 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Instructional Design in the CLASS™ Project |
 Printer-friendly version
|
What is an Instructional Designer?
How can you tell an Instructional Designer when you see one? When you look in the eyes of an ID (for short!), you will see that they are a little blurry from hours of research and computer use. You may also see glasses (contacts are a possibility) 
for keen sighting of content errors. The ears are usually on the large side, better to hear the questions from afar (distance education students in other lands-or just across the street!). Legs are muscular from running around to the other professional colleagues as the team forges ahead! The right temporal lobe of the brain becomes slightly enlarged to allow the creative juices to flow. The furrowed brow is a clear indication of the serious thought processes that must accompany the prerequisite "thinking outside the box."
Have you ever been an Instructional Designer?
You may be inclined to say no at first, but you may be wrong! If you have ever tried to figure out the best way to teach a child how to tie his/her shoes or ride a bike, you have probably done a little bit of instructional design. You wouldn’t put the poor child on a bicycle, give a huge push, and let go-would you? You wouldn’t demonstrate the art of shoe-tying, 
and then say, "OK, now it’s your turn. You do it!"-would you?
In both cases, you would first figure out the entry level of knowledge and skill. You would take into consideration maturity and attention span. You might take steps to work on motivational tactics and methods of encouragement. You would provide feedback for positive responses. Most of all, you would allow ample time for practice, evaluation, more practice, re-evaluation, and lots more encouragement!
In other words, you had to "design" the instruction to maximize "student" success. You didn’t expect instant perfection, and you allowed for numerous trial-and-error attempts. You realized that your "student" needed to learn by doing and needed to be in charge of his or her own success rate while you provided the necessary examples, feedback, and encouragement. If one way of showing or explaining didn’t work, you had to come up with a new and improved idea for arriving at the desired results. You realized that the task would get easier and easier, and once the goal was achieved, the skill would remain with your "student" forever.