About a year ago, I went through “baptismal by fire” into the world of instructional design. I’d touched on it in my previous job (along with pedagogy and andragogy), and had studied learning theory in my Master’s program [Educational Technology]. I don’t have a degree in instructional design. So began my crash course…
The first thing I did was locate some good books. The first book I started with (recommended by an instructional designer) was “Mastering the Instructional Design Process” which is like the “bible” of instructional design. Choke full of background information and Instructional Design models, I only made it through the first chapter (apologies to the author, but this stuff was really dry). Note to others… if you’re learning on the job, immediately find WHAT YOU NEED TO GET YOUR JOB DONE. There isn’t time to read through an entire manual of when, why, what and how’s. Which is why, when you design instruction, you want to focus on what’s important (see this article by Cathy Moore on action mapping: http://blog.cathy-moore.com/2008/05/be-an-elearning-action-hero/ ).
So anyway, I finally got my hands on “Rapid Instructional Design: Learning ID Fast and Right“. This is the book that worked for me. I got an overview of the ID process and I found several “nuggets” that spoke to me. What I’ve learned has enabled me to begin thinking as an instructional designer, as I work with instructors to design courses.
I have to take a minute to explain more about my job setting. I work on a CSU campus– that is, in a higher education setting. I help instructors design their courses. Sometimes I do it all with their input, sometimes we both work on a course, and sometimes I just serve as a consultant. Most of the books I have read or poked around in take a more general approach to instructional design — the person reading the book could be going into a corporate setting, private setting, elementary/high school setting, or a higher education setting (I’m sure there are some I’ve left out), so it’s assumed that the person reading will take the information and manipulate it so it works in the setting they are in. Am I right? For example, “Rapid ID” suggests all manner of job aids, project development plans, design documents, and the like. But most of these are not applicable to my setting. So I’ve gone about locating material that works for me. But honestly, if anyone can recommend a good book on instructional design from a higher education standpoint, I’d love to hear about it. One wonderful colleague of mine recommended “Instructional Design: A plan for unit and course development” — by Jerrold Kemp. What a great read! The interesting thing is that Dr. Kemp wrote this book in 1977… two years after FSU created the ADDIE model (early ADDIE model, that is). So for instructional designers fresh off the boat, they may, for some reason or another, say that the book is dated. I really don’t get that impression.
Instructional design models… how many are there??? My goodness! From my understanding, most of them are “improvements” on the ADDIE model. I hate to sound cynical, but why wouldn’t the ADDIE model, in its brazen simplicity, work for most folks? There’s “Rapid Prototyping”, “Dick and Carey”, “IDLS”… and others. I wish someone would clarify for me how one goes about choosing a model. I like plain and simple… the ADDIE model works for me. Although, I have to tell you, “backwards design” [Wiggins] really speaks to me. I fell for it when I fell for the work done by L. Dee Fink, who takes this kind of approach when he consults on course design. Read this article, by Fink, on Integrated Course Design (derived from his book called “Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses“).
Model maze… indeed.
