoon, Kim, Suwan, Son, Haein, Lee, Sookbun, Jeong, Yeil, Lee, Unggi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Jeon, YoungHoon
Kim, Suwan
Son, Haein
Lee, Sookbun
Jeong, Yeil
Lee, Unggi
author_facet Jeon, YoungHoon
Kim, Suwan
Son, Haein
Lee, Sookbun
Jeong, Yeil
Lee, Unggi
contents Large Language Model (LLM) agents have shown promising potential in automating Instructional Systems Design (ISD), a systematic approach to developing educational programs. However, evaluating these agents remains challenging due to the lack of standardized benchmarks and the risk of LLM-as-judge bias. We present ISD-Agent-Bench, a comprehensive benchmark comprising 25,795 scenarios generated via a Context Matrix framework that combines 51 contextual variables across 5 categories with 33 ISD sub-steps derived from the ADDIE model. To ensure evaluation reliability, we employ a multi-judge protocol using diverse LLMs from different providers, achieving high inter-judge reliability. We compare existing ISD agents with novel agents grounded in classical ISD theories such as ADDIE, Dick \& Carey, and Rapid Prototyping ISD. Experiments on 1,017 test scenarios demonstrate that integrating classical ISD frameworks with modern ReAct-style reasoning achieves the highest performance, outperforming both pure theory-based agents and technique-only approaches. Further analysis reveals that theoretical quality strongly correlates with benchmark performance, with theory-based agents showing significant advantages in problem-centered design and objective-assessment alignment. Our work provides a foundation for systematic LLM-based ISD research.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_10620
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ISD-Agent-Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Evaluating LLM-based Instructional Design Agents
Jeon, YoungHoon
Kim, Suwan
Son, Haein
Lee, Sookbun
Jeong, Yeil
Lee, Unggi
Software Engineering
Computation and Language
Large Language Model (LLM) agents have shown promising potential in automating Instructional Systems Design (ISD), a systematic approach to developing educational programs. However, evaluating these agents remains challenging due to the lack of standardized benchmarks and the risk of LLM-as-judge bias. We present ISD-Agent-Bench, a comprehensive benchmark comprising 25,795 scenarios generated via a Context Matrix framework that combines 51 contextual variables across 5 categories with 33 ISD sub-steps derived from the ADDIE model. To ensure evaluation reliability, we employ a multi-judge protocol using diverse LLMs from different providers, achieving high inter-judge reliability. We compare existing ISD agents with novel agents grounded in classical ISD theories such as ADDIE, Dick \& Carey, and Rapid Prototyping ISD. Experiments on 1,017 test scenarios demonstrate that integrating classical ISD frameworks with modern ReAct-style reasoning achieves the highest performance, outperforming both pure theory-based agents and technique-only approaches. Further analysis reveals that theoretical quality strongly correlates with benchmark performance, with theory-based agents showing significant advantages in problem-centered design and objective-assessment alignment. Our work provides a foundation for systematic LLM-based ISD research.
title ISD-Agent-Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Evaluating LLM-based Instructional Design Agents
topic Software Engineering
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10620