Importance of Instructional Design?
Jun 26, 2015
By
Amanda Allen
Surely there is a simple answer out there for this. My Executive Director wants me to develop a one-pager on the importance of instructional design to present to our SMEs. I've scoured the internet, the ATD site, and here and can't seem to find anything that simply states the importance of instructional design. I know this is a question every instructional designer has encountered so surely there's a simple document or infographic already developed. Right? I suppose I could create something of my own, but I'm pressed for time and would like to avoid any duplication of effort.
Thanks!
15 Replies
Best quickie suggestion I can think of is to create something like this....
Wasn't it Benjamin Franklin who said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”? This adage applies to instructional design. I developed a lesson on Instructional Design Documentation for a practicum I teach. It's specific to the documentation rather than to ID in general but the slides on the risks and rewards associated with ID documentation might have some info that would be useful for your paper.
Hello, Amanda!
I think your question is on point and I agree that there seems to be a dearth of "short and sweet" descriptions regarding the purpose of ISD!
Here's a link to a one-page ISD overview I put together for my own clients and SMEs. Perhaps it will be useful in responding to your Director's request.
Cheers,
Adele
Would you build a house without a set of plans and just let the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other trades go at it? Experts, unless they have training in education, often suffer from "Expert Blind Spot" and are unable to access or articulate a large amount of their knowledge. The ID is there to put the SME's knowledge into a usable form and develop activities to help turn training events into learning events.
Does it need to be something super formal?
If I were doing this for my job, I would start out with examples.
"Have you ever sat through a training session where the presenter read straight from a PowerPoint that may have well been copied and pasted from a college text book? Or how about an e-learning course where you simply read a bunch of text then had to click next?
Instructional design is here to make those learning experiences better and actually effective..."
I love Adele's sheet as well!
Rachel, what an excellent idea to lead in with examples that everyone can relate to! It's a very powerful approach, and I know it would grab attention instantly.
Thank you also for the feedback on my ISD mini-overview; I'm glad it was of interest to you!
Cheers,
Adele
Thanks everyone for the feedback!
Hi Cary! Great example, I think that is a way that people sometimes get lost when it comes to ID! I could envision the groups of workers just crowded around an empty lot with nothing to do because there is no plan! I also think Bob s breakdown gives a great overview of what it should contain.
This post was removed by the author
I did a quick search and was super surprised, like you, that there was nothing out there that really covered this, so I decided to go ahead and write an article about it! Hopefully it's not too late for you to use it. Let me know what you think!
This post was removed by a moderator
May want to also add that seasoned ISD's should know if training is actually required. Sometimes a simple job aid will suffice in lieu of a full-blown eLearning or facilitator-led course. I think that is probably the most important thing. Once the need has been verified through proper analysis, then you can move on to the fun stuff.
Mike
Hi there, I know this post is old, but I am wondering if there is anything anyone has about the Instructional design and User experience combined approach to designing learning material. I need to write a report for work and there is tons of material out there but for each separately. So, it gets quite daunting. Any suggestions? Many thanks in advance. Stef
Hi Stefaniada,
I wrote an article on this topic awhile ago but I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for. Here's the link: How to Design a Better Learner Experience.
Have a look and let me know! :)
HI Allison, Thanks for this but it is not really what i need and it talks about UI and UX. I need something on the topic of combining the forces of instructional Design (ID) and User experience (UX). What are both separately and how they can complement each other, best practices to do that, maybe same example, to improve learning and provide a better experience to users. Thanks. Stef
Hi Stefaniada,
UI and UX are intertwined, so I think you'll be hard-pressed to find an article that's ONLY on UX. This is the only thing we have on E-Learning Heroes. Let me know if you find what you're looking for elsewhere! I'm not sure I fully understand.