Forum Discussion
A silly question about Instructional Designer & Subject Matter Expert
Hi all,
I have read a couple of articles about the job responsibility and role of an ID and have got a few questions that would like to hear everyone's opinions on. And I am aware that the questi...
Hi PD, and welcome to the community! Also, that's not a silly question at all. In fact, it's one that's been top of mind for a lot of K-12 schools and universities during the pandemic.
I'll echo Math's answer that being a great classroom teacher doesn't necessarily mean someone knows the best techniques for teaching in a digital environment. They are related skills. And during my own process of moving from K-12 teaching to instructional design, my classroom experience did help make that transition easier.
But the ways you share information, explain complex concepts, get (and keep) student attention, and assess new skills can be quite different in e-learning and online classes compared to in-person classes. And this is especially true for instructors used to giving lecture-based classes. Instructional designers who specialize in digital learning can be an important bridge between the SME and their students. Their skillset can ensure the SME's valuable content takes advantage of all the unique strengths of a digital environment and sidesteps its challenges.
Hi Bianca, thanks for your response. It does help fill in some gaps in my knowledge in the instructional designer job. I will go a little further and ask if you can help me with the following question because I think you are the best person for this. Coming from a perspective of an ex-teacher and now an instructional designer, what do you think SMEs appreciate most when working with an Instructional Designer? I have been reading and it seems to me that communication skills are the key. However, it seems a little generic.
PD, that's a really good question. And in my experience, the answer depends a lot on if they've worked with instructional designers before.
Subject matter experts who have never worked with an instructional designer before often assume we're just experts in e-learning development tools. They expect us to take their information and port it into an e-learning course with little to no changes. In these cases, some SMEs may even get angry if we change the content or don't include every bit of information they gave us: even if those changes lead to better learning experiences. So they appreciate that we build e-learning for them, but may be confused/upset when we do more.
However, when SMEs have worked with instructional designers before and had a good experience, they often have a better sense of how we can help them. E-Learning that's just a knowledge dump of text doesn't tend to lead to people understanding or retaining the information (even if that approach was somewhat effective in a lecture or classroom format). But a strong partnership between a SME and instructional designer can lead to content that covers the key things someone needs to know (what the SME is bringing to the table) and does it in a way that uses the unique strengths of digital learning to share content in a way a self-paced learner will complete, understand, and apply correctly later (the contributions of the instructional designer).
In those positive collaborations, SMEs tend to appreciate things like how the instructional designer:
- used multimedia and interactions to make content easier to understand
- took complex topics and made them easy for learners to wrap their heads around on their own
- made edits that decreased the time learners spent in the course while still ensuring learning outcomes were met
- created e-learning that learners actually completed
- created courses that noticeably improved information retention and use later
- made the e-learning design and development process easy on the SME
- kept the spirit and intent of their content, even if we altered the length or wording.
As an addition to Bianca's great answer i am inclined to add these points
- get regular student feedback on digital courses
- update courses with the student feedback if appropriate
