8 Ways to Learn More About Instructional Design

I was recently asked by email how to learn more about instructional design. Here are 7 ideas:

1. Wikipedia - There are some good introductory articles on Wikipedia, including these on instructional design, instructional/educational technology, ADDIE Model, and first principles of instruction.
2. Blogs - I am constantly blogging on instructional design and related topics, and there a lot of other great blogs out there, including Dave Merrill's blog on First Principles and George Joeckel's Design Blog.
3. YouTube - There are some good videos out there that introduce instructional design. Here is one I created that describes what an instructional designer does.
4. Online Groups - there are a lot of different LinkedIn groups dedicated to instructional design. If you look at my LinkedIn profile, you can see those I am a member of.
5. Associations - There are some great associations out there, and joining them is a great way to learn more about instructional design. I am a member of the International Society of Performance Improvement, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, and the Association for Talent Development. I gain a lot of knowledge through attending their meetings and reading their publications.
6. Articles - there are literally tens of thousands of articles on instructional design. I've written several on the practical use of design principles, which you can find here. There are also tons available in library search services and on scholar.google.com. 
7. Books - I would look at some of the great books out there. A good starter is The Systematic Design of Instruction by Dick Carey and Carey. You can also see my list of books I read to find other design books. Eventually, I hope to write my own introduction to instructional design book. .
8. Get the Degree - If you are really excited about the field, you should earn a degree or a certificate in the field. We have both of these where I work at Franklin University.

I hope this is a helpful list of ways to learn about instructional design!

The Iterative Nature of Design

One of the common problems I often see among new instructional designers is a desire to create "perfect" instruction fast. This is a problem because it ignores a vital truth about good instructional design (and likely good design in general). This truth is:

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN 
IS ITERATIVE.

So, what do I mean by iterative? I mean that instructional design should be done in iterations, which Wikipedia describes in this manner:

Iteration means the act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal, target or result. Each repetition of the process is also called an "iteration," and the results of one iteration are used as the starting point for the next iteration.

Novice Instructional Designers
A new instructional designer often:

• Stresses about getting it "right"
• Spends a huge amount of time in the design and planning phase
• Spends a lot of time on details, creating ultra-intricate storyboards
• Worries that they will be critiqued

 These stresses and worries usually result in "paralysis analysis" and render the new designer unable to move forward with their design.

Experienced Instructional Designers
In contrast, experienced instructional designers have a focus on creating and developing their materials. An experienced designer very often:

• Focuses on creativity and creation, realizing that design tasks have many "right" answers
• Spends adequate time in design, but does not linger in the design phase
• Develops materials rapidly, knowing that they will soon review, correct, and revise their work in the next iteration
• Actively seeks out critique from their peers and coworkers and implements that feedback to drastically improve the quality of their work

Again, this creation should never be expected to be perfect from the beginning; rather, it is shaped, revised, improved and refined through iteration. Below is an image of how one might visualize the iterative process of design. Each colored box represents the activity of the designer, and each arrow shows the flow from one activity to another.

Iterative Design and Development Process

 This image demonstrates the iterative nature of design. The designer (A) drafts the instructional materials. The designer then (B) performs some form of formative evaluation.This formative evaluation is often a simple self-evaluation, and the designer may draft, evaluate, and redraft the materials many times before having someone else review the materials, and those others might include peers, target learners, a client, and other stakeholders. Only after several iterations does the experience designer (C) produce or implement the instructional materials.

A Simple Example
As a simple example, I am writing this blog post knowing that the first draft will not be perfect - in fact, it will probably be kind of lame. But that is okay, because it is only the first iteration. Since writing that first draft, I have returned and revised the text, created the image, and discussed the concept with my brother (who is also an instructional designer). Hopefully through these iterations the materials will be much stronger than the first draft.

Iteration in All Phases
In this post, I have focused on using the iterative process in the development phase of instructional design. However, this process can (and should) be used in every phase of instruction. Whenever something is being created or developed (e.g. an analysis plan, a design plan, an evaluation plan), it should be developed iteratively with a focus on creating and improving. This helps avoid the dreaded "analysis paralysis" and enables the individual to move forward with confidence.

Related Post: Addie Process of Instructional Design

Your Feedback
To designers: what do you think? Does this reflect your beliefs about and experiences with design? Do you use the iterative process in your work? Do your iterations follow the same pattern as I describe here? I welcome your feedback and critique (and I will use it to revise the next iteration of this post!)

E-Learning or Live Training? Tips On How To Decide

An important part of designing instruction in a corporate setting is determining what format to use- web-based e-learning, or live face-to-face training. I recently asked the Instructional Design and E-Learning Professionals Group on LinkedIn in a discussion forum for best practices and got some great responses. Below is a summary of factors that have been suggest so far, along with my interpretation of how they should be considered:

• Stability of the material
• If the materials will likely not change a lot over time, then it might be worth building e-learning because you won't have to constantly change the e-learning.
• Type of learning (soft skill, technology, etc.) and the objectives of the learning
• If a person is learning a "soft skill" (like communication skills or something) or a physical skill (like welding) it might be better to have the training be in-person. But if it is a technology skill, it might work to put it as a piece of e-learning. The third option of using a blended approach (using web-based and live components) might also be powerful- using video or multimedia to demonstrate skills or knowledge and then having the participants practice in a live setting. (I have used blended approach for a lot of what I do and it can be very powerful).
  
• Available resources
• If there are few resources available to develop the unit of e-learning, then go with a live training. (This could work the other way, too).
  
• Our timeline
• If there is no time to create a quality unit of e-learning, have it done live.
• Number of people to be trained
• If you are training only a few people, it is probably not worth investing resources into developing a unit of e-learning. But if you are training several thousand, it is more likely to be worth the resources.
• Location of the people
• If everyone is in the same building, it might be easier to just train them live. If they are spread out throughout the world, creating e-learning is likely more useful.

One of my students also pointed out this very comprehensive breakdown of how to select the appropriate medium for training, prepared by SkillSoft.

I hope these are useful. What else might you add?

ADDIE Process - Development Phase

This post is part 3 in a 5-part series on the Phases of the ADDIE Process of Instructional Design. 
< Previous Post: Design    |    Next post: Implement >

After analyzing the instructional needs and designing a plan based on those needs, it is time to develop your instructional materials. This means creating all of the materials you planned for in the design phase. Depending on the situation, this can be (and probably will be) a lot of materials, and could include:

• Paper-based handouts
• Web-based content
• Instructional multimedia
• Interactive materials
• Faculty or facilitator guides
• Student guides
• Job aids
• activity guides

The creation of the materials is often done by more than one individual. In some organizations, instructional developers or programmers take the content created in the design phase and develop the materials. In other organizations, the instructional designer develops the materials. In my own work as an instructional designer, I have done the majority of the development work, though I usually receive support from others on several aspects of the course development including heavier programming, content editing, and multimedia production.

This is the phase in which the instructional designer uses physical tools to create instructional materials. As you develop, be sure that you are considering your analysis and that you are basing your materials on the plans you created in the design phase. To learn more about the development phase, watch this video:

ADDIE Process - the Design Phase

This post is part 2 in a series on the ADDIE Process of Instructional Design.

Design 

After performing an effective analysis, it is important to design your unit of instruction. This means planning out how you will help your students (1) acquire the knowledge and skills you have identified in your analysis, (2) apply that knowledge in meaningful ways, and (3) receive feedback and guidance on their learning. In the design phase, you build on the analysis you have performed. It will guide your thinking and planning.

 There are several steps that can be followed in the design phase. These include:

1. Analyze the subject matter -You need to have a thorough grasp of the content that the student will be required to understand and use. This analysis usually means breaking the content down into appropriate chunks of information, identifying how these chunks should be taught based on what kind of content they are- knowledge, skills, attitude, real-world task, etc.
2. Plan out instructional activities -Based on your analysis, you will need to plan out specifically how you will help your students to reach the goals and objectives you devised in your analysis. This includes creating all activities that will help your students acquire the knowledge they need, and practice applying it in meaningful ways. For help on this, see the section Evidence-based practice below.
3. Storyboard instructional activities -An important step in designing your instruction is storyboarding. This means laying out the sequence of the instructional activities. This can be done in a Word document, in a powerpoint document, on a whiteboard, or on a wall. Some people storyboard in the actual medium they will be developing in, like a Learning Management System. Whatever you do, the point is to plan out a logical sequence of learning activities for the learner.

Evidence-based Practice

As you design your instruction, be sure to use evidence-based practice- in other words, use what works. But what works? What guidance does research and experience give? There are a few fundamental principles of instruction that should be used when teaching knowledge and skills. I have discussed these generally in a previous post on Merrill's First Principles of Instruction. In addition, Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction have empirical evidence supporting their use and are easily implemented.

It is easy to get caught up in a fad or do what seems creative of flashy. But these things can be distracting to students and can actually detract from the effective design of instruction. An example of a distracting but common theory of how people learn is Learning Styles, which I write about here. Learning styles sound credible, but there is actually little or no evidence that adapting instruction to learning styles is actually effective.

I recommend watching this video, which gives a nice overview of the design phase:

Click here for next phase: Development

New Video: What Instructional Designers Do

It can sometimes be difficult to explain what an instructional designer does. I made this video which describes clearly (I hope!) what most instructional designers do. I hope it is helpful.

What do you think? If you are not an instructional designer, does this explanation help? If you are an instructional designer, does this description make sense?