Thoughts on the Instructional Design Process

Although I have not used the exact title, I have used instructional design to some extent in all aspects of my career in education. In my first years as an educator and coach, I designed lesson plans and practice itineraries on a daily and weekly basis. Once I transitioned into an Instructional technologist, the skills I had learned from planning in the classroom and the gym carried over into my planning for training teachers. As I have looked at the six step approach to instructional design, I have noticed that I was basically following these steps, but not in such a formal manner.

Since instructional design has been at the core of my daily routine in my career, I found it very interesting to learn about the six steps of good instructional design and realized how my own planning had included many of the steps. Simply put, the six steps are to: identify the problem; analyze the tasks and conditions of the job; analyze current performance levels; identify causes of the problem; identify desired performance outcomes; and, identify the expectations of the training outcomes (Leidner and Jarvenpaa, 1995). 

So as I have learned about sound instructional design, I have realized that without a set process, the instructional design has a good possibility of failing. In other words, for a training that I conduct to be successful, there has to first be a purpose for the learner to attend. There must be a problem at hand that the learner needs to address. This has always been the deciding factor of a lesson taught, practice coached, or training delivered for me. If the learner does not see a purpose, they will not receive as much from the training. Next, it is extremely important to analyze how tasks are being performed and how these performance might be enhanced. Whether I have looked at student performances on assignments, team performances in an athletic event, or teacher performance in blended learning, I have had to analyze specifics of what needs to be addressed to enhance the performance of the learner. From the analysis, finding the cause of the problem can be the key to making sure the problem can be corrected.

Finally, I have realized that within the instructional design, it is important to determine what the desired performance outcome will look like. Will it be a project, a written assessment, or some type of performance or presentation that will show student mastery of the training? Once the desired outcome is identified, then the expectations must be lined out so that the learner knows exactly what is involved to reach success. Sound instructional design does take time, but the time pays off with the learner being immersed in a learning environment that enhances their tasks at hand.

References

Leidner, D. E., & Jarvenpaa, S. L. (1995). The use of information technology to enhance management school education: A theoretical view. MIS quarterly, 265-291.