The first two articles on Instructional Designers and Technologists was an excellent approach to introduce the IDT field and responsibilities. Through my experiences, I have interacted with colleagues that took a traditional and nontraditional path to be in the field. I have spoken to students in the IDT program that was uncertain of the opportunities after graduating from the program.  I believe that these articles can serve as a resource for the practical expectation of an IDT career.

Our textbook opens with an introduction to instructional design and a description of the various titles instructional designers have, such as “Learner experience designers, learning designers, learning architects, and a variety of other titles.” (Cennamo and Kalk, 2019, p. 3) Projects and assignments can determine the role the instructional designer will perform. These can be designing learning activities for designing programmatic experiences for learners. Instructional designers/technologists can incorporate different design models for different projects. Some use ADDIE or some elements of the design model, and some use other models. I have worked with instructional designers that have used design thinking when collaborating with stakeholders. Instructional designers/technologists understand that every project is different, and requirements change. This requires them to be flexible, and to problem solve multiple issues that arise in projects. 

The Essential Triangle of Instructional Design is an excellent visual of the critical elements of instructional design. The triangle includes outcomes, activities, assessments, learners, and evaluation. The triangle has learners at the center, and this is necessary as instruction is designed, developed, and delivered to learners. Understanding the learner’s needs and characteristics is informative when designing for them. Having an awareness of their prior knowledge, motivation, and physical and cognitive characteristics provides the instructional designer with data to make proper design decisions. In my current role, we typically analyze learner data from previous terms, survey data, and interview data to help determine the design of the instruction.

The Essential Triangle of Instructional Design includes Outcomes and Assessments. Outcomes are essential when teaching content to learners and for a clear understanding of when designing. Outcomes allow the instructional designers to have a vision and goals of the course content that need to develop for the learners. I have worked with instructional designers that collaborated with SMEs to develop and/or refine learner outcomes through multiple engagements. Learning about the ABCD model for developing outcomes from the book and in class through a group activity helped me understand how to create effective outcomes. Assessments are used to determine if outcomes are being met by the learners. The types of assessments that can be used are exams, demonstrations, application of knowledge gained, and journaling. Our instructional designers/technologists typically collaborate with SMEs to develop and identify relevant assessments to measure outcomes.

At this point in the course, I believe that we are continuing to establish a foundation for becoming an instructional designer/technologist. There are elements of what is learned in the course that has been used in my experience. I am excited to continue to learn more about IDT methods and processes to reinforce what I have learned in the program and experienced in my career.

References

Cennamo, Katherine, and Debby Kalk. Real World Instructional Design: an Iterative Approach to Designing Learning Experiences. Routledge, 2019.